FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq — In spite of its flaws, there is no other vehicle Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers say they would rather be in.

Some soldiers say the Stryker’s safety factor outweighs the litany of shortcomings outlined last year in an internal study by the Center for Army Lessons Learned at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

“It’s a lot safer than a Humvee and we have more mobility than a tank that is so cumbersome,” said 1st Lt. Drew Godwin of Delta/52 Infantry Company. “Being a wheeled vehicle makes it more maneuverable. I wouldn’t want to be in anything else.”

The CALL study reported problems that included a tendency for rollovers caused by the weight of add-on armor, a lack of protection against rocket-propelled grenades, computers overheating, and wheels that need constant attention.

Some of the findings are over dramatized, soldiers say. But in instances where the vehicles fall short, soldiers are forced to adapt.

Mechanics of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, or “Deuce-Four,” for example, are wrapping the top of the Stryker with 3/8-inch steel plating to provide additional protection to the crews who stand in the open hatches.

Soldiers had used stacked sandbags, usually three bags high and sometimes two rows deep, as a buffer. But the added weight at times caused the wheel hubs to break, said Staff Sgt. Jason Stauff, the shop foreman and senior mechanic.

Since they’ve replaced the heavier sandbags with steel, the number of broken hubs has decreased to nearly nonexistent, said Sgt. 1st Class Brent Stafford, motor sergeant for the Combat Repair Team.

The added weight has, however, forced the crews to disengage the computerized automatic tire inflation system, which now is checked and adjusted manually.

The Deuce-Four soldiers have seen their share of attacks by anti-personnel and anti-tank grenades since arriving in Mosul last October. Each time, the Stryker did its job of protecting the troops.

“They’ve hit the armor, bent the plates, but we’ve not had a single loss because of RPGs,” Stauff, 32, said. “These things are amazing.”

Usually, the crew can have a damaged Stryker back in service within 48 hours, Stafford said.

“We’ve been hit with a few [roadside bombs] in this thing and it’s very reliable,” Spc. Krist Zeynalyan, 24, said. “There are pros and cons to everything, but the pros far outweigh the cons.”

The Army introduced the General Dynamics-made Strykers in 2002 and plans to have six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, or SBCTs, in place by 2008. Three already exist: the 3/2 Infantry Division, the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade and part of the 172nd Infantry Brigade in Alaska.

Soldiers in Iraq complain mostly about heat in the vehicle and the inability of the main weapon, either a grenade launcher or a heavy machine gun, to hit targets when moving. The Army hopes to correct the weapons problem beginning next summer.

Heat inside the vehicle is a factor, especially for the driver.

“It gets too hot in there,” said Spc. Donald Durocher, 28, a driver with Delta/52. “But I’ll take it over a Humvee any day. I feel safer in this than in a Humvee.”

The Army report found heat caused computer systems to overheat and fail, but the problems have been rare for Deuce-Four, Stauff said.

Iraq’s hottest months are approaching, with average highs in July and August for Mosul about 102 degrees. Already the soldiers are working in temperatures in the mid- to high-90s, Stafford said, “so we’re pretty close already to the hottest part and they’re working fine.”

The most sophisticated computer systems are located in commanders’ vehicles, which have climate control systems to mitigate the problem.

This summer, air conditioning units will be added to the Medical Evacuation Vehicles to provide comfort while transporting casualties. The upgrade will cost about $90,000 per vehicle.

The MEV was highly praised by medics, who prefer operating in the Stryker versus the Front Line Ambulance, a box mounted on the back of a Humvee.