This story originally ran in the July 13, 2004, issue of the News-Miner.
The new eight-wheeled, 19-ton Stryker vehicle that is to become the staple of Fort Wainwright’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team hit the ground rolling about a month ago.
Its biggest asset is mobility as the Army transforms into a more lethal and deployable force. Not only is it able to load onto an Air Force C-130 aircraft and get to its destination faster than its predecessors, but it transports soldiers quickly to the battlefield.
The Strykers also have digital capabilities, enabling their crews to communicate with each other without saying a word. They also have computer mapping systems in each vehicle. Some are equipped with a laser range finder that can see through sand, snow and water.
Plus, they’re a smooth ride.
“They drive like a Cadillac,” said 1st Lt. Marc Bullion, an officer aboard the fire support vehicle variation of the Stryker. “You’d be surprised.”
The first of the vehicles will be on the road by August, according Lt. Col. Greg Parrish, deputy commander of the 172nd. By the time the brigade is up and running next spring there should be 304 of the Strykers stationed between the 172nd’s two battalions at Fort Wainwright and a third at Fort Richardson.
They get roughly 6.2 miles to the gallon, an increase from some of the other fighting vehicles the Army has in its arsenal and can reach a top speed of 60 mph.
“These things get miles to the gallon instead of gallons to the mile,” Master Sgt. John Pennell, a spokesman for the brigade.
The vehicles cost between $1.3 million and $2 million a piece. There are eight models to choose from and two more are being developed. The 172nd has three so far–the infantry carrier vehicle, a fire support vehicle and a reconnaissance vehicle. Only the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment has had roughly month-long training at Fort Richardson and been supplied with the Stryker, with another company undergoing the training.
To driver Private Brad Charniski, it’s not much different than driving his 1997 Dodge Ram.
“It’s just like a big truck,” Charniski said. “Actually, it looks more complicated than it really is.”
With its 350-horsepower diesel engine, however, it has a little bit more pulling power to climb over obstacles than his Dodge.
The Stryker comes complete with front and rear lights mounted on the outside, check-engine lights on what is considered a dash and a horn that sounds deceptively quiet for the large vehicle.
Before the Stryker’s arrival, the infantryman relied on their own feet to get around and to do their jobs. Now they have eight wheels to carry them.
Instead of plotting on hand-held maps, they have computerized mapping systems that keep tabs on the other Stryker vehicles in real time.
Bullio’s job is to use these computers to make sure there’s no friends in an area where members of his company want to shoot.
“I think it gives us a better picture of the battlefield,” Bullio said.
The vehicle also makes it easier for the reconnaissance squad to move around as a separate entity that acts as a look out.
The Long Range Acquisition Surveillance Sensor System uses thermal imaging to see about 12 miles out and can see through smoke, dust, snow and water, enabling soldiers to stay hidden from the enemy, said Spc. Ja Oh, a vehicle commander on the reconnaissance version of the Stryker.
There are usually seven within his crew, including a driver, vehicle commander, a squad leader and four people that venture out of the Stryker to survey the area on foot, he explained.
The vehicle commander stands up through a hatch in the ceiling of the vehicle and helps guide the driver who has to look through another hatch that opens only about five inches.
The driver also has a screen in front of him that shows images from a camera mounted on top of the vehicle near his hatch.
Charniski, who was a regular foot soldier before the Army told him he was going to become a Stryker driver, said he has to have someone guide him through tight spaces and when he’s backing up.
The vehicle commander can also man either a 50-caliber gun or M19 grenade launcher mounted to the top of the infantry carrier vehicle.
None of the 1-17th drivers have had time to get used to some of the quirks the vehicles might have, but they have taken it thorough a driver’s course with hills and obstacles during the monthlong training.
The infantry carrier can also carry a squad of soldiers.
“The best thing about the vehicle, is the nine infantryman that fall out of the back,” said Lt. Col. Al Kelly, commander of the 1-17th Infantry. “That’s really the strength of the vehicle, it gets them where they need to go quick.”
Kelly said when the Stryker vehicle concept first emerged, he wasn’t sold on it because of the successful operability of the vehicle’s predecessors, the M113 and the Bradley Fighting Machine, both light-armed tracked troop carriers.
“After seeing this vehicle, seeing it in action, seeing its capabilities, I’m sold,” Kelly said.
He liked how lethal it is and its ability to sneak up on the enemy as was demonstrated in training by two Fort Lewis, Wash., Stryker Brigades already using the vehicle. One of the brigades has even tested it in the toughest conditions of all–an Iraq deployment.
There are questions about the vehicle’s survivability against some attacks, but Parrish said the vehicles were designed as a balance between air transportability and protection against enemy fire.
“It was designed to defeat up to .50-caliber machine gun fire and to protect the crew and infantry squad within from fragmentation from artillery mortars,” Parrish said. “It’s a mobility device for the infantry and to protect them until they dismount to conduct the infantry assault.”