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WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2009 – The Army’s Stryker armored vehicle will get its first crack at the resurgent Taliban and terrorist strongholds in Afghanistan this summer when the 2nd Infantry Division’s 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team hits the ground there. Army Gen. David D. McKiernan, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, said at a Pentagon news conference yesterday that he specifically requested the Stryker brigade for its versatility. “I asked for a Stryker capability, with one of the brigade combat teams, so that it could provide the mobility, the situational awareness, the protection,” McKiernan...

Haven't seen these pics on FR before. Palin visiting Strykers at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Out of curiosity... does anyone know when this visit was? Can't find a date at the Governor's site. BTW there is no dress she doesn't look good in.

CAMP STRIKER — Soldiers with U.S. Army Europe's Regimental Support Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, have continued to "improve their foxhole" since their arrival here in August, and the evidence is visible in the recently upgraded Troop Medical Clinic (TMC) here. "We got the mission in September to provide a Level 2 clinic to support Camp Striker," said Maj. John McMurray, Medical Troop commander. "This TMC is a 24-hour medical treatment facility offering a pharmacy, X-rays, a lab, physical therapy, behavioral health and patient hold capabilities for all Soldiers." "The level 2 TMC allows the troop population on Camp Striker...

A young Iraqi girl and her older sister receive school supplies from Soldiers of 3rd Platoon, 38th Engineer Company, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., near Boob Al Sham, Iraq, Oct. 11. Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. BOOB AL SHAM — Frustration showed clearly on Sgt. 1st Class Kristopher Macavoy’s face as he tried to give school supplies to an Iraqi mother and her three small children, Oct. 11, near Boob Al Sham. The children peered fearfully out from behind a door at the U.S....

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ECHO, Iraq, April 11, 2007 — With coalition forces focusing much of their efforts on Baghdad, many anti-Iraqi forces have fled the capital city and moved their operations to smaller towns around Iraq. Diwaniyah, located in southern Iraq, is one of these towns that has seen a spike in violence and anti-Iraqi force activity, and coalition forces have recently turned their attention toward restoring peace in the area. "My troop was able to secure the route and that let everyone flow in, so we accomplished the mission there. The other troop and company seized their objective.” U.S....

After a yearlong tour in northern Iraq and a dangerous and controversial four-month extension in Baghdad, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team is coming home. The 3,800-person unit is scheduled to return to Alaska in waves starting Saturday, military officials said today. U.S. Army Alaska spokesman Maj. Kirk Gohlke said all the troops are scheduled to be home by Dec. 5. Most will be flying into Fairbanks, where the brigade is based at Fort Wainwright, he said. About 200 will return to Fort Richardson in Anchorage. The 172nd left Alaska for Iraq in September 2005. Their departure was and remains...

VILSECK, Germany — The U.S. Army welcomed the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment to its new home in southern Germany on Friday as the military moved ahead with plans to shed its heavy Cold War divisions in favor of a lighter, more mobile force. The brigade has been moving into the Vilseck area over the last three months, bringing an agile, flexible force in to Germany to replace the 1st Infantry Division and 1st Armored Divisions. Unlike heavy divisions that take a long time to deploy, Stryker brigades are designed to be airlifted quickly to hotspots, fitting aboard the smaller Hercules...

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team have been bringing down some big names in the terrorist organization al-Qaida. The 2-1 is stationed mainly in Mosul and have captured more than 180 suspected terrorists in the nearly three months since the brigade left Alaska. Lt. Col. Charles Webster, commander of the 2-1, spoke with reporters Thursday from Iraq and described a recent operation that he said crippled an al-Qaida cell in Mosul. Webster said since the brigade arrived in Iraq in August and in Mosul a few weeks later, soldiers have found what...

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Iraq (Army News Service, July 29, 2005) – The Army’s Stryker combat vehicles are back in fight now that the first Stryker repair facility is operating in Qatar. The Stryker forward repair activity, run by General Dynamics Land Systems under direction of the Army Materiel Command’s Army Field Support Battalion-Qatar, presented the first two refurbished Strykers to Army inspectors recently. “Based on the vehicles coming across the assembly line they are all pretty much designated to go to future battalions . . . the vehicles have to be produced from somewhere,” said Mike Manzara, General Dynamics acting...

MOSUL , Iraq – Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed several terrorists and captured four people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities in northern Iraq Sunday in combined operations with Iraqi Security Forces. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were attacked by terrorists while conducting a raid in a village in northern Al Anbar Province. Iraqi Army and U.S. 2-14th Soldiers quickly overwhelmed the enemy. Following the attack, the units also discovered a weapons cache inside the building the terrorists had used. The suspects are in custody with no MNF or ISF injuries reported.

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 13, 2005) -- Production of the 1,000th Stryker vehicle was commemorated during a ceremony Jan. 12 at Anniston Army Depot, Ala., 33 months to the day former Army Chief of Staff Eric K. Shinseki signed for the first Stryker there April 12, 2002. The Stryker program is a good example of “public-private partnerships,” said Col. Alexander Raulerson, depot commander. He said the program matched the expertise of government and the private sector to improve the Army. Anniston assembles two-thirds of the Strykers and the other third are built in London, Ontario, Canada. Anniston hosts an...

General Dynamics received a $206 million order from the U.S. Army on Thursday for 95 Stryker combat vehicles, including the first production of a new model that can detect nuclear, biological and chemical agents.The order is a part of $4 billion contract the company's General Dynamics Land Systems unit was awarded in 2000.The Army's latest Stryker order also includes delivery of a new mobile gun system model, which is armed with a 105mm tank cannon with "shoot on the move" capability. The Stryker is a class of eight-wheel armored vehicles that can travel up to 62 miles an hour, and...

Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. troop rotation trimming forces by 20 percent in Iraq will replace heavy weaponry with high-tech, mobile fighting gear meant to counter the hit-and-run attacks of a changing enemy, a senior Army official said Saturday. Most of the 130,000 troops serving in Iraq will begin returning home or to their foreign bases over the next four to six months. They will be replaced by a less heavily armed force of about 105,000 in the largest troop rotation since World War II, a senior Army official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Troops will be given 323...