Posted on 11/19/2003 4:21:18 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
The symbol of the Army's labored rebirth as a 21st century force will shortly face what could be a perilous battlefield baptism in Iraq.
The Stryker Brigade Combat team - the Army's most significant step in its metamorphosis from a ponderous Cold War behemoth to a lighter, quick force - is mustering now in Kuwait.
Built around a new, 19-ton vehicle that stands somewhere between a Humvee and a Bradley fighting vehicle, the 3,600-soldier brigade soon will roll north into Iraq.
There, they will join the Army's struggle to win a continuing conflict the brass did not foresee, using a vehicle untested in real-world combat and assigned a role for which it was not specifically designed.
"It will be a trial by fire. Literally," said Marcus Corbin, a senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information in Washington.
The Army is confident the $2 million Stryker will adapt smoothly to the dicey counter-insurgency campaign waged by U.S. forces, even though the vehicle was conceived to be used mostly in the early stages of a crisis to speed troops to battle and, later, for peacekeeping duties.
While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has not been an enthusiastic booster, the nation's top uniformed officer recently sang its praises.
"I think what we'll see in Iraq is that this system, while not built for that contingency, is going to fit into the needs over there just perfectly," Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers said last month, shortly after taking a Stryker test ride at its home base at Fort Lewis, Wash.
But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, now a Pentagon military adviser, and critics on Capitol Hill, warn that the 38,000-pound, eight-wheeled vehicle is so lightly armored and armed that it could imperil the lives of the 11 troops each Stryker can carry.
A defense consultant prepared a scathing report on what he said were the Stryker's failings for Rep. James Saxton, R-N.J., a House Armed Services subcommittee chairman who has been the most vocal skeptic of the Stryker's worth.
Among other things, the report written by analyst Victor O'Reilly depicted the Stryker as being poorly armored and "entirely" vulnerable to rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire; so large it offers a too-easy target; unable to shoot on the move; over budget; cramped for those who ride in it; and too heavy to be carried very far by some military transport planes.
The Army acknowledges the Stryker has suffered growing pains, even though some of its early failings have been remedied. The battlefield debut comes just 16 months after contractor General Dynamics delivered the Strykers to the Army - an unusually short span.
Even so, the service contends the Stryker is well suited to the variety of roles it may play in Iraq - everything from infantry troop transport and reconnaissance to medical evacuation and combat fire support. The vehicle was named in honor of two unrelated heroes: Pfc. Stuart S. Stryker and Spc. Robert F. Stryker - who earned the Medal of Honor in World War II and Vietnam, respectively.
The Stryker was designed to get to any hot spot on the globe within four days - far quicker than the weeks it can take Army tanks and other heavily armored vehicles to reach a war zone. It also is fast and quiet on the ground, able to travel at 62 mph without the road-shaking rumbles that announce the approach of tanks and other larger vehicles that run on tracks.
The brigade is also equipped with aerial reconnaissance drones, satellite links, thermal sights and eavesdropping gear.
But the vehicle was not designed for the sort of guerrilla combat anti-coalition insurgents are mounting in Iraq. While it has more armored protection than the Humvees that are falling to enemy weapons almost daily, the Stryker was never meant for front-line warfare.
At most, it was built to withstand heavy machine-gun fire. Even that was in question when, in August, some of the ceramic tiles that form a critical layer of armored protection on the 309 Strykers now bound for Iraq were found to be defective. They will all be reinforced before the vehicles move north.
Like every other vehicle - and helicopter - already in use in Iraq, Strykers also are vulnerable to low-tech rocket-propelled grenades, a ubiquitous weapon which has been blamed for disabling mighty M-1 Abrams tanks.
To toughen the Strykers, slat armor that forms a sort of birdcage-like grille around the vehicle is being cobbled onto them. This protection is supposed to deflect the worst of an RPG's force before it hits its target.
But the addition of the new armor causes another problem - at nearly 5,000 pounds, it makes a Stryker too heavy to be flown on a C-130 transport, which calls into question the four-day deployment goal, according to analysts.
Still, the Army remains wedded to the Stryker, viewing it as a major step in its transformation, a process that critics have knocked as inchworm slow so far. Ultimately, the service wants to buy a total of 2,100 Strykers, at a cost that consultant O'Reilly estimated could reach $15 billion.
Congress isn't ready to sign off on building more; the brigade's performance under fire is likely to seal the Stryker's fate, analysts say. The Army, too, will be judged on its ability to march quickly into the 21st century.
"What's at stake is not just whether we build two more (brigades) of Strykers. What's at stake is how aggressively do we move to the future force," said Andrew Krepinevich, executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a defense think-tank in Washington.
(E-mail Lisa Hoffman at HoffmanL(at)shns.com or visit www.shns.com.)
Yeah, kind of dry, but very basic grab 'em by the nose and kick 'em in the pants fire and maneuver stuff--kind of the way its been taught and done by the Army and Marines for quite a few years. It's the doctrine in the books, its how we train, and how we operate in Iraq and Afghanistan. Got some better ideas?
Wheels instead of *laterals* will be M113A3s with the 275-HP, 6V53T, turbocharged Diesel. The entire unit can be removed as a ‘power-pack’ in 2 hours instead of the 32+ hours previously needed, so turnaround time from support maintenance when changeouts are necessary is faster, a good deal. There are also suspension improvements, and the X200-4 Allison transaxle allows neutral steer- one track turning forward while the other turns backward, letting the vehicle turn in its own length. M113A3s have interior spall liners and the fuel tanks have been relocated into *pillars* on the back of the vehicle on either side of the ramp...so if you take a round in back that ruptures them, DON'T drop the ramp to evacuate PTS- take them out over the sides or front using the crew cargo hatch [which infantry version Strykers don't have]
Not sure where they'll put me if I transfer, but I worked with the ambulance section at AT 2 years ago in Kansas so I wouldn't mind working with them again. They also have 577s but I figure they'll set them up at some Brigade staging area and they'll never move. I know that one of the other companies in the FSB has M88s, but not the Charlie med. I think I can make some suggestions based on what you guys have shown me here and the link that Cannoneer #4 gave me from the other thread. The platoon SGT for the ambulance platoon in C/230th was my platoon SGT in HHC 1/119th (since riffed) and I think he will listen to me.
Our SOP was to send one ambulance track with each of the battalion's 3 tank companies [then 17 tanks each]and keep one with HHC both to support them and as a reserve for the line companies if one of the tracks suppoorting them got busy. A M113 can transport 4 stretcher cases, one tank crew, and the reality was that anything that was severe enough to injure all 4 crewmen was probably going to kill at least one. The worst I saw was 4 guys who'd been crossing a bridge, and didn't tie their antennas down. One of 'the antennas hooked yup with a power line or streetcar power line, and that was that. The guys inside were burned into lumps about the size of a German shepherd when the fuel and hydraulic fluid went. At least M113s don't hasve a power turret and accumulator, so you don't have to worry about that problem, though FYI, the hydraulic fluid used now is more fireproof, at the price of being a carcinogen.
But in an emergency at HHC, the 577s can cover HHC leaving the 113s to work the line [BTW, we crosstrained our units cooks as M113 evac ambulance drivers, freeing the vehicle drivers to work as medics if necessary. If we'd had to we could have turned the battalion's 6 ground surveilance team vehicles into ambulance tracks if really necessary, and since we had 2 AVLB *scissors bridges* assigned to us who were kind of orphans, the medic section kind of *adopted them*, and once they'd dropped off their bridge sections, their crews could also have made 4 more drivers for us.] They serve better as a place to go to, and those confusing them for a S2 or S3 track or a artillery outfits FDC tracks may turn them into mortar or RPG magnets by virtue of their ignorance.
If you want to spend a weekend getting a little wheel time in an M113A3, I can probably make that happen. I doubt they'd ever let you get your hands on an M88 to turn into the dream ambulance track, but it can't hurt for you to know how to drive one of them, too.
-archy-/-
I have driven a 113 before, we drew ours from the MATES at Ft. Pickett (why was a NCNG unit going to Virginia to drill? You got me.) When I played with the ambulance platoon from C/230th out at Riley they set up an AXP (ambulance exchange point) and the 113s would go forward to the various Bn. Aid Stations and evac PTs from there back to the 997s which would take the PTs back to the Bde. Staging Area-where the treatment teams were. I don't know if they will try to apply this concept once they reach theater-it seems to be something that you would do on manuver-but I want to be prepared. I won't be home on leave until mid December and I doubt if the wife will let me go play, but thanks for the offer. I have to be back over here before the new year and 30th Bde. comes early next year. I can transfer to them when the unit I am with now returns to CONUS.
Doc, armor is OK, but the most common things that get medics and other CSS types in trouble as they move back and forth between their bases and the units they support are:
1-Land nav. The 507th wasn't the first support unit to make a wrong turn and either wander off into enemy territory and get decimated or be late to its destination and hold up the mission or approach friendly forces from a completely unexpected direction and get fratted. Know how to read map, plot a route, use a GPS and terrain read as you move. Rehearse your routes day and night whenever possible--when you get called, you gotta go right now & it'd be a shame if you didn't take advantage of earlier time available to rehearse/recon probable routes.
2-maintenance. Medics are notorious for not doing it; don't be one of them. Remember, it was broken down vehicles that caused the 507th convoy to fall so far behind the main convoy. Know how to do ti yourself--can't rely on having Archy around!
3-communications--know the freqs of the units you support and once you are despatched on a CASEVAC mission, get up on the net with the unit owning the casualty & get all that great enemy situation info that never seems to make it with the orignal evac request. And make sure you have the fire support and CAS freqs pre-set and do radio checks on them before you go. Don't assume escorts or anybody else will do all that for you; assume you will have to fight through every time. Too often the medics stay on the medical net--probably the least necessary net once you actually head out on your mission.
Doc, armor is OK, but the most common things that get medics and other CSS types in trouble as they move back and forth between their bases and the units they support are:
1-Land nav. The 507th wasn't the first support unit to make a wrong turn and either wander off into enemy territory and get decimated or be late to its destination and hold up the mission or approach friendly forces from a completely unexpected direction and get fratted. Know how to read map, plot a route, use a GPS and terrain read as you move. Rehearse your routes day and night whenever possible--when you get called, you gotta go right now & it'd be a shame if you didn't take advantage of earlier time available to rehearse/recon probable routes.
2-maintenance. Medics are notorious for not doing it; don't be one of them. Remember, it was broken down vehicles that caused the 507th convoy to fall so far behind the main convoy. Know how to do ti yourself--can't rely on having Archy around!
3-communications--know the freqs of the units you support and once you are despatched on a CASEVAC mission, get up on the net with the unit owning the casualty & get all that great enemy situation info that never seems to make it with the orignal evac request. And make sure you have the fire support and CAS freqs pre-set and do radio checks on them before you go. Don't assume escorts or anybody else will do all that for you; assume you will have to fight through every time. Too often the medics stay on the medical net--probably the least necessary net once you actually head out on your mission.
Here's a pic the shows some of the M113A3 *Gavin* upgrade features, including the A3 version rear fuel tanks. If you had A1s or A2s it wouldn't have been a consideration, but it is something to keep in mind if you're in a M113A3 and things get hot.
I have driven a 113 before, we drew ours from the MATES at Ft. Pickett (why was a NCNG unit going to Virginia to drill? You got me.) When I played with the ambulance platoon from C/230th out at Riley they set up an AXP (ambulance exchange point) and the 113s would go forward to the various Bn. Aid Stations and evac PTs from there back to the 997s which would take the PTs back to the Bde. Staging Area-where the treatment teams were. I don't know if they will try to apply this concept once they reach theater-it seems to be something that you would do on manuver-but I want to be prepared. I won't be home on leave until mid December and I doubt if the wife will let me go play, but thanks for the offer. I have to be back over here before the new year and 30th Bde. comes early next year. I can transfer to them when the unit I am with now returns to CONUS.
Not a problem. Sounds like they have in mind using the armor to evac the pts around the FEBA, then hand them off to the faster wheels once they're out of proble mortar and directed artillery fires range- makes sense, saves as much of that *golden hour* of evac time as possible, and keeps the 113s available up front where they're needed.
Get a FReepmail to me once you're back, and we ll try to slip you in a day with a 113A3 at Anniston or JRTC at Polk. I'm looking to spend a little time with a BTR 70 or 80 before I go play with them more extensively. I've been around one before, but it's been awhile.
I went off to play with the snakeeaters and spooks, so he didn't have much choice. Our battalion CO was a hellova guy, asked me if I really wanted to go run with the big dogs, and when I gave him a *roger that* he told me to have fun. They used and abused my young body in some particularly interesting fashion, and I'm so ashamed and humiliated....
Doc, armor is OK, but the most common things that get medics and other CSS types in trouble as they move back and forth between their bases and the units they support are:
1-Land nav. The 507th wasn't the first support unit to make a wrong turn and either wander off into enemy territory and get decimated or be late to its destination and hold up the mission or approach friendly forces from a completely unexpected direction and get fratted. Know how to read map, plot a route, use a GPS and terrain read as you move. Rehearse your routes day and night whenever possible--when you get called, you gotta go right now & it'd be a shame if you didn't take advantage of earlier time available to rehearse/recon probable routes.
And for God's sake don't take the same route out and back all the time, and try to return via a different routing if possible.
2-maintenance. Medics are notorious for not doing it; don't be one of them. Remember, it was broken down vehicles that caused the 507th convoy to fall so far behind the main convoy. Know how to do ti yourself--can't rely on having Archy around!
Archy taught his band-aid bandits and pillrollers well; in return they made a pretty fair OJT 91Bravo out of me. That came in real handy later, and the lesson is a bigger one than just trading your skills for some crosstraining with someone elses.
3-communications--know the freqs of the units you support and once you are despatched on a CASEVAC mission, get up on the net with the unit owning the casualty & get all that great enemy situation info that never seems to make it with the orignal evac request. And make sure you have the fire support and CAS freqs pre-set and do radio checks on them before you go. Don't assume escorts or anybody else will do all that for you; assume you will have to fight through every time. Too often the medics stay on the medical net--probably the least necessary net once you actually head out on your mission.
Funny though, how everybody has the medics callsign and push number committed to memory. When in doubt, 50.4 MHz, callsign Dustoff. As ever was. And may God keep Major Charles Kelly.
-archy-/-
Stryker's supporters say that this is the perfect debut for the vehicle -- the perfect military environment. I say it's close to being the worse, just short of head-to-head combat.
This is one case where I sincerely hope I'm wrong.
As are we all! :)
This is perhaps the aspect of Stryker that most concerns me. Reading The March Up, we see the Marines in their LVTPs with weapons out in convoy, covering the flanks. I haven't read anything this detailed and extensive yet about the Army's march to Baghdad, but they obviously had (relatively) RPG-proof heavies (M1s and Brads), with interspersed Humvees (able to cover flanks with riders).
The lack of the ability in route march for riders to cover the flanks and suppress RPG grenadiers looks like a recipe for disaster.
Likely not:
Bring her along. We'll throw together a couple of picnic lunches augmented with MREs, get her a set of nomex pajammies or BDUs, and we'll let her hotrod a little too.
I wowed the guys one time by bringing along a little leadfoot blonde cutie who's the daughter of a Russian VDV airborne sergeant-major and no stranger to the BMD. She played dumb Russian blonde for 'em and stuck on an accent thick enough to cut with a knife, though she's an English language teacher and speaks the language better than I do, though with a bit of a Brit flavor to it. I had a lot of fun explaining our relationship to each other, I think several of them were hoping she was unattached....
-archy-/-
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