Stryker Vehicle Destroyed

komo news ^ | 13 December 2003 | KOMO Staff

[11th_VA]

TIKRIT, IRAQ - A roadside bomb destroyed a Stryker vehicle with the Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade.

A scout platoon on a reconnaissance mission south of Tikrit ran over what the military calls an improvised explosive device.

The soldiers inside got out safely but the 19 ton vehicle caught fire and burned out of control.

"There was a small explosion, and the engine caught fire. The soldiers inside got out and tried to put the fire out but it got out of control and started setting off the ammunition," said ABC news producer in Iraq, Mike Gudgell.

One soldier in the vehicle was slightly injured, he suffered a small hairline fracture in his leg.

The vehicle burned for several hours as the soldiers set up a perimeter to ward off any further attacks. There were none.

Three Fort Lewis soldiers died in Iraq last week when their Stryker vehicles rolled over and landed in a canal

[11th_VA]

At least the crew survived ...

[finnman69]

In a Hummer they would have been dead.

[xzins]

The Stryker concerns me.

In the world of horses, it's taking a trotter to the thoroughbred track.

[Arkinsaw]

I have been worried about the Stryker, but if it took a hit from a roadside bomb and the crew survived then I am pleased with that performance. A little better fire suppression system and it sounds like the vehicle would have survived also.

[Fred Mertz]

Rur-roh...ping

[Squantos]

Saved it's human cargo.....did it's job ! Build another !

Stay Safe !

[LibKill]

The crew lived.

I still have doubts about the STRYKER based on what a lot of the armor guys here at FR have told me (I admit that this is not my expert subject.)

Still, the crew lived and I'm REAL happy about that. Anytime a US serviceman survives is a good day.

[dinok]

"I still have doubts about the STRYKER based on what a lot of the armor guys here at FR have told me."

Its a glorified SUV. Not impervius to explosive force. Its not a tank, and its no Bradley fighting viehicle. The biggest problem with the Stryker is not its limmitations, but the high expectations of it by some in the Pentagon and its misuse. Its mean to transport people, not to fight from it. Sooner or later, one of them will take a rocket hit and then the crew will not be so lucky. Viehicles like the Stryker have minimal aluminum armor that is easy for an RPG rocket to penetrate. The RPG burns a small hole on the side and sends the melted aluminum in side that bounces around and through people starting fires. Puting GPS and hight tech electronics on it, does not make it "safe".

[T'wit]

Have we heard any word how the Iraqis detonate those IEDs? There ought to be ways to interfere, pre-detonate or otherwise mess up some of their attacks. Sure would be fun to set some of those bombs off while they are still handling them.

[Henk]

I read somewhere that US troops have found "wireless doorbell sets" in weapons caches.

[11th_VA]

One soldier injured as Stryker destroyed, apparently by a bomb in road
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

NEAR DULUIYAH, IRAQ - A Stryker reconnaissance vehicle was destroyed Saturday, apparently by a bomb planted in a road, Stryker Brigade officials said.

The driver suffered a broken right ankle and foot and was flown to an Army hospital in Balad. The other three crew members escaped unhurt.

In an interview with The News Tribune, the driver said fire engulfed the engine compartment as he crawled from his driver's seat through the narrow passageway known as the "hellhole" and escaped the burning vehicle with the other crew members.

The $2 million vehicle was recovered and trucked back to the operating base late Saturday.

It was the first of the Army's Strykers to be destroyed by hostile action, nine days after the Fort Lewis-based brigade's arrival in Iraq.

Two other Strykers sustained extensive interior damage Monday when they plunged into an irrigation canal and were submerged in about eight feet of water. Three soldiers were killed and a fourth was injured in that accident.
(Published 8:43PM, December 13th, 2003)

[RobbyS]

It's meant to transport people, not to fight from it.

My son found that his scout unit had good luck taking the doors off of Hummers since they gave no protection anyway. That was the weapons of the men inside could be seen and they could see out. This served to inhibit attacks, at least they took no hits while a unit that kept the doors on, did.

[LPM1888]

How much money did we waste on those POS and what politicians got their pockets padded for their "support"?

[upchuck]

Sure would be fun to set some of those bombs off while they are still handling them.

Okay, time for a new tagline.

[yooper]

Why in the world would you divulge that? I know it seems like a little thing, but folks, keep these tidbits to yourselves if you have them.

[Prodigal Son]

Divulge what? I think it would readily obvious to anyone observing that the doors aren't on the Hummer as it rolled down the street.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I have been worried about the Stryker, but if it took a hit from a roadside bomb and the crew survived then I am pleased with that performance. A little better fire suppression system and it sounds like the vehicle would have survived also.

Very encouraging, send more!

[M Kehoe]

What are you doing up so late? I just got back from a Christmas party, what's your excuse?

8^)

5.56mm

[KellyAdmirer]

I'm extremely pleased that the crew was saved, but $2 million complete writeoffs every time some wacko out there puts a pipe bomb or whatever in the street adds up. I wonder why they can't either make them cheaper or make them more robust.

[archy]

It's meant to transport people, not to fight from it.

My son found that his scout unit had good luck taking the doors off of Hummers since they gave no protection anyway. That was the weapons of the men inside could be seen and they could see out. This served to inhibit attacks, at least they took no hits while a unit that kept the doors on, did.

Nothing new about that. That was the standard operating procedure for the British Paratroopers operating in Kosovo with IFOR and Kfor. And sometimes, on vehicles even smaller and less-armored than their Land Rovers, also used by the American Ranger battalions since they can be transported inside a CH47 *$hi!hook* helicopter.

It's much less a question of what sort of vehicle the troops are in, and more a matter of what sort of troops are in the vehicles. Noone wanted to tangle with the Paras or the Gurkhas, it seems, and the same would likely be the case with the US Ranger battalions. An attack on any of the above would be tantamount to suicide.