2nd ACR Escort Team Controls the Road

CENTCOM ^ | April 6, 2004 | Sgt. Dan Purcell, 122nd MPAD

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

2nd ACR Escort Team Controls the Road

By Sgt. Dan Purcell, 122nd MPAD

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Their day begins before sunrise.

Just as jagged rays of light creep through the morning haze, gunners check their weapons while the drivers start their vehicles.

It’s time to run another gauntlet.

They are the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s convoy security detail.

“Our job is to provide security,” said Sgt. Rand M. Hultz, convoy escort team chief, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd ACR, Task Force 1st Armored Division. “As convoy security, our job is to be out front where people can see us,” Hultz said. “We control the road.”

A typical security team consists of a team chief, gunner and a driver. There are four three-man teams in the regimental headquarters, explained Hultz.

As the convoy rolls out the forward operating base gate, Hultz can be heard reminding his driver and gunner to remember to pay particular attention to the overpasses and not to let anything pass them on the road.

“Communication is imperative and we must all think and act alike,” he said. “When my driver is moving left to right through traffic, just by the pitch of the vehicle I know exactly what he is trying to do. I can just look at my driver and gunner and see if something is wrong and they can look at me and almost see what I’m thinking,” he said.

“When you work that well together there isn’t a lot of talking but everyone knows who and where and how,” Hultz said.

The driver is responsible for vehicle maintenance, knowing the routes and for completing load plans, said Spc. Dan K. Hartley, security detail driver. “I basically know everything Sgt. Hultz knows as far as pulling security for the front or the rear of the convoy.”

“I often use my rearview mirror to look for fast drivers. I have to, I can use my truck as a one and half ton roadblock. It’s how we stop speeding vehicles from getting around us,” he said.

Some days are better than others. There’s always an element of danger every time the team goes out, said gunner Spc. Bendigo P. Agnew.

“When it rains or hails it’s bad to be a gunner. When it gets hot in August it’s like a blow dryer in your face,” he said. “The only real down side is when people throw rocks or you get behind a truck hauling sand. Fortunately, people don’t throw rocks anymore.”

The team has logged almost 15,000 miles since they first left Kuwait about a year ago, Hultz said.

At their busiest, the team completed three or four missions daily, Hultz said. They would roll seven days a week, starting out at daybreak and returning well after dark.

“Convoys are not just supply runs,” he said.

As team prepares to turn their missions over to their replacements, they remain wired-tight until its time to leave, he said.

Throughout their time in country, Hultz insisted that his teams show respect for the Iraqi drivers they encounter on the road.

“We should consider how to handle people without hurting them,” explained Hultz.

Hultz then took this philosophy and turned it into a training plan for the regiment.

Cavalrymen use hand and arm signals to communicate among the team and the vehicles they are escorting. They use the truck as a mobile roadblock to control traffic coming in from behind.

“Everything we trained for was designed to get control of the situation before it escalates into something else,” he said. “You have to remember that the Iraqis are a free people and we have a responsibility to consider their customs and courtesies when we are out on the road.”

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Their day begins before sunrise.

Just as jagged rays of light creep through the morning haze, gunners check their weapons while the drivers start their vehicles.

It’s time to run another gauntlet.

They are the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s convoy security detail.

“Our job is to provide security,” said Sgt. Rand M. Hultz, convoy escort team chief, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd ACR, Task Force 1st Armored Division. “As convoy security, our job is to be out front where people can see us,” Hultz said. “We control the road.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment

 

 

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First Stryker brigade proving its worth in Iraq

By Joe Burlas

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 6, 2004) -- A year after conducting its Initial Operational Capabilities testing, the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team is fairing well in Iraq, according to senior Army procurement officials.

Members of the Pentagon press corps got an update April 5 on successes of the Army’s first fielded SBCT -- 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash. -- and the Army’s fielding plan for the remaining planned Stryker brigades.

“The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is performing extremely effectively in combat in Iraq,” said Col. Nick Justice, acting assistant deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management for the assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. “The SBCT has effectively used speed and situational understanding to kill and capture dozens of enemy fighters.”

That speed and quietness of the wheeled Strykers, compared to armored track vehicles, has earned the 3-2nd a nickname among many Iraqis, Justice said. Iraqi citizens around Samarra gave the brigade Soldiers the nickname “Ghost Riders” as the Stryker vehicles arrive and deploy their infantrymen with little noise or warning.

Citing that no Soldiers have been killed due to rocket-propelled grenade or improvised explosive devise attacks while riding in a Stryker vehicle since the 3-2nd arrived in Iraq last fall, Justice said that Army leaders are very pleased with its survivability in combat. The most serious injury due to an RPG attack against a Stryker vehicle to date has been a broken ankle.

The brigade has suffered casualties in Iraq -- chief among them, three Soldiers were killed in a Stryker rollover when a roadway embankment gave way in December.

Strykers in Iraq are augmented with add-on slat armor that is proving effective against RPG attacks.

Despite the effectiveness of the slat armor against the current threat in Iraq, the Army is still pursuing the development of reactive armor.

“Slat armor is successful, but we don’t want to be locked into it as there are other threats out there where reactive armor is needed,” Justice said.

The Army plans on building enough Stryker add-on reactive armor kits to equip several brigades. Those brigade sets will be drawn from a pre-positioned site and used when a mission requires it, according to Army officials. The first brigade set of reactive armor is scheduled to be fielded in March 2005, with another set ready the following year.

Stryker operations in Iraq have given Army procurement officials some lessons learned that will be implemented in the near future. Among those lessons, there is a need for greater sensor range and greater reach back communications capability. To address the sensor issue, the Army plans to make the sensor mast on the Stryker Reconnaissance Vehicle taller; and for the communications issue, replace the 44 Near-Term Digital Radios in the brigade with 53 satellite radio sets capable of operating in a joint environment over greater distances.

On the logistics side, the 3-2nd is proving that having a common chassis for its combat vehicles means a smaller logistics tail. The brigade is carrying about 160 lines of spare parts, compared to an armored brigade that carries about 300 lines of parts, Justice said. Having a common family of vehicles within the brigade also means a common set of skill sets among brigade Soldiers to keep the vehicle maintained, he said.

Stating that a year of combat operations equates to about seven years of normal operational use of a combat vehicle, Justice said the operational readiness rate of the Stryker is about where he expected it to be -- above 90 percent.

There are two variants and eight other configurations of the basic Stryker Infantry Carrier. The Mobile Gun System and the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaisance and Survey Vehicles have yet to be field due to several human engineering issues that are being worked, according to officials. Low rate production of the MGS is expected to start late this summer, Justice said.

The Army’s second SBCT -- 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – is currently undergoing it Initial Operational Capabilities evaluation. It is expected to certified by the Department of Defense as operationally ready sometime this summer.

The next brigade to transform to a SBCT will be 172nd Infantry Brigade (Separate), Fort Richardson, Alaska. The 172nd will start getting its Stryker vehicles in May, Justice said.

A February Defense Acquisition Board decision has funded the fourth Stryker brigade -- 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light), Fort Polk, La.

DoD has recently directed the Army to include the remaining brigades for Stryker conversion -- 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and the 56th Brigade of the 28th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Pennsylvania Army National Guard -- in its budget planning process.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Stryker Brigade News Photo Gallery

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Stryker Brigade draws praise for Iraq work

[Humidston]

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Hey, these guys are supposed to be on their way home about now to be back in the USA by the end of the month. My nephew already has his leave date (May 11). I have to get his Camero out of storage and have some work done on it so he can drive it back to Ft Polk.

[Matthew James]

Thanks!