Posted on 05/10/2006 5:58:59 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater
All the major training is done. The vehicles will be loaded onto ships later this month at the Port of Olympia, and by the end of next month, the Army’s first Stryker brigade will be on its way back to Iraq.
Nearly half the 4,000 soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were with the unit the first time it went over in November 2003.
Their experience, and that of the two Stryker brigades that succeeded them, have informed preparations different from the last time, the Fort Lewis-based soldiers say.
“Before, we went over thinking we knew what was going on over there,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Muetz, a Stryker infantryman preparing for his second trip. “Of course, it was a rude awakening.”
Before their first deployment, the soldiers prepared mainly for the big fight: traditional force-on-force confrontations like they might have encountered if they had been part of the initial invasion.
This time they’ve focused on fresh lessons from the counterinsurgency, with a heavy emphasis on understanding the Iraqi culture.
Training also has focused more on documenting evidence against insurgents who are captured, as if soldiers were police investigators.
“This trip we’re not going in blind,” Muetz said. “All the leadership, they’re all veterans. They’ve seen what kind of folks we deal with on a regular basis, they know how to interact, how not to step on toes unintentionally, and to make sure you’re stepping on the right toes.”
Brigade to aid Iraqi security forces
Everything is subject to change, officials said, but the plan for now is that they’ll replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, which is headquartered in familiar territory: Mosul. It’s where the 3rd Brigade soldiers spent most of their first deployment.
The 172nd also has a large number of troops based in the far west, in Rawah, along the Euphrates River near the Syrian border.
Maj. Adam Rocke, the 3rd Brigade’s operations officer, said the mission and locations are likely to evolve as U.S. forces hand over day-to-day responsibilities in parts of the country to Iraqi troops.
The brigade will continue to help develop Iraqi security forces “to an adequate level so that they are the lead and we, the coalition forces, are in a supporting role,” Rocke said.
But he said it’s likely U.S. commanders will continue using Stryker troops as a rapid-reaction force.
He said each of the three Stryker brigades to work in Iraq has proved its ability to rapidly move large numbers of infantrymen over great distances. Strykers will be a force commanders will call on even if they begin to reduce the number of troops in Iraq.
“I believe one of the last units out of Iraq will be a Stryker brigade,” Rocke said.
Bonding with the new guys
Officers say one of the brigade’s greatest strengths – its continuity – also is a source of concern.
“I think my greatest fear with this force is that the bond that those guys have, the veterans, is nurtured, while not shutting out the new guys,” said Lt. Col. Barry Huggins, who commands one of 3rd Brigade’s three infantry battalions, the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment. “We’ve got to integrate them, make them part of the team.”
Muetz, a 32-year-old staff sergeant who heads up a squad of mortarmen, said he and other veteran noncommisioned officers make sure their young soldiers are listening when it’s war story time. But they also stress that conditions in Iraq change all the time.
“It’s not a vacation. It’s not just pay. You’ve got to get over there and watch your butt.”
Simulating Iraq’s dangers
Capt. Brent Clemmer, a company commander in the 2-3, recently ran his troops through a final few days of training at the Leschi Town urban combat center. He said he set up “the whole smorgasbord of a day in the life of Iraq: from making nice with the mukhtar to meeting with the mayor, and everything in between.”
Clemmer parachuted into Afghanistan with the Rangers in 2001 before joining the 3rd Brigade for the previous Iraq deployment. Soldiers back then were all keyed up, with visions of the “Black Hawk Down” gun battle in mind, when they crossed the berm from Kuwait into Iraq.
This time, “You’re scared still, yeah, but we know what to expect.”
At Leschi Town, he watched one of his platoon leaders direct his men through the discovery of a mock roadside bomb, an improvised explosive device, or IED.
Some Iraqi soldiers – or, rather, brigade troops playing that role – brought the information to the platoon leader, Lt. Chris Alexander. It was just down the road, maybe 70 yards away, in a pile of cinder blocks at the corner of a wall.
For a time, the only thing between the platoon leader and the bomb was a chain-link fence.
Over the next several minutes, Alexander and his platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Martin, positioned their soldiers to keep people out of the way. They questioned some of the neighborhood men hanging around, who knew nothing, of course.
The leaders feared the bomber might be watching and waiting to detonate when enough soldiers or civilians got into the kill zone.
Alexander eventually moved his men back about 150 yards from the bomb; 300 is preferred, but that’s not always possible in an urban area. At least they had the cover of their 20-ton Stryker.
Afterward, Clemmer told Anderson [sic] and Martin they did well, but he reminded them to make sure they investigate IEDs “behind something thicker than the body armor you’re wearing.”
Later the platoon was sent out to find an insurgent mortar team during a traffic stop, then do it again. In the second exercise, commanders planned ambushes based on the platoon’s behavior the first time. The insurgents are always watching, Huggins stressed.
‘America still produces heroes’
Alexander, 26, was in his senior year at the North Carolina State University ROTC program in 2004 when many of the men in his platoon were fighting in Iraq.
Leading a platoon – 40 or so soldiers – is an entry-level role for new officers. They’re always paired with an experienced group of noncommissioned officers to coach them along.
“I was kind of nervous coming in, that all the soldiers were combat veterans,” Alexander said. “But I feel like I’ve been integrated in pretty well. … I feel like they’ve accepted me like I’ve been with them the whole time.”
Something else that’s different this time is the political climate at home. There’s more debate about the war. By late summer, Iraq likely will be a leading issue in the congressional election campaigns.
Soldiers said they’re watching it with interest, as citizens, but they’ll put it out of mind when it comes to their jobs.
“I tell these guys every night … how proud I am that America still produces heroes, is still able to assemble a force of young men like them from all walks of life, all backgrounds,” Huggins said.
“These guys really are a part of something that’s pretty special. I urge them … to hold onto that.”
Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921
mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com
Stryker brigades in Iraq
• 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis. Entered Iraq in December 2003. Was in Mosul for most of its year.
• 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis. Replaced 3rd Brigade in Mosul in October 2004.
• 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Replaced 1st Brigade in Mosul in September 2005.
• 3rd Brigade is scheduled to leave Fort Lewis in late June to replace 172nd.
• A fourth Stryker brigade, known as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, is in development at Fort Lewis and is to be the next Stryker unit in the Iraq rotation in 2007.
God Bless you, your family, and your men. Go give em' hell and hurry back home, I'll keep you all in my prayers.
Future Snake Eater, thank you for posting this information. I've pinged the 280 on our Merry Band of Patriots ping list to see it.
These are the replacements (the follow-on units) for the 2 Stryker Brigade companies we have adopted in Iraq, one near Mosul and one up near the Syrian border. Our Merry Band of Patriots have sent many packages to two of the current Stryker companies and to a company that was there before them in 2004-5.
We are currently buying items to send in the packages we will be mailing before the end of May for a 4th of July party for them.
Anyone who wants to help with donations or refreshments and/or decorations please let me or kattracks know. I don't know if some of the follow-on units will be there by the 4th and if extra goodies would be a good idea.
Would you please post the address to send money?? I have another one going over in a couple of weeks...he is to the point in his training that all is mum, so the next time we hear from him, he'll probably be over there.
Semper Fi,
TS
The Canadian troops in Afghanistan have been raving about their strykers (actually they call them the LAV-III). They love the combined mobility and protection.
If you want good news get yourself on the Terrorist Round-up ping list. All the good news from the WOT everyday.
The donations for the Merry Band of Patriots are generally sent to be by snail mail or by Paypal.
They are not tax deductible as we are not an organized charity, although we are definitely non profit, with 150% or more of donations going to the troops in purchased goods and postage expenses. Accounting is posted on our thread here at FR every 3-4 months.
I don't post my address on the web. Anyone wanting to send me a donation to spend on goodies for the troops can contact me for the address.
If anyone wants to send money to a tax deductible troop support charity, I recommend Operation First Response, which is now trying to do matching funds to keep a large donation that is contingent on matching funds.
Contact me for the internet link if you are interested.
Good luck to your soldiers. If you post his first name and location on our thread, we will add him to our prayer list.
correction: sent to ME.
You make us ALL proud!!
(Thanks SO much for the ping, Patty!)
I will be praying for him.
Wow, that's really cool! I would love to have my company adopted by a group of FReepers! We are Charger Co., 2-3 INF. The best company in the battalion in the best battalion in the brigade!
Where are you now? FReepmail me.
You know I am always proud of you - my Army man! :)
Heads up!
"Anatomy of a Stryker" is coming up on The Military Channel at 11EDT. Channel 287 for those with DirecTV.
Rather than starting a new thread, I figured I just put this in the most recent Stryker thread.
I have seen it several times. It's pretty good.
Heh! BTDT.
Wife is out of town, I am master of all remotes for the time being.
And that's about over, time to turn in. I've got a driving event in the AM.
If you had a third of the profits made by General Dynamics on this white elephant you could buy a cable channel and broadcast your propaganda 24 hours per day.
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