I've got it covered for Cannoneer. Pinging:
Stryker Brigade Combat Team Tactical Studies Group (Chairborne)
Posted on 01/07/2007 7:00:20 AM PST by SLB
FORT KNOX — Fort Knox is on a short list of Army posts being considered as the permanent station for a new Stryker brigade combat team.
“We probably could accommodate this, but we haven’t done an analysis and we haven’t been asked to at this point,” said Connie Shaffery, Fort Knox spokeswoman.
The unit is being transformed in Hawaii, but opposition from environmental and cultural groups has caused the Army to reconsider.
An environmental impact statement completed in 2004 determined Hawaii was a suitable location for the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit was scheduled to transform from the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light).
After a legal challenge from environmental and cultural groups, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in October that the Army did not consider alternative locations as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
“We had to go back and do it right,” said Robert DiMichele, spokesman for the U.S. Army Environmental Command.
The Army announced Thursday it was preparing a supplement to the 2004 final environmental impact statement concerning the 5th SBCT.
In addition to Fort Knox, alternative locations include the current site in Hawaii, Fort Richardson and Donnelly Training Area in Alaska, Fort Lewis and Yakima Training Center in Washington, and Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in Colorado.
The alternative locations were selected based on criteria including the availability of ranges and maneuver training facilities, maintenance facilities and facilities that bolster quality of life for soldiers and their families.
“We brought it down to a number of sites that could legitimately support a Stryker brigade,” DiMichele said.
The 5th SBCT includes 3,900 to 4,100 soldiers, and 950 to 1,050 vehicles. Of those vehicles, between 310 and 330 are Strykers.
Strykers are armored, wheeled combat vehicles. They were designed as a bridge between the Army’s current armor force and the quicker, lighter future force. The vehicles were tested at Fort Knox in 2003.
Preparing the supplemental environmental impact statement will not affect the training of the future 5th SBCT, which is about 60 percent transformed, DiMichele said. As part of current troop rotations, the brigade must be available to deploy by November.
A notice of intent has been filed in the Federal Register, opening a 45-day public comment period. During that time, officials will collect comments from communities that could be affected, including Fort Knox. Open meetings will be held at all of the alternative sites, DiMichele said.
Later, Environmental Command will draft a statement to be released in late spring or early summer, DiMichele said. The public will be allowed to comment on the draft.
The final environmental impact statement and the decision about the 5th SBCT’s permanent home could be completed in the fall, DiMichele said
FYI. If Cannoneer No. 4 still has the Stryker ping list please bump with it.
My guess would be the Knox option would entail a swap - Stryker Bde for Knox, light bde in Hawaii. Of course also looming is the proposal to increase the size of the Army and add four brigade combat teams - they will have to go somewhere.
Is Knox still full of those "temporary" barracks built in the early 40's?
The IBCT facilities (barracks) will not be completed in time for the proposed move so the IBCT is heading to Ft Hood for a year. It would make sense for them to go to Hawaii and send the SBCT here to Knox as a trade. But when did the Army do anything that made sense? :-)
Nope, about 95% are gone.
The SBCTTSG (ChABN) ping list is on my About page. Cut & paste it anytime.
The decision to put a Stryker Bde in Hawaii never made sense to me in the first place. Even with the proposed increases in training areas, there will never be enough to support the brigade. Plus, you have very high shipping costs every time the brigade needs to deploy or go to the Mainland. But, it was a political decision, IMO.
Perhaps the Envirowackos are doing the Army a favor, providing an excuse to fix a mistake.
The unit is being transformed in Hawaii, but opposition from environmental and cultural groups has caused the Army to reconsider.
An environmental impact statement completed in 2004 determined Hawaii was a suitable location for the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The unit was scheduled to transform from the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light).
Environmental impact statement! Excuse me?
I think I'm getting a headache now.
I've got it covered for Cannoneer. Pinging:
Stryker Brigade Combat Team Tactical Studies Group (Chairborne)
interesting. but not mentioned: were the two stryker soldiers related?
.
NEVER FORGET
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The Pictures
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The Heroism
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NEVER FORGET
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Bump
Just speaking for myself, I would welcome the move to Alaska - Ft Richardson. We could use the extra folks.
And we have a LOT of room.
Oh, and a lot of cold weather.
Well, room to train is one thing, and maybe they can only train a BN at a time, but the shipping thing makes perfect sense to me. I'm sure it cost plenty to ship my Stryker from Lewis to Kuwait. It also took a long time. Shipping from Hawaii would be that much faster/cheaper, I would imagine.
The other part that caught my eye here was the "must be deployable by November" line. That's only about 10 months from now. If these enviro-whackjobs and bureaucrats actually move them to Knox, you're talking probably about 3 or so of those 10 months gone, solely devoted to packing, moving, and resettling into a new permanent home station. So that leaves about 7 or so months to go from 60% transformed to fully deployable in-theater. Not a chance. CAN it be done? Sure. The Cav BDE that replaced my Stryker BDE in Mosul had only been stood up about 9 months prior. Were they nearly as good as my BDE who had combat vet NCOs and well-trained Soldiers (we had about an 18 month train-up)? Not even in the same league as us. So while it can be done, it is a really bad idea to try to rush that sort of thing. But what do I know? According to a lot of decision makers, rank and wisdom are directly proportional, which makes me very unwise...
Came back to FKKY from RVN in Oct 66 in the middle of a huge blizzard that shut down the place for a week. All the barracks burned high-sulfur coal, the stink of which hung in your nostrils until April.
If I want to get nostalgic about the good old USAARMC&S -- and I don't -- I need simply chug-a-lug a 40oz Ballantine Ale, wolf down a half-dozen hard-boiled eggs and wait for a giant fart. Oh, the memories that rush back! And that ain't all....
This is the part I don't get. Do the Strykers leak that much oil that they would contaminate the environment? They have been operating in Alaska, Fairbanks, without any noticeable environmental problem, and 60 below ought to bring any such problems to light if anything will.
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