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Loverly...not only can they not bring it in in operational configuration, they also have to secure an airfield before it ever gets there.

THis completely voids the IBCT doctrine as I understand it. They are suppossed to hit the ground fighting. Not hit the ground, prepare a new airstrip, pull a 2 hour motor stable, piss away a couple of more hours uploading ammo and BII and then drive a considerable distance to engage the enemy.

The stryker has gotten heavier then the LAV due to army complaint about survivablity. The platform is not supposed to be used as a mini-tank. It can be given screen and recon but not guard missions. The USMC has been using this vehicle for years with success. As long as the Air Force stops shooting them in combat they have done well as designed. The bigger issue is that they are claiming they will deploy a brigade in 4 days. Bullshit.

Oh my. No, it was never intended as a vehicle to capture a hot airstrip. If you think about that, that is an impossible task...what transport aircraft would land on a hot LZ to offload any combat vehicle? Choppers may fly in and drop infantryman, but that is about it. We just would not do that with large transports and equipment...nor would the Air Force.

The O&O we developed for the IBCT (now called the SBCT for Stryker Brigade Combat Team) is the document that lays out the Operational and Organizational Requirements. The idea is that an Army AirBorne Brigade would be dropped in to capture an enemy airfield (as the 173 Bde did in northern Iraq). Once the airfield is secure, the C-130s start flying in and off-loading the Stryker's and the rest of the SBCT personnel and equipment. Because the SBCT can move via C-130 (which M1s and Bradleys cannot), these airfields can be very rudementry/unimproved airstrips. The Strykers can then move to (1) expand the airfield lodgement, or (2) conduct other tactical missions, all within minutes of landing. The BII, ammo, and some fuel is already on the vehicle. The crew just brings the weapon system (cal 50 MG or Grenade launcher on top of the vehicle) from its stored position (so it would fit on the C-130) to its upright position (takes just a couple of minutes), top off with fuel from the aircraft wing (it takes about 20-30 gallons per vehicle to top it off because it already has half a tank of fuel, so that does not take long nor hurt the C-130s fuel supply), and then lock and load their ammo. All in all you are talking about the first unit (a company) moving out in minutes. Keep in mind that right now it would take many days to do that with a M1 or Bradley company, if we could do it at all.

Think about what we could have done with the Styker Brigade if it would have been ready this past Spring. Once the 173d Bde took that Northern Iraqi airfield, they really could not do much more than just sit there...they were not maneuverable nor did they have a lot of combat power. In this case we could have had a Stryker combat units pouring out of there the same day and the days that followed. A medium weight mechanized combat force coming down from the North, with of without Turkey's support!

Again, I am not trying to say the Stryker is perfect, nor even that it can do everything it is advertised to do...we really will not know that until it is tested in Iraq over the coming months. But lets also not dismiss it too quickly. The idea is actually a very good one. It would have totally negated the entire 4ID issue with Turkey; as we could have moved part of the SBCT via ship, and/or flown part of the SBCT by C5 or C-17 from the US to Kuwait, then used C-130s to get them the last couple hundred miles into the Northern half of Iraq to that captured airfield, and thus had our desired two front attack...without any help from Turkey. Hmmm.....