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The Iraqi military has ordered equipment for its forces totaling more than $6 billion, according to sales notices sent to the US Congress. The weapons will be used to upgrade the equipment used by Iraqi Security Forces and expand their capabilities for internal and external defense.

CAMP SHELBY, Miss., Dec. 2, 2008 – About 4,000 soldiers representing the National Guard’s only Stryker brigade will deploy to Iraq in early 2009. The Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team has been transforming to a Stryker brigade since October 2004. After they were alerted of their pending deployment in October 2007, the brigade’s soldiers have been training at the Joint Forces Training Center here. They will continue on to Fort Polk, La., for additional training before they make their way to Iraq. "The training we have done at Camp Shelby has been a good building block allowing...

Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS). In addition to battling insurgents in the cities of Iraq, the soldiers assigned to the armored support vehicle have had to fend off attacks from critics back home, including some in the military itself. The 2008 Pentagon Authorization bill included language to limit funds for MGS until the Army drafts a report detailing fixes to the vehicle. In an annual report that the Army disputed, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation described the MGS as “not operationally effective.” Media reports quoting crews unhappy with some design elements also surfaced this year, further diminishing...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2008 – A neighborhood formerly overrun by al Qaeda in Baghdad’s Rashid district has been cleared of the enemy and is starting to thrive again, a U.S. commander in Iraq said. The sanctuary al Qaeda had in eastern Rashid’s Hadar neighborhood was “one of the last significant concentrations of al Qaeda in Baghdad,” Army Col. John RisCassi said yesterday during a teleconference with online journalists and “bloggers.” RisCassi is commander of the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which began conducting operations to remove al Qaeda from eastern Rashid in September. “The regiment had great success,”...

TIKRIT, Iraq – Stryker Brigade Soldiers killed two and detained seven individuals during an operation in Baquba Jan. 1.Three of the detainees are known members of an improvised explosive device cell operating in the Baquba area.Soldiers of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., conducted the raid in the Baquba suburb of Burhitz.“It was a successful operation in that we captured seven detainees, and when we were engaged by anti-Coalition Forces, our Soldiers returned fire and were able to ward off the attack, killing two of...

Stryker Soldier Awarded Distinguished Service Cross Dec 13, 2007 BY Spc. Vincent Fusco Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey pins the Distinguished Service Cross on Sgt. Gregory Williams for his actions during a firefight after an IED stopped his Stryker in Baghdad. Photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew MacRoberts FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska (Army News Service, Dec. 13, 2007) - A 1st Stryker Brigade Soldier who saved the life of his platoon leader was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross Dec. 12 at Fort Wainwright for his actions during an ambush in Iraq. Sgt. Gregory Williams received the Army's second-highest award...

TAJI — “There will be no walking on my site,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tyroid Weston, a truck driver in the 202nd Brigade Support Battalion, to the new platoon of Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers recently at CampTaji. “You are Strykers, you are swift and lethal; do you understand?” Weston and his team of four other non-commissioned officers with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., graduate a new platoon of IA Soldiers every (10) days from the Iraqi Army Stryker Training Course in Taji. The course is designed to get IA Soldiers ready to...

Anti-war protests have returned to the Port of Olympia with the unloading of a military ship bearing Army gear from a Stryker Brigade that recently returned to nearby Fort Lewis from Iraq. According to an initial news release Sunday from Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the group at first did not plan to try to block cargo from being sent from the port to the Army post ... Late Monday, however, after the arrival of 950-foot roll-on, roll-off cargo vessel, group leaders said a series of votes and discussions resulted in a change in strategy. "As long as the war in...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2007 – U.S. soldiers are sweeping through a Baghdad neighborhood to clear out explosives and extremists, a coalition commander said today. “We've been working in the East Rashid district going after the bad guys and doing very, very well and trying to give a little hope to the Iraqis … so they don't have to live in fear any more,” Army Col. John RisCassi told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Iraq. RisCassi commands 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, a rapid response mobile force deployed from Vilseck, Germany, and assigned to Multinational Division Baghdad. He...

BAGHDAD — The essence of an insurgent-dominated neighborhood of the Iraqi capital's East Rashid District is evident as Soldiers weave through the desolate, maze-like streets peppered with improvised explosive devices. Several doors and gates are painted with evidence of a fanatic Muslim stronghold. “In the name of God, I take back this house from the non-Muslim,” a Sunni interpreter reads from a gate. “Signed, al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Despite the dangers that linger behind street corners and on rooftops, the Vilseck, Germany-based 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, currently with Multi-National Division – Baghdad, wanted to send a clear message to...

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Sept. 11, 2007 – When the first planeload of soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade returned here last night after their second deployment to Iraq, they didn’t arrive to a darkened, padlocked brigade headquarters. Members of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade rear detachment at Fort Lewis, Wash., prepare for the unit’s redeployment from Iraq. From left are: Darlene Pacheco, the brigade’s family-assistant representative; Melissa Townsend, wife of Brigade Commander Col. Steve Townsend; and Army Maj. Kyle Marsh, rear detachment commander. Photo by Donna Miles   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Elite brigade is his to rev up By Tom Infield Inquirer Staff Writer CLEM MURRAY / Inquirer Staff Photographer Pa. National Guard brigade gets a new Fighting Machine Map: Stryker Brigade Combat Team Locations Lt. Col. Marc Ferraro was 6,000 miles from Iraq when six national guardsmen from Pennsylvania were killed by bomb blasts during a four-day period in August 2005. It fell to him, as commander of their home battalion, to notify most of the soldiers' families. He recalls it as the most trying period of his life, except for the two times his younger son had to undergo...

Route Tampa is the major supply route for Coalition forces in Iraq. Billions of dollars’ worth of gear and supplies are pumped up the northbound artery, while rumbling down the southbound vein back to Kuwait are damaged vehicles, units returning from a year or longer at war and convoys of empty trucks. Along the way, thousands of blue, black and clear plastic bags twirl, swirl and skitter in the hot dusty winds. The bags ramble about like so much plastic tumbleweed; aligning along the wind, drifting along the desert currents until they catch on nettles, concertina or the shards of...

Map BAQUBAH, IRAQ — Troops in armored vehicles swept through this city north of Baghdad on Tuesday as the U.S. military launched a major offensive as part of a significant shift of focus from inside the capital to surrounding areas. American commanders say the offensive, which involves about 10,000 U.S. troops in Baqubah and other parts of Diyala province, is designed to stop the flow of bombs into Baghdad.

Overall, the article "U.S. Strykers take beating in Iraq" by Robert H. Reid and Anne Flaherty (World, June 6) presents a fairly balanced view of what some critics view as shortcomings of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the Stryker family of combat vehicles. However, as I read through the article, several thoughts occurred to me. First, the Army did more than hope to create a faster, more agile armored unit than those equipped with tanks but with more firepower and protection than light-infantry units -- it did exactly that. The Army's Stryker Brigades are the fastest, most agile, most...

BAGHDAD — A string of heavy losses from powerful roadside bombs has raised new questions about the vulnerability of the Stryker, the Army's troop-carrying vehicle hailed by supporters as the key to a leaner, more mobile force. Since the Strykers went into action in violent Diyala province north of Baghdad two months ago, losses of the vehicles have been rising steadily, U.S. officials said. A single infantry company in Diyala lost five Strykers this month in less than a week, according to soldiers familiar with the losses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release...

BAQOUBA, Iraq — Soldiers with 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment continued their systematic attack on terrorist forces in Baqouba with another clearing operation in the city, April 10. In this latest effort, Soldiers of 5-20 Inf. Regt., 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., spent three days clearing the neighborhood of Buhriz, described by Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Bruce Antonia as “al-Qaida’s battleground.” When the Stryker battalion first arrived in Baqouba in March, it encountered resistance from the neighborhood’s insurgents in the form of roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenade fire and small arms fire.

Last week, I wrote about the Gathering of Eagles (www.gatheringofeagles.org) -- veterans, active-duty troops, bikers, activists and ordinary citizens coming to Washington, D.C., on March 17 to hold a counterprotest against tens of thousands of anti-war extremists demanding immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. In Washington state this week, the peace brigade held a dress rehearsal at the Port of Tacoma -- where they showed support for our troops by taunting the Stryker Brigade and local police guarding against obstruction of the convoys headed to Iraq. More than 300 Stryker vehicles and other equipment are being moved...

Cpl. Joseph Casiano, a native of San Antonio, and Spc. David Tunstall, a native of Alexandria, Va., both with Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, search through a bag they found on top of a vehicle in Baghdad Thursday. BAGHDAD -- The ramp drops, the sun rises and the troops emerge. The missions vary and everyone has a different, but equally important job. The troops on the ground in Baghdad work every job from quick reaction force to humanitarian missions. The mission for Soldiers with Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry...

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...