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Stryker Brigade moves across country for evaluation at Polk

FORT POLK, La. (Army News Service, May 15, 2003) -- The Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team will complete a cross-country move this weekend from the west coast to air and seaports in Louisiana in preparation for the brigade's operational evaluation exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center.

The exercise, named Arrowhead Lightning II, will assess the SBCT's ability to conduct early entry and combat operations in a mid- to low- intensity environment against an unconventional enemy, officials said. The exercise starts this weekend and will last through the end of May.

Following a month-long training event at Fort Irwin, Calif., that ended in mid-April, the brigade transported 1,500 vehicles -- including 293 Stryker vehicles -- by air, land and sea to ports close to Fort Polk. Last week, five Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft flew 45 missions in 42 hours to strategically airlift most of a Stryker vehicles from Fort Sill, Okla., to Alexandria, La. Simultaneously, an Army logistics support vessel transported another 200 vehicles from Beaumont, Texas, to the Port of Lake Charles, La.

More than 800 vehicles from the SBCT rolled off the U.S. Navy Fast Sealift Ship Bellatrix at the Port of Lake Charles last weekend.

The vehicles are convoying to Chennault, La., to join up with the vehicles transported by air to begin a final movement tonight to Fort Polk.

This week several thousand brigade soldiers flew from Fort Lewis, Wash., to Chennault Airfield to meet up with their equipment. Once the link-up is completed, the entire brigade will converge on Fort Polk by ground convoy and C-17 airlift to begin the exercise this weekend.

The Stryker Brigade Combat Team is the newest unit in the Army inventory, designed to fill an operational gap between the Army's heavy and light forces. The SBCT is more responsive, deployable, agile, versatile and sustainable than current heavy forces with increased lethality and survivability over the Army's lighter forces.

The Stryker, an eight-wheeled medium-weight armored vehicle, is the SBCT's primary combat and combat support system. Significantly lighter and more transportable than existing tanks and armored vehicles, the Stryker allows the SBCT to be strategically and tactically deployable, officials said, and capable of rapid movement worldwide.

The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is the first unit in the Army to train at two of the Army's premier training centers back-to-back.

Upon completion of the operational evaluation exercise, the Army will prepare a report to the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary of Defense must then certify to Congress that the results of the evaluation indicate the design of the SBCT is operationally effective and fully trained before it can be deployed on missions worldwide.