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SBCT certification about more than vehicle capabilities

by Joe Burlas

FORT POLK, La. (Army News Service, May 22, 2003) -- While the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team undergoes Initial Operational Capability testing at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La., May 15-27, evaluators are examining more than just what the new armored vehicle can do, officials told visiting media May 21.

The IOC evaluation is the one of the last steps necessary for Fort Lewis, Washington's 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division to be declared fit to join the ranks of Army units ready to deploy across the globe whenever and wherever needed.

The unit will likely undergo a Full Operational Capability evaluation at a future date when it has all of its equipment, officials said. The brigade has a full complement of eight of the 10 Stryker armored vehicle types the SBCT table of organization and equipment calls for. The Mobile Gun System and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Strykers are still under development, with limited production currently scheduled for next year.

Until the 105-mm cannon equipped MGS Stryker can be fielded, SBCTs will use a Stryker Infantry Carrier modified to carry the Improved Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-command-link guided missile. The MGS is not designed to be a tank killer, but rather a fortification/bunker buster.

"This (IOC evaluation) is Transformation for sure, but it is not just about that Stryker vehicle," said Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, 1st Corps and Fort Lewis commanding general -- higher headquarters for 2nd ID. "It is about training today's junior leaders who will be the Army's future battalion, brigade and division or higher commanders; it's about transforming doctrine. It's about being the catalyst for the future as we travel the road to the Objective Force."

The results of the Fort Polk exercise, and those of an earlier 3rd Brigade exercise this month at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., will be analyzed and collated into a formal report that must be certified by Gen. Larry Ellis, Army Forces Command commanding general. The IOC report then will be passed through the secretary of Defense to Congress. That report should be ready for Ellis by early June, said Brig. Gen. John Gardner, deputy commanding general for Transformation, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and possibly sent to Congress by the end of the summer.

Gardner reported the NTC phase of the evaluation did reveal "some minor glitches and problems with (SBCT) equipment and procedures" and he expects some more of the same from the Fort Polk exercise. Those glitches and problems will be corrected through equipment modifications and unit training this summer. He said he is confident that the final IOC report will be overall favorable.

"The NTC phase of the exercise truly exceeded any expectations we had (of the SBCT) going in," Gardner said.

And it has exceeded the expectations of Spc. Jack Shaffer, an infantryman and command Stryker driver in Company C, 5/20th Infantry, who moved to 2nd ID from an assignment with 172nd Infantry Brigade (Separate), Fort Wainwright, Alaska. A light unit, the 172nd uses High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle and a modified cargo snowmobile to traverse the terrain. The 172nd is slated to start transforming into a SBCT next year, with an IOC evaluation in May 2005.

Shaffer said he particularly liked how mobile the Stryker is -- quicker than a HMMWV, quieter and able to move across terrain the HMMWV cannot handle.

He said he also liked the central air inflator system that allows tire pressure changes based upon the terrain from inside the vehicle. He said the system was also handy when his vehicle experienced a flat at NTC earlier this month.

"We had been going 10 days and were on our last mission when one of the center tires went flat," Shaffer said. "The adjustor isolated that tire and kept the air flowing to it to keep it inflated. We continued the mission without any problem."

The Army's first Stryker brigade tested its strategic mobility in moving from NTC to JRTC -- moving by air, rail, flat-bed trailer and sea. The air portion of the move included C-17 and C-141 aircraft to move about a battalion's worth of Strykers. The sea part included roll-on, roll-off ships and High Speed Vessels.

"In a 26-year career, the movement was the most complex I have seen," Gardner said. "It went extremely well."

Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, JRTC chief of Operations, gave the reporters an update on how 2nd Brigade was doing in the exercise. He said the brigade controlled about twice the area a regular light infantry brigade has in the past four days after arriving. The brigade also had only one simulated fratricide compared to 12-14 friendly-fire incidents other brigades normally got after 270 contacts with the opposing force, Brown said.

Gardner said the difference in both cases reflected the SBCT increased situational awareness of the battlefield -- the ability to see first, decide first and finish decisively through a number of assets often found only at division or corps level, if at all. It is also a case of the SBCT being able to quickly share information down to squad level through a networked digital system of systems -- allowing mission planning on the move and with real-time data.

For Lt. Col. Rob Choppa, 5/23rd Infantry battalion commander, the ability of the Stryker to go where Bradley Infantry Vehicles, Abrams tanks and HMMWV cannot has saved friendly lives -- if only simulated in the exercise.

"The OPFOR was amazed at our ability to go wherever we wanted," Choppa said. "It allowed us to meet the enemy where we wanted to -- not where he wanted to."