Wednesday, October 25, 2006
General Ham on the Stryker in Iraq
An excellent article linked by Michael Yon, it details the Stryker's outstanding combat experiences so far.
"The other thing that we didn't really recognize until Samara was how
quiet the vehicle was. And in Samara they - the people started to talk
about the 'ghost soldiers' because the vehicle was so fast, so quiet, and
moved at night, often undetected, and then suddenly there would be an
overwhelming infantry strength they have to fight."
Drove over 3,050,000 miles
Average mileage per Stryker over the deployment was about
10,100 miles; about 842 miles/month per vehicle
OR rate over 330 days of combat operations was 94.66%
Withstood dozens of attacks
23 RPG
62 IED
5 Mortar
1 Mine
VCIED (car bombs)
2 Grenade
25 SAF (Small Arms Fire)
"So what does that leave us with? Well, I think that leaves us with - after
two years - two plus years in combat, as I look back and say, "Okay, how
did we do on meeting General Shinseki's vision?" Well, I think what we
have is we have created for our Army an extraordinarily capable current
tactical force. A force that has proven itself in close combat, in urban
combat, has demonstrated its ability to move long distances very, very
quickly, very organized, and be ready to fight when they arrive."
Now if only these things could fly, the Army would be even cooler. Then again, I guess that's why God created the A-10 Warthog.
posted by El Capitan at 8:58 AM
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