Stryker Brigade loading for Iraq now...

[MKSheppard]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/143 ... ker11.html

TACOMA -- The Army's faster and more versatile new Stryker brigade, developed at Fort Lewis, yesterday began loading more than 2,500 combat vehicles and equipment aboard cavernous ships bound for a monthlong voyage to Iraq.

But some of the troops in this vanguard of the 21st-century Army carry things more personal.

Capt. Roy Montgomery's wife, Karen, gave him a special journal in which to record all that the 25-year-old Arizona native's senses will take in.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hall, a 52- year-old Tennessean who joined the military in 1968 during the Vietnam War, will again take the coin his wife has given him during all his deployments.

Staff Sgt. John Vuksinic, 34, of Chicago will take pictures and memories of the early Christmas he just celebrated with his 2-year-old son, Seth, and wife, Karen, a middle-school math teacher.

"She got me a new laptop for the dirt over there to eat up," he said. "And every husband will have a picture of his wife."

The men and women of the unit are busy gathering memories to savor once they are gone.

"We appreciate the little things more. Taking my wife to dinner, sitting on a couch watching television while my son climbs all over me, these are little things we don't take for granted," Vuksinic said yesterday as the brigade's heavy-combat vehicles rumbled aboard the Navy ship Sisler.

The three soldiers are members of the Fort Lewis-based 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the first of two Stryker brigades created over the last three years as the Army begins to transform itself from a Cold War leviathan into a quicker, leaner fighting force.

The brigade's 3,600 soldiers will fly to Iraq later this month.

Nearly 2,500 Army vehicles have been rolling in convoys from Fort Lewis to the Port of Tacoma this week to load aboard Military Sealift Command's Sisler and USNS Shugart.

Among them are about 300 of the new Stryker vehicles for which the unit is nicknamed, but whose usefulness and safety were questioned last month after a third of their ceramic armor was found to be defective in live-fire tests.

Yesterday, Lt. Col. Robert Choppa, the deputy brigade commander, said the problem has been fixed.

"All 3mm armor added to the vehicles has been done," Choppa said, referring to the plan to fix the problem by adding steel backing to existing armor.

General Dynamics Land Systems, which built the Strykers, rushed several teams of experts to Fort Lewis to strengthen the vehicles within a month after tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland revealed that several different tile types could not stop small-arms fire slightly larger than a .50-caliber bullet.

The Strykers, at $1.5 million each, are the Army's first new combat vehicles in 20 years. Swift and smooth riding with better mileage than any tactical armored vehicle, they can carry 11 soldiers each and feature personal computers capable of "seeing" friend and foe.

None of the soldiers who will use them, who helped create them and trained in every kind of scenario from close combat to major engagements, voiced a hint of a concern with the Strykers.

"We've put them through tests in desert environments in California and in heat and humidity in Louisiana," said Hall, a senior sergeant.

"Now, basically, we have more intelligence-gathering systems -- we have the technology to 'see' the enemy at a distance before we engage."

Vuksinic, who already served in Iraq during Desert Storm but in the Air Force, said flatly, "I have full confidence in the Stryker."

Although attention has fallen upon the vehicles, it is the troops, their training and composition that really differentiate the Stryker brigades.

For the first time, the Army has fully integrated combined arms at the company level -- a coming together, for example, of soldiers proficient in mortars, artillery, armor and infantry into the smaller unit. And most of this brigade has been together since its inception three years ago.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

And now we get to see if the armoured car retains any feasability in patrolling occupied countries.

[Stuart Mackey]

This will be interesting. NZ has, or will have, a bunch of these, as the LAV3 with 25mm bushmaster cannon. Ours have quite a few differences I understand but the basic vehicle is the same.

[Sea Skimmer]

This will be interesting. NZ has, or will have, a bunch of these, as the LAV3 with 25mm bushmaster cannon. Ours have quite a few differences I understand but the basic vehicle is the same.

They share nothing but the basics of the chassis. The armor, armament, electronics and a few other things are completely different.

General Dynamics Land Systems, which built the Strykers, rushed several teams of experts to Fort Lewis to strengthen the vehicles within a month after tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland revealed that several different tile types could not stop small-arms fire slightly larger than a .50-caliber bullet.

It's amazing how you can understate things so greatly while being accurate. KPV rounds are 14.5mm, only 1.8mm larger then a .50cal round, yet the bullet packs over twice the energy with far more mass, and is fired from a weapon more then twice as heavy, you cannot move it without a vehicle.

[Stuart Mackey]

This will be interesting. NZ has, or will have, a bunch of these, as the LAV3 with 25mm bushmaster cannon. Ours have quite a few differences I understand but the basic vehicle is the same.

They share nothing but the basics of the chassis. The armor, armament, electronics and a few other things are completely different.

Thats what I mean..never post when you need a feed.

[Tsyroc]

KPV rounds are 14.5mm, only 1.8mm larger then a .50cal round, yet the bullet packs over twice the energy with far more mass, and is fired from a weapon more then twice as heavy, you cannot move it without a vehicle.

That's definately not something to laugh at.

[Vympel]

Heaven forbid if they ever make a 14.5x115mm SLAP round, and it proliferates.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Heaven forbid if they ever make a 14.5x115mm SLAP round, and it proliferates.

The Steyr IWS 2000 came with a 14.5mm calibre barrel firing APFSDS rounds and 15.2mm, though the latter was the most successful in trials it seems. Not that the gun is anywhere near widely used...

[Sea Skimmer]

Heaven forbid if they ever make a 14.5x115mm SLAP round, and it proliferates.

Better for America enemies to be spending vast amounts on machine gun ammo, then say anti tank missiles, which will cause far more damage. Though it may not be possibul, it took a long time to design a SLAP round that would be accepted by the M2, to the point that several entirely new machine gun was designed and passed trials before it was done.

A 14.5mm SLAP round would be very expensive anyway and, your going to have large amounts expended shooting up infantry and such. That's why several new heavy machine guns have the ability to feed from two belts like many automatic cannon do, you can switch from cheep ball to SLAP with the flip of a switch. The CIS 50 comes to mind.

But then we have the ultimate machine gun, the FN-BRG15, which fires a 15.5x106mm cartridge at 3460 ft/sec, 1055 m/sec, it has dual feed as well. Its also light enough to be moved around by infantry.

The ball round can defeat 19mm of RHA at 800 meters, the KPV firing AP ammo can't manage that at 250 meters. In another test the bullets punched through one side and out of the other of a BMP at 1000 meters. AP and sabot is available, but no figures have been released for there performance.

Unfortunately, or perhapes fortunately, this gun is currently on the shelve and not being marketed, though it is fully developed and tested.

[
The Steyr IWS 2000 came with a 14.5mm calibre barrel firing APFSDS rounds and 15.2mm, though the latter was the most successful in trials it seems. Not that the gun is anywhere near widely used...

Because it's yet to see any production.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Sea Skimmer: I know, but I really want one.

[Howedar]

But then we have the ultimate machine gun, the FN-BRG15, which fires a 15.5x106mm cartridge at 3460 ft/sec, 1055 m/sec, it has dual feed as well. Its also light enough to be moved around by infantry.

The ball round can defeat 19mm of RHA at 800 meters, the KPV firing AP ammo can't manage that at 250 meters. In another test the bullets punched through one side and out of the other of a BMP at 1000 meters. AP and sabot is available, but no figures have been released for there performance.

Holy fuck!

[Admiral Valdemar]

But then we have the ultimate machine gun, the FN-BRG15, which fires a 15.5x106mm cartridge at 3460 ft/sec, 1055 m/sec, it has dual feed as well. Its also light enough to be moved around by infantry.

The ball round can defeat 19mm of RHA at 800 meters, the KPV firing AP ammo can't manage that at 250 meters. In another test the bullets punched through one side and out of the other of a BMP at 1000 meters. AP and sabot is available, but no figures have been released for there performance.

Holy fuck!

That'd be good at getting rid of pests around here like pigeons, rats, roaches, invading Neo-Nazi armies, football hooligans, Martian war machines...

[Worlds Spanner]

And they said the war was over...

[Admiral Valdemar]

And they said the war was over...

The original is. This is a new one, something that won't go away for a long time yet.

[Stuart Mackey]

And they said the war was over...

The original is. This is a new one, something that won't go away for a long time yet.

The Nazi Martian's from outer space? I tell you they have been just waiting to come back..and with whats happening in the gulf they are useing Bush's America to do their fighting..and once the world is cowed by the American legions, Bush will be revealed for the evil Alien tyrant he is...Only one person can save us now, one man who has the courage to do what is right, one man who can save the earth!
Elvis is not dead..he was kidnapped by the Alians who saw him as a threat..and only the denizens of ASVS and SD.Net can free him! its up to us men..and ladies!

[PainRack]

And they said the war was over...

The original is. This is a new one, something that won't go away for a long time yet.

The Nazi Martian's from outer space? I tell you they have been just waiting to come back..and with whats happening in the gulf they are useing Bush's America to do their fighting..and once the world is cowed by the American legions, Bush will be revealed for the evil Alien tyrant he is...Only one person can save us now, one man who has the courage to do what is right, one man who can save the earth!
Elvis is not dead..he was kidnapped by the Alians who saw him as a threat..and only the denizens of ASVS and SD.Net can free him! its up to us men..and ladies!

HE LIVES!!!!