The Army has recorded its first combat deaths in new “double V” hull Strykers that were designed to provide better protection against improvised explosives, according to an update on the vehicle in Stars and Stripes newspaper.
Three soldiers from the Alaska-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, formerly based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, were killed in separate attacks on double V Strykers last month.
News of their deaths reverberates at Lewis-McChord, the home of three Stryker brigades that have been or could be called up to deploy to Afghanistan.
Commanders in the Alaska brigade told Stars and Stripes that the new Strykers, in the field for more than six months, are saving lives; until last month, soldiers had escaped from attacks with minor injuries. But they declined to compare the new model of the eight-wheeled infantry vehicle to others.
“At this point, we are not going to compromise the success that we have had with these vehicles and point out the weaknesses or the strengths of either vehicle,” Maj. David Mattox told the newspaper.
Stryker brigades were born at Lewis-McChord and have deployed to Iraq several times with their traditional flat-bottom vehicles.
Lewis-McChord’s 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division became the first Stryker brigade to deploy to Afghanistan.
It lost 37 soldiers in its 2009-10 deployment, mostly in bomb blasts. The brigade is now flagged as the 2nd Brigade, and it recently spent a month training for a possible combat mission to Afghanistan.
Lewis-McChord’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is hitting the ground in Afghanistan this month. It fought with Strykers three times in Iraq but is using MRAPs and M-ATVs on this deployment.
Adam Ashton, adam.ashton@thenewstribune.com
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