XBradTC

Eastern Europe, here comes the cavalry.

The U.S. Army says it will soon be sending armored Stryker vehicles on a 1,100-mile convoy through six European countries to show solidarity to allies in the wake of recent Russian actions in the Ukraine and Crimea that have Eastern Europe on edge.

The move was first reported Thursday in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. U.S. Army Europe posted the Stripes story on its website on Friday.

The convoy is “a highly visible demonstration of U.S, commitment to its NATO allies and demonstrating NATO’s ability to move military forces freely across allied borders in close cooperation,” U.S. Army Europe spokesman Lt. Col. Craig Childs, said in a statement, according to the Stripes report.

via U.S. Army sending armored convoy 1,100 miles through Europe – CNN.com.

Apparently the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry (SBCT) is going for a bit of a drive in the countryside.
Honestly, a single Stryker Battalion (which, in spite of the Cavalry name is really an Infantry unit) isn’t a lot of combat power. But that’s not the point, is it? Simply showing the flag and demonstrating some goodwill is the whole idea here.

Interestingly, for all the criticism some quarters like to rain upon the Stryker, this shows one of its strengths. Wheeled vehicles may lack some off road mobility, but they also have a much greater ability to self deploy within a given theater. A Combined Arms Battalion of tanks and Bradleys would require massive support from Heavy Equipment Transporters or rail transport to make similar movements.

Of course, rather than thinking of the Stryker as an armored fighting vehicle, I tend to think of it more as a truck that can repel small arms fire. The real purpose, the “main battery” of the Stryker is the rifle squad it carries.

Just as an historical aside, I’ve been right there where this picture was taken. As the 1st Armored Division deployed to Desert Shield, my (then) unit wasn’t tasked to deploy, but the other battalions on post were. We helped those units with loading their vehicles onto a series of trains. If I recall correctly, the railhead was fairly close to the NCO club.