What Light Divisions were there left to convert... The 25th and 10th Mountain? Yeah I agree with that the 2nd Infantry Division organization should of been left intact as two of its three combat Brigades were transferred to the States. I believe for the 25th Infantry Division there are 3 Stryker Brigades and 1 Airborne Brigade and I think 10th Mountain has 1 Stryker Brigade or that was one of the ideas that I know that was going around.
I did notice that there were plans to add a 5th Brigade to the remaining Armor/Mechanized/Cavalry Divisions that would of been essential new Styker Brigades. The striking to me is when the Army looked to transformed into Units of Actions the 3 or so Stryker Brigades that they had already fielded or in training were left untouched. By this time the 2nd Armored Cavalry had already turned it M1s and M3s for HMMWVs and then it later was converted to Stryker Brigade.
Every Division with the exceptions of those converted to Stryker or plans to be converted to Stryker concept were the ones gutted. Why does the Stryker Brigade still have 3 Stryker Infantry Battalions, 1 Cavalry Squadron (RSTA), 1 Artillery Battalion, plus the two support Battalions. Which leaves these Brigade as the largest combat Brigade left in the Army.
While rest of the army went from Armor/Mechanized Brigades converted from there 2:1 mix of battalions depending on if it was Armor or Mechanize Brigade which didn't have a Cavalry Squadron into two Heavy Battalions (Task Forces, one retaining an Mechanized Infantry title and the other an Armor title), 1 Cavalry Squadron (RSTA) (magically be converting the remain Brigade if you believe what some sources would like you to believe), and reduce Artillery Battalion dropping a Fire Battery and having it Forward Support Battalion and new Special Support Battalion made up troop taken from Division support units. Some have charge that this was largely a mistake in reducing these Brigades by 1/3 of the former combat power, when in reality they were ahead somewhat. When you realize that Mechanized and Armor Battalions had been reduced to 3 Companies instead of 4 Companies they had back in the 1980s and early 1990s. The two Heavy Task Forces had 2 Armor and 2 Mechanized Companies for a total of 4 of each. The old Mechanized Brigade had 6 Mechanized and 3 Armor Companies. The old Armor was reverse. So technically the Heavy Brigades lost one combat Company and one Artillery Battery. Yet, they gain in Special Support Battalion troops, the Cavalry Squadron (RSTA) giving the Brigade commander eye and ears with having to rely on the Battalions recon elements or Divisional Cavalry Squadron assets. With excess Armor and Mechanized Companies, Battalion HQs, and the Artillery Batteries were used to form newly retasked Brigades. Namely the Engineer and Artillery Brigades HQs depending on which reports you go by. Oh yeah Engineer Company were added to each Heavy Battalion or a Engineer Battalion was added to the Brigade again there are various conflicting reports.
The 82nd and 101st Division basically lost 1/9th of the combat Infantry Battalion since the new Unit of Action was also shoved on them. With Brigade going from 3 Battalions, 1 Field Artillery Battalion, and Forward Support Battalion into 2 Battalions, 1 Field Artillery Battalion (again reduced by one Battery), Forward Support became the Support Battalion, with Cavalry Squardon (RSTA) and Special Troop Battalions added. Ironically this conformed to the 173rd Airborne Brigade that had been used in Northern Iraq with huge success according to reports with slight modifications to it organization. The 10th Mountain did the same thing with it two brigade. What happen was the excess Artillery Batteries and extra Battalions were used in the Field Artillery Brigade to convert it into another combat Brigade. The excess Airborne and Air Assault Battalion were used by some reports to help make the Cavalry Squadrons depending on who was writing the reports.
With that done supposedly the Cavalry Squadrons (RSTA) at brigade level were suppose to be almost identical from Division to Division, but by looking at various sites it doesn't seem to be the case.
So I don't see where the Heavy Divisions were gutted in favor of the new Stryker Brigades. If any Division has a reason to complain it would be the 2nd Infantry. They went from having 1 Armor, 1 Mech, and 1 'Air Assault' Brigades to having 1 Armor and 3 Stryker Brigade (reinforcements) to support them. Granted on paper each of other division, their brigades lost some combat power, but for the Heavy Divisions the change from 9 Battalion with 3 Companies for 27 Companies to 8 Battalions with 4 Companies increasing to 32 Companies. Artillery wise they lost one fire Battery. The Light units effectively lost 3 companies and 1 battery.
So it kinda a mix bag of things. Like I said I wish the Strykers Brigades had seen the same cuts. Then instead of the 8 they have now, they could have 12 Stryker Brigades...lol Of course, with the Armor Company that they airlifted to Support the 173rd Airborne Brigade that they haven't attached an Armor Company to all Brigade and Divisional Cavalry Squadrons of the 10th, 25th, 82nd, 101st Divisions!
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