Fiddle's Green

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by bobcat

am i the only rider here that considers the stryker a worthy mount. granted its not tracked. well it can get places a track can't. so its got lighter armor and when has that ever stopped us? so what that its light REAL CAVALRY IS LIGHT! give me one good reason why the stryker is less worthy a mount than a brad. i say light and mobile beats heavy and stuck to roads in any cavalry fight. not to mention tracks CANNOT run silent the stryker can. granted i've had to walk into every fight i've been in. but being able to move in before the bad guys know im there is what cavalry does. its not about tanks its about mobility. and the ability to fight on your terms not the other guys. GSP would disown the 2ACR if he heard half of this.

Okay...lets try it this way...nobody has argued that heavy armor is the way to go for the recon role. Rather the arguement has been about replacing heavy armor with Stryker. But consider this, the US has offered the Stryker to Canada, turned down; it was offered to the UK, turned down; its been looked over by the Germans, turned down....hmmmm thats 0 for 3. Could this be a trend? Is it possible that three separate militaries perhaps see something wrong with the design?

Now, I don't know about what the modern Army is teaching, but I was always able to sneak in a M-1. That's a 65-ton tank, going cross-country, on the roads and getting within 150 meters of dismounted infantry before they picked up on me...and it wasn't a one time only. The Canadians called the M-1 "Whispering Death" because you couldn't hear that turbine until it was too late. The Bradleys that were issued to the 2ACR were almost as good. Sneaking with a vehicle is easy, as long as you have an experienced crew. It may surprise you to learn that I happen to belive that a light vehicle for the cavalry role is needed...but is the Stryker that vehicle? I do not feel that it is...my opinion, my viewpoint and presented on this forum for logical, reasonable discussion.

I have had the chance to take a Stryker down range, it didn't impress me. The 105mm version, I am afraid to fire over the side due to the tendency of the vehicle to roll...maybe it's me, but if you put a big frikin gun on a souped up armored car and it rolls over when you fire...there is something seriously wrong with the design!

Watching the Strykers at Fort Irwin was also an exercise in entertainment. The brigade I was observing had the flaming vehicle for a year, and the sheer number of Strykers that were broken down due to them trying a high speed run over the washboard was amazing...one company left 9 Strykers with broken axles...and 1 stuck in between a pair of outcroppings that were just that that much too tight.

And then there are the electronics....what kind of brain-dead idiot decided to save money by using off-the-shelf CIVILIAN electronics? Perhaps the same one that decided the 105mm cannon was suitable for mounting on the Stryker?

Now you are probably wondering how a old tanker such as myself could possible have access to Strykers and be able to see what a "wonderful" vehicle this thang is? Well I work as an auditor for the DoD, so I get the chance to travel and examine these wonderful programs...

And finally, there is this...my brother has finished his third tour in Iraq with Stryker...I have seven cousins and two nephews serving with the Army and Marines. My next door neighbor is active-duty NG in Afghanistan...so I tend to hear quite about about the shortcomings of a certain vehicle. The Stryker is either loved or hated...and the really funny thing is that when the troops have to take the Stryker into heavy combat, the more the opinion is against the vehicle.

And finally, I frankly have never cared what other people's opinion of me and my opinions, after all I proudly served to defend the very right to do so and you are certainly entitled to your opinion...but for you to pop a comment such as how GSP would have disowned the 2ACR for hearing half of this...I can only say that if you are so petty as to blame an outstanding regiment for the opinions of a few former members.....well, thats a pretty poor frikin stand to make.

Happy New Year, Bobcat, and if you have another tour in Iraq/Afghanistan, please come home safe.