Stryker brigade off to Iraq in state's largest deployment since WWII

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Stryker brigade off to Iraq in state's largest deployment since WWII

By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

FORT LEWIS -- As friends and families gathered on the parade ground here to send the 4,000- member Stryker infantry brigade to war, 4,000 more Washington-based National Guard troops prepared to do the same.

At the Stryker departure ceremony, four-star Army Gen. Larry Ellis addressed the troops, massed on the picnic green parade ground before more than 2,000 supporters as they begin the countdown to their first mission in Iraq.


Joshua Trujillo / P-I
Tessa Brassard kisses U.S. Army Spc. Josh Apel after the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Stryker infantry brigade's official departure ceremony at Fort Lewis near Tacoma. More than 2,000 family members, friends and other supporters gathered for Thursday's sendoff of the brigade, which is headed for its first mission in Iraq.
"You must keep your full attention on the mission at hand," he said. "Be observant, alert and always on the lookout for the unthinkable."

As the ceremonies took place, Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, commander of the state's National Guard based just across the highway at Camp Murray, received orders that his 81st Armored Brigade is to be mobilized to begin training for Iraq on Nov. 15.

"This is the largest deployment of Washington service personnel since World War II," Gov. Gary Locke said of the newly federalized state troops.

Of the brigade's more than 4,000 soldiers, more than 80 percent live and work in Washington state.

Ellis assured soldiers in the Army's new prototype Stryker brigade that the Army will watch over the families they leave behind.

"While you are in Iraq, your families will be soldiering on here," he said. And to the families, he added, "The best way to support soldiers overseas is to be strong at home."

Sgt. John Young, a Stryker infantry squad leader, and his wife, Andrea, both 24, reflected on the close bond not only among many husbands and wives, but also among the troops themselves. Because they have no children, the Youngs decided he can forgo the two weeks' leave soldiers might later receive, and donate it to other Stryker brigade soldiers whose wives are expecting babies while they are deployed.

"We would rather have families with children take advantage of that," John Young said. "I'm not going to get our hopes up for the leave, anyway."

Two Stryker soldiers, Staff Sgt. Dale Clark, 35, an electronics shop foreman, and Spc. Phillip Griffith, 32, an infantry fire team leader, are married.

The couple's three children will be cared for in their absence by their maternal grandmother.


Joshua Trujillo / P-I
Amy Cordes, left, Natasha Woodward, center, and Amanda Stone hold up flags during the departure ceremony for the Stryker infantry brigade.
An Army policy allows the grandmother to have access to Fort Lewis' commissary, post exchange and other benefits to help with the children.

"My 8-year-old seems to have a good concept of the whole thing of us going over," Clark said. The other two, ages 4 and 6, seem more excited that grandma is coming, they joked.

"We're just trying to spend as much time together as a family as we can before we leave," Griffith said.

Ellis, commander of the Army's Force Command that has headquarters at Fort McPherson, Ga., warned of "uncharted waters" ahead. The 34-year Army veteran, whose early career included service with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, spoke of a harsh climate, long hours and a complex political and military situation.

While some Iraqis "will greet you as saviors, I also know there are those who will seek to harm you," he said.

The nine flags of the brigade's various units were "cased," or furled, signifying the shift of its "transformation" mission at Fort Lewis, where it was created as a prototype of the 21st Century Army combat infantry unit. In Iraq the colors will be uncased, signifying the unit's first operational mission.

The Stryker brigade is actually the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, which traces its heritage back to 1917. The unit was a heavy-armor brigade until October 1999, when Gen. Eric Shinseki, former U.S. Army chief of staff, selected it to become a lighter, faster, more lethal prototype infantry unit.

P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com