Hawai'i Stryker brigade in doubt
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The Defense Department has decided to pay for a fourth Army Stryker Brigade Combat Team, but the fifth such unit — slated for Hawai'i — remains in doubt.
Associated Press
A budget aide to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld previously proposed cutting the number of the fast-response brigades from six to three to save billions in procurement costs.
Stryker brigades are high-tech, versatile units designed for deployment anywhere in the world within 96 hours.
The more than $1 billion brigade — with 3,580 soldiers and 380 fast-moving armored vehicles that the Army calls "Strykers" after two Medal of Honor recipients — is expected to mean $693 million in construction projects for Hawai'i. It would be the biggest Army construction project since World War II.
The eight-wheeled vehicles are at the heart of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki's plan to bridge traditional light infantry and heavy tank units to transform the Army into a lighter force capable of responding faster to hotspots around the world.
The Pentagon on Tuesday said it would recommend financing the fourth brigade out of Fort Polk, La., in fiscal 2004, but asked the Army to "come back and define with a little more specificity" a plan for a remodeled Stryker with greater combat capability.
A senior defense official said the fifth and sixth brigades then could be brought up to that new standard. Another of the several alternatives talked about was taking that money and applying it to the first three brigades to be fielded.
"Do we go back and outfit the first, second and third so they will already be on the way?" the official said.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, yesterday said Rumsfeld aide Stephen Cambone's recommendation to trim three of the brigades — including Hawai'i's — is a short-term budget consideration, and does not reflect the long-term needs of the Army.
"The reason Cambone came up with this is they are having trouble figuring out how the hell do you pay for the operational necessities associated with the response to terrorism and possible military action in the Middle East, and still fund your capital assets and acquisitions," Abercrombie said. "That's why the thing came up — 'Well, here's one way to do it, we'll cut the brigades to three.' "
But Abercrombie said Cambone is thinking like an accountant, and not taking into account the operational need — in future budget years — for six Stryker brigades, and possibly more.
Abercrombie, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said he is "very confident" Hawai'i will get a Stryker brigade.
"I think there's broad bipartisan support for moving to a fifth and sixth (Stryker brigade)," Abercrombie said.
As for improving the design, Abercrombie said the Army "recognizes that the fifth and sixth brigades will have to be more capable, and that will inevitably mean changes for the first four."
Lt. Col. Mark Samisch, a spokesman for U.S. Army Pacific, yesterday said the Army remains optimistic that in the end, all six brigades will be financed.
The Army is proposing to build miles of trails and purchase extra land on O'ahu and next to Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island for Stryker training. Several thousand soldiers and as many as 900 vehicles, including Humvees and trucks, would deploy to Pohakuloa at full brigade strength.
Training could begin in 2006. An Environmental Impact Statement review is under way.
