PEARL HARBOR — The Army's 310 Strykers, rarely seen on O'ahu's roads, seemed like they were everywhere yesterday around Kilo pier, as the 19-ton armored vehicles were driven onto a huge cargo ship for training in California and then deployment to Iraq.

The eight-wheeled vehicles won't be seen again in Hawai'i for an expected 18 months because they will be shipped to the Middle East from the West Coast and then be part of a deployment that could last up to 15 months in Iraq.

The possibility also exists that an environmental study, ordered by a federal appeals court, will find that the best place for the fast-strike brigade is either Fort Richardson, Alaska, or Fort Carson, Colo., and the unit will return there.

Through early next week, 700 other wheeled vehicles — artillery, Humvees, trucks and trailers — along with cargo containers and other equipment, will leave Pearl Harbor and make the trip to San Diego on the 580-foot MV Jean Anne and the 950-foot USNS Seay.

It's the largest military shipment from Pearl Harbor in decades, and a step closer to the first combat test for the fifth of seven of the Army's medium-weight Stryker brigades.

"At the individual soldier and up through about the battalion level, they are ready to go. I have no issues with their readiness," said Lt. Col. David Davidson, deputy commander of the 4,000-soldier Stryker brigade.

NOVEMBER DEPLOYMENT

From about Aug. 20 to Sept. 6, the unit will train at the Southern California Logistics Airport, the former George Air Force Base, and then head to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin for a month of exercises.

Some Stryker soldiers helping load equipment yesterday said they have confidence in the vehicles, which will get an armor boost in California with the addition of 5,000 pounds of birdcage-like "slat" armor to deflect rocket-propelled grenades.

The first soldiers deploying to Iraq are expected to leave Hawai'i in November.

"I feel confident in the fact that we're going over there and we have the Stryker as a vehicle," said Pfc. Charlie Sorensen, 24, a Stryker driver with the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry. "It's really reliable. You can be in the toughest situations, and it will get you out."

The Strykers can hit 70 mph. The composite armor will withstand the impact of a 14.5 millimeter heavy machine gun round.

The Army hasn't revealed where the Hawai'i brigade will be based in Iraq, but Stryker units recently have been in the thick of fighting in Iraq in Baghdad and Baqouba in Diyala province.

The Army has ordered nearly 2,900 vehicles for its $13 billion Stryker program.

ROADSIDE BOMBS

But powerful roadside bombs also have proved capable of countering Strykers. A single infantry company in Diyala province lost five Strykers in May in less than a week.

Davidson, the deputy commander, said upcoming training at Southern California Logistics Airport provides not only the opportunity for open desert exercises but also access to buildings that have been cleared out when the Air Force base closed.

"It really replicates a lot of what we expect we are going to see in Iraq with the neighborhoods and urban areas and the multiple-story buildings," Davidson said.

Among the 10 variants of Stryker vehicles that are heading to California for training are nine mobile gun systems, a tank-like version of the Stryker with a 105 millimeter gun.

On the gun barrel of one was stenciled "All you need." Others had names including Christine and Athena, and another had the moniker "Better Than Walk'N."

The brigade is supposed to have 27 mobile gun systems, but production issues have so far prevented the Hawai'i brigade from having more.

Driving practice with the extra 5,000 pounds of slat armor, meanwhile, will have to take place during one last trainup in Kuwait after it is installed in California.

NEW HOWITZERS

The brigade also will be deploying with 18 new M777 howitzers.

"Brand new piece of equipment," said Maj. Cary Bathrick, support operations officer for the Stryker brigade.

The MV Jean Anne, loaded with about one-third of the equipment, is expected to leave port this morning for San Diego, and the USNS Seay will pull in behind it.

An environmental lawsuit filed in 2004 led to an October ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Army had not followed environmental law in not adequately considering alternative possible locations for the $1.5 billion Stryker brigade outside Hawai'i.

That examination now is under way. The result will be that the Army will decide to keep the Strykers in Hawai'i or move the unit to either Alaska or Colorado.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.