Hawai'i Stryker vehicles made a bit of history this month, deploying for the first time out of the state for war games in South Korea.

Also tested for the first time was their ability to be transported on C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes that were brought to Hickam Air Force Base in part to rapidly transport the fast-strike Stryker brigade.

The four 19-ton Stryker vehicles and about 50 soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds are due to return Monday morning on two Hawai'i-based C-17s, the Army said.

The Strykers took part in Reception Staging Onward- Movement and Integration and Foal Eagle 2007 in South Korea. The exercise runs through the end of the month and involves 29,000 U.S. troops.

The Navy, which brought in the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and other ships, said the training is one of two annual "command post" exercises held to demonstrate U.S. support of South Korean forces.

The C-17s dropped off the four Stryker vehicles and soldiers in Daegu, South Korea, the Stars and Stripes newspaper reported.

"It's really a test to see how quickly we could mobilize," said 1st Lt. Dustin Lujan, 2nd platoon leader.

Maj. Chuck Anthony, a Hawai'i National Guard spokesman, said the two Hawai'i-based C-17s took off on March 17 and 18 with two Stryker vehicles apiece.

It was the first time the C-17s, operated jointly by the Hawai'i Air National Guard and active-duty Air Force, flew Strykers out of the state, he said. The Hawai'i aircraft also are flying the vehicles back into the state.

A total of 328 Stryker armored vehicles are expected in Hawai'i as the Army continues to develop seven of the fast-strike brigades, which have about 3,900 soldiers.

A more than two-year-old environmental legal dispute continues over the placement of the unit in Hawai'i, and U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled in Honolulu in late December that the Army could continue limited Stryker brigade training in preparation for a late 2007 Iraq deployment.

The Army still must complete an examination of alternative locations outside Hawai'i for the $1.5 billion brigade, a process that could take up to two years.

The eight-wheeled vehicles are expected to be transported to 131,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island in coming weeks for training.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.