SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., (USTCNS) --- This month marked a historic milestone for the Army's transformation to a lighter, and more agile force. U.S. Transportation Command completed the strategic deployment of the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team for operations in Iraq. More than 5,000 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were flown to U.S. Central Command's theater of operations synchronized with the surface deployment of more than 23,000 short tons of equipment and cargo.
The troops from the Fort Lewis - based unit are no strangers to the deployment process. Earlier this year, they conducted a four month Deployment Exercise / Certification Exercise. Along with USTRANSCOM, and its component commands; the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, the Army's Military Traffic Management Command, and the Navy's Military Sealift Command, they demonstrated the multi-modal versatility of the SBCT. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is the first of six Stryker equipped units the Army has planned. In training, and now in a real-world deployment, they have proven repeatedly the adaptability of the SBCT to air, land and sea deployments.
"The Stryker brigade moves with incredible ease and agility," said Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, deputy commanding general for operations, Coalition Forces Land Component Command. "The entire organization is supremely successful in making the supporter's job easy."
For this latest deployment, the actual loading of ships took place in October. The major effort took place at the port of Tacoma, Wash., where two ships were loaded ahead of schedule. A third ship was loaded in Philadelphia. Since enough time was available for this planned force rotation, USTRANSCOM was able to optimize the finite assets within the Defense Transportation System and capitalize on sealift. As the provider of strategic mobility for all of the Department of Defense, USTRANSCOM must balance efficiency with effectiveness and meet the requirements of the warfighting commander.
"We work with the supported commanders to ensure their troops and equipment arrive on time, in the right manner, anywhere in the world," says Army Capt. Matthew Stacker, a Joint Strategic Plans Officer in USTRANSCOM's Directorate of Operations.
The deployment is one of the largest to originate from Fort Lewis in decades. MTMC's 833rd Transportation Battalion and the Army Reserve's 1192nd Transportation Terminal Brigade loaded more than 1,300 vehicles (including 310 Strykers) and approximately 470,000 square feet of cargo on MSC Large, Medium-Speed, Roll-On/Roll-Off vessels in Tacoma. The two ships used were the USNS Sisler and the USNS Shughart.
AMC flew the soldiers in order to time their arrival with their equipment as it arrived in Southwest Asia. The airlift required 18 missions to move the soldiers. In total, however, 27 commercial airlift missions were needed to move both the troops and the more than 500 tons of cargo.
Some of the forces to accompany the Stryker Brigade came from other parts of the country. To keep the flow of equipment synchronized, 136 rail cars, and 76 trucks were used to move equipment to Philadelphia. There, the equipment was loaded on another ship, the MV Martin, for deployment to Southwest Asia.
Personnel working in USTRANSCOM's Joint Mobility Operations Center were able to track the movement of the three sealift vessels carrying the cargo, and synchronize the airlift of the troops due to the in-transit visibility provided by the Global Transportation Network. The visibility of GTN enabled additional sequencing of materiel that was not available to move when the LMSR's departed Tacoma. Collaborating with Army Materiel Command, USTRANSCOM was able to synchronize the delivery of slat-armor, and modified tow-bars for the Stryker vehicles.
The multi-modal (trucks, trains, airlift & sealift) deployment of the Army's first Stryker brigade began on Oct. 7th with rail operations. The next day, the first ship began loading and set sail on Oct 12th. The rail operations closed in Philadelphia on Oct. 16th, and the MV Martin set sail on Oct. 19th. Troops did not begin deploying until Nov. 5th. The first ship arrived at its destination in Southwest Asia on Nov. 12th, and all of the troops had deployed by Nov. 16th, one day before the last ship arrived, on Nov. 17th.
This first-ever deployment of the Army's SBCT to a combat environment highlights the versatility of the USTRANSCOM managed DTS, the collaboration facilitated by information technology, and showcases the efficiencies and effectiveness realized from early planning and cooperation in today's joint military.
