From Transformation To Combat The First Stryker Brigade At War Mark J Reardon Jeffery Charlston Center Of Military History by Mark J Reardon; Jeffery Charlston; Center Of Military History 9780160777875, 0160777879 instant download after payment.

The Stryker battalion that fought at Tall Afar had capabilitiesthat the U.S. Army force in Somalia lacked. Although the American soldiers in both engagements had similarskills and equipment, the Stryker-equipped unit also had the advantage of accessto real-time intelligence; responsive joint firepower; mobile, armor-protected combat systems; and shared awareness down to the squad level. The advantages the unit’s communications offered in this case were not always present in its other operations, where the enemy employed weapons and tactics that allowed him to blend easily into the civilian population; but the force’s technological advantages at Tall Afar made a decided difference.  The crucial test of the Stryker Brigade, and of Army Transformation, did not take place in a laboratory or amid the dusty trails and hills of Fort Irwin’s National Training Center. It came in Iraq, where the soldiers of the Stryker Brigade faced a resilient and dedicated foe. The effort cost the unit over the course of that year a total of 13 combat deaths, 13 noncombat deaths, and some 300 other casualties. The price to its opponents was immeasurably greater.  The fielding of the initial Stryker Brigade represented but the first step in an ongoing processto change the nation’s Army. The entire force, not just a few select organizations, must be capable of providing combat commanders with well-led, well-trained,  and well-equipped fighting units. The scope of this effort becomes apparent only with a realization 70that the Army is focusing not only on organizational and technological solutions but also on the military culture that gives those attributes their strength: the sum total of the training, education, and leadership qualities of the people who make change happen. Throughout the process, the American soldier will figure large, for he is the centerpiece of the entire organization