Originally Posted by
Uboat509
I was in the 2ACR shortly after they reformed as light cav (HMMWVs instead of Tanks and Bradlys). It was not a popular concept. Most of the guys in the unit hated it either because they were left over infantry from one of the units that formed the regiment and they distrusted vehicles, or because they were veterans from the regiments experiences in the Gulf War and patrolling the Fulda gap. The rumor was that after Gen. Sulivan retired the regiment would be disbanded or given back their armor. Back then they were trying to write the doctrine and it really seemed that no one had any idea what to do with light cav. They were far to light for the armor guys' tastes and far to big with too few dismounts for the infantry guys. The main focus for us back then was "expand the lodgment". That was where the 82nd would jump in and do an airfield seizure and then we would land on that airfield and roll right off into the fight and expand the area around the airfield. We practiced it a lot. At the time there were also rumors of new weapons systems that we might get. One of those was the Armored Gun System which was a sort of light tank and if I am not mistaken one of the progenitors of the MGS. I bring all this ancient history up because one of the saving graces for the light cav concept was the fact that they could be loaded onto a C130, landed anywhere that a C130 could land and then rolled off the aircraft and straight into the fight. I thought that that was the purpose of the Stryker, upgrade the armor protection and mobility of the HMMWV but maintain its rapid deployability. I was told that the reason that they went with .50 Cals and MK19s instead of retaining the 25MMs was to ensure that they could fit into the C130 and then roll into the fight like the HMMWVs. Then I learned that they in fact cannot just roll off the bird into the fight. Apparently there are a number of things that must done in order to fit it into the bird and the once it rolls off the bird before it can get into the fight. So if I am understanding this correctly then what we have in the Stryker is a vehicle that is neither as heavily armed and armored as the Bradly but not as rapidly deployable as the HMMWV. So my question is what is the point?
SFC W
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