A few years back, a working group I was on had as one of the members an O-5 who had recently returned after a tour in Iraq with the first SBCT to be deployed there. Although the focus of the brief he delivered was on the C2 systems within the SBCT, he spoken quite highly of Stryker and the capabilities it brought to the brigade. As he didn't pull his punches in other parts of his presentation, I always saw that as some validation of the vehicle for THAT operating environment. Toss it into the Fulda Gap and it is clearly not going to be as suitable as a 'proper' IFV that weighs twice as much...

Before they were bitching about the "kevlar coffin" (and Stryker isn't made from kevlar, just for the record), they were bitching about the M113 as the "aluminium coffin" and before that probably about the M2/M3/M5 half-track series...

At the moment, while we dither between MCO or COIN or both or a blend of both being the war of the future, maybe it is a better move to zero hour and upgrade the Bradley series...it has worked with the 113 - look how many armies persist in keeping this 50 year old design in service - although like the AH-1 Cobra there might not be too many similarities between the original and what trundles around now - so it must offer greater utility than just the cheapest option...