Stryker Takes a Punch

Like a scene out of an action movie, a midday explosion engulfs a vehicle in a cloud of dust and smoke. The cloud parts to show vehicle and occupants unhurt and ready for payback. A car is seen fleeing the area at high speed, but the squad decides to simply report the incident and press on, as if nothing happened, though clearly something had. Further proof that a new Army vehicle named Stryker can take a punch and keep on fighting.

The Stryker was rolling down the highway when the IED went off right under it. The concussion of the explosion knocked the team leader and the gunner from their positions in the hatches. They tumbled backwards into a vehicle with more protruding knobs than you can imagine. The other crew members were rocked by the explosion - ears ringing.

The vehicle had a single flat tire and some nicks and scratches, - as did the team leader and gunner, along with more than a couple bruises. But the vehicle and the crew recovered quickly and continued their mission. The flat tire didn't even slow down this eight wheeled monster.

Contrast this with another incident that happened at about the same time.

A Humvee in a convoy rolls past a sheep market along the two-lane road running past the village of Tal Afar, 50 miles west of Mosul. It’s late afternoon and these troops are heading back to their base after a day of convoy escort.

Then, someone inside the market remotely detonates an IED under the Humvee, injuring one Soldier and mortally wounding another. The wounded Soldier dies en route to a hospital, just hours before his 25th birthday.

The lightly armored Humvee's are pin-pointed for attack because the chances of injuring or killing our guys is better for the insurgents.

Thank God our Soldier drives the Stryker and not a Humvee.