Stryker Brigade gets ready for yearlong stint in Iraq

By Jim Cour
The Associated Press

	HARLEY SOLTES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Corp. Brian Caster of McMinnville, Ore., holds daughter Destinee, 5, after a farewell ceremony yesterday for 3,600 members of the Army's first Stryker brigade, based at Fort Lewis, before it leaves for a yearlong mission in Iraq.
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"A year from now we'll probably return to Fort Lewis knowing that Iraq is a better place because of our time there," Col. Michael Rounds, the brigade commander, told the troops and their friends and relatives in a 60-minute departure ceremony.

The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was trained at Fort Lewis to be the 21st century's ultimate fighting force, a faster, more agile armored unit. Their unit is the first of six Stryker brigades planned by the Army.

Leaving next week

Actual departures will begin the middle of next week at nearby McChord Air Force Base. It will take 12 days to send off the troops and 1,000 more people — soldiers from other units and civilian support groups, said public-information officer Lt. Col. Joseph Piek.

Asked if he was worried, Maj. Jim Markert, 36, of DuMont, N.J., said, "Not really. I've been doing this for a long time." He has been a soldier for 18 years.

The 1989 West Point graduate's three sons — James, 5; Sean, 2-1/2, and Tommy, 10 months — were dressed in Army uniforms.

"Sean's had his uniform on for three days," Markert said with a smile. "He wants to be a paratrooper when he grows up."

Markert's wife of 12 years, Karin, said she will be doing a lot of praying for his safety.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "A year's a long time."

This time, they're apart

Sgt. Maj. Frank Leota, 40, a veteran who saw combat in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, will be separated from his wife, 1st Sgt. Vira Leota, also 40. The couple were together in Desert Storm when both were paratroopers. She will remain in Seattle after her husband leaves for Iraq.

"I think when you stay back, it's a little bit harder than when you're actually deploying with your husband," she said.

The brigade is built around the Stryker, the Army's first new combat vehicle in 20 years, which can carry as many as 11 soldiers. The brigade's 300 Strykers — eight-wheeled vehicles that can travel faster than 60 mph — were loaded onto ships at Tacoma and are in transit.

Spc. Tim Cornelius, 27, of Lakeland, Fla., will be driving one of the Strykers.

More fun than a Bradley

"They're pretty quick," Cornelius said. "They're a lot more fun than driving a Bradley (fighting vehicle)."

Cornelius will be leaving behind his wife of a year, Jennifer, 30.

"It saddens me that we have to deploy out," she said. "It's kind of hard to see everybody go."

The division is scheduled to replace elements of the 3rd Armored Calvary Division in Iraq's Anbar province, the largest in Iraq. The province includes the cities of Ar Ramadi and Fallujah in the heart of the "Sunni Triangle."

That's where support for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein runs deep and where there have been daily attacks on U.S. forces.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company