For the first time since 2006, the Air Force and Army at Joint Base Lewis-McChord partnered this week for a joint training on the rapid air deployment of the Stryker.

About 25 Strykers were flown from McChord Field on C-17s to the airport at Moses Lake. The Strykers were then driven to the Yakima Training Center for a three-week exercise.

"The bottom line is this is a great opportunity," Maj. Reed Burggrabe said, a battalion operations officer in the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. "And it can only be done at this location."

With the military's mission focus shifting from the Middle East to the Pacific, JBLM's preparedness for moving an early entry force becomes a focus. That requires being air mobile, a readiness to load and ship armored vehicles.

"To be an early entry means you have to be air mobile," Burggrabe said. "So, we're able to deploy by air to get where we need to go. It gets us in quickly."

It's a concept that hasn't been practiced because the armored vehicles in the Middle East were already in position for use.

"Our focus has been on OIF and OEF for a long period time," Burggrabe said. "Now, we're moving our focus to the Pacific and this is an opportunity to work those roles and build the relationships."

The partnered training Monday and Tuesday at JBLM prepared soldiers and airmen for rapid deployment in support of the Pentagon's shift to the Pacific Theater of Operations.

"This is something we haven't done in a while," Burggrabe said. "Each day we're getting better and better."

The 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the 7th Infantry Division and the 62nd Airlift Wing partnered in this training.

Depending on how much other equipment is loaded, a C-17 can carry two or three Strykers. Since the state DOT requires two Humvees to escort a Stryker on the highways, about 50 Humvees were also transported.

"You can learn it in a classroom," Burggrabe said. "But you can't actually do it until you do it."

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Lakewood City Councilmember, Pierce College teacher and longtime Ranger reporter John Simpson has been training long hours to ready himself for Wednesday night's 25-mile Manchu Mile foot march. He will join roughly 300 soldiers and 50 civilians for one of the 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat team's final events before the unit's March 14 inactivation.

The 4-2 SBCT Public Affairs office just released the details of the march, as well as another huge event before the inactivation - the Spur Ride.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Soldiers of 4-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division are slated to participate in two crucible events before the unit's March 14 inactivation.

Soldiers will complete the Manchu Mile, a 25-mile foot march, March 5-6 and a Spur Ride March 4-6.

The history of the Manchu Mile dates back to 1900. Soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment marched 85 miles during their assault on Tientsin as part of the Boxer Rebellion and the China Relief Expedition where the regiment earned the nickname "Manchus". During the Battle of Tientsin, the regimental commander, Col. Emerson H. Liscum, was killed by Chinese fire and uttered his dying words which became the regiment's motto: "Keep up the Fire!" Those who complete the foot march will receive a Manchu belt buckle, the only authorized belt buckle in the U.S. Army.

The cavalry squadron will execute a Spur Ride, March 5-6 to validate individual task proficiency of assigned Troopers and to celebrate the history and lineage of the unit.

Soldiers will be tested on the APFT and 18 individual tasks, qualify on the M4 rifle EST and complete a 12-mile tactical road march.

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4-2 Stryker Brigade headed for big changes at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Stories and photos of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division's recent training exercises at the National Training Center has been popping up on the Internets more than photos of heart shaped food. And why not, the 3-2 SBCT out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord were involved in severasl first at NTC, including bilateral training with Japanese soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Company, 1st Mechanized Battalion, from Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (that's a mouthful!).

Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough with the 3-2 SBCT, was one the scene with soldiers from 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which in conjunction with Task Force Arrowhead, shared operational tactics with their Japanese counterparts.

"We had eight Abrams tanks out there to mentor the Japanese and work with them in terms of armored formations and tank maneuvers in the desert," Capt. Christopher Walgren, Chief of Operations for 3-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division, told McCullough.

"This is the very first time for the Japanese Ground Defense Forces," said Maj. Yoshinoki Adachi, of Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, company commander for 1-1 BN (Mech), JGDF. "The coordination with the U.S. Army was impressive because the language was different ... yet we can fight alongside the U.S. Army to achieve the same objective."

The overall mission was to gain a working relationship with one of the U.S. Army's main allies in the Pacific region, Walgren, a native of Gardner, Mass., said.

Read McCullough's full story here.

The 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is at at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif, participating large-scale, conventional warfare training with offensive and defensive operations.

A NTC first happened during the 3-2 SBCT's rotation. Soldiers assigned to the 20th Support Command (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosives or CBRNE) were in the house. The 20th CBRNE Command out of the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland was challenged with integrating into a maneuver force and brigade combat team, including a training scenario included engaging opposition forces that deployed mustard gas.

According to Guy Volb from the Fort Irwin Public Affairs Office, the CBRNE Response Team teamed with the Stryker BCT's 2-3 Infantry Battalion to secure an objective area and facilities suspected of housing chemical weapons.

Once successfully secured, the CRT moved in to assess, characterize, and exploit the site - a small aluminum-sided warehouse containing "chemical processing equipment, artillery shells and large tanks used to store mustard gas."
"There were several objectives, but basically we're charged with systematically locating, characterizing, and securing or destroying WMD programs, networks and related capabilities," said Stremlau.
At depth that means preventing looting or capture of WMD and related material by enemies, while exploiting program experts, documents and other media found on such sites to prevent proliferation of material, technology, or personalities associated with the WMD network.
"There are four phases of WMD elimination," the major stressed. "Isolation, exploitation, destruction, and monitoring/redirection; but first we have to safely shut down operations at each site, take samples, and mitigate associated hazards."

Read Volb's full story on the exercise here.

>>> Pfc. Kim Landicho, 24, monitors a soldier for possible "chemical weapons" contamination during a WMD elimination exercise held at Fort Irwin's National Training Center Jan. 31. Landicho, in the green gloves, said she hasn't been deployed during her first year in the Army so "every training scenario teaches me something new." Photo credit: Guy Volb

The 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is at at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif, participating large-scale, conventional warfare training with offensive and defensive operations.

Staff Sgt. Justin A. Naylor, a journalist with the 3-2 SBCT, is following the action at Fort Irwin. Sunday, Jan. 26, he followed Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3-2 SBCT, as it rehearsed for a mass casualty event while training at the National Training Center. Here's an excerpt from his report:

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The 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, is on a month-long exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Each morning, the 3-2 SBCT soldiers awake to temperature that mark the high of the day at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. This morning, the 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, scrabbled around JBLM in 31 degree frigid temperatures, preparing to make the journey to the Yakima Training Center, where the morning temperatures will be much colder.

Staff Sgt. Bryan Dominique, with the 2-2 SBCT, joined the frigid fun, documenting the action:

"You're gonna fight the weather. It's gonna be Feb. in Yakima, so historically there's 40 mile per hour wind and the average temperature is in the 30s during the day, and it will dip into the 20s at night. That right there alone will toughen you up," said Maj. John Gibson, operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 2-2 SBCT.

The 2-2 SBCT is starting its some 60-day exercise at the Yakima Training Center in eastern Washington today, and the soldiers of 1-17 Inf. are leading the charge.

Read Dominique's full report here.

>>> Sgt. Roary McClain (front), vehicle commander with Company C, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, and Spc. Christopher Clanton, combat medic with Company C, 1-17 Inf., tie down a litter prior to a convoy movement to the Yakima Training Center, Jan. 27. Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Bryan Dominique

As previously mentioned, the 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif, participating large-scale, conventional warfare training with offensive and defensive operations. The first Stryker brigade ever activated in the Army is now conducting its first decisive action rotation with a unit from the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force at NTC. For four weeks, the 3-2 SBCT will roam the 1,200 square miles of high desert terrain - with the JGSDF soldiers from the Fuji Training Center near Mt. Fuji - facing guerilla forces, insurgents, criminal elements and a near-peer conventional force.

Journalist Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough with the 3-2 SBCT has waded through the predominately male discipline of field artillery to check in with 2nd Lt. Taylor Cardosi, a fire direction officer working in the 1st Battalion, 37th Artillery Regiment Battalion Fire Direction Center, and the first female to do so.

Cardosi's appointment as FDO is hot on the heels of the Department of Defense's decision to eventually open all military jobs to females. However, while some positions remain closed as the Department of Defense works out details, the job of FDO opened up only days after Cardosi's entry into active duty on Dec. 27, 2012.

"I was 100 percent surprised when I got here," said Cardosi. "I just showed up and I immediately went to the field."

Cardosi's admission into the largely male-dominated field is no surprise to those who know her. All her life Cardosi has strived to succeed in activities not usually associated with young ladies, beginning with her decision to quit ballet.

Read McCullough's full interview with Cardosi here.

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One-on-one with communications specialist Cpl. Charles Wamsley

Arrowhead Brigade sweeps over National Training Center

Southern California's National Training Center is one of two Army sites in the States that plunges units into elaborate deployment scenarios, complete with role-players, who play civilians or enemy combatants. Units are evaluated 24 hours a day by veteran soldiers called observer-coach-teachers, or OCs. NTC trains the soldiers by conducting force-on-force and live-fire training for ground and aviation brigades in a joint scenario across the spectrum of conflict, using a live-virtual-constructive training model, as portrayed by a highly lethal and capable Opposing Force and controlled by an expert and experienced Operations Group. 

The 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif, since the beginning of the month. There aren't any fixed bases. There isn't a focus on capturing the enemy. Instead, the focus is centered on large-scale, conventional warfare training with offensive and defensive operations.

Staff Sgt. Justin A. Naylor of the 17th Public Affairs Detachment is embedded with the 3-2 SBCT. Naylor adventures have landed him in Cpl. Charles Wamsley's domain, a communication specialist with the 3-2. While at NTC, Wamsley is spearheading a program that connects communication equipment that was previously unable to communicate. The Lacey resident, and computer freak since childhood, has an interesting history.

Wamsley ... has been serving in the Army for just over five years. Things have changed a lot for him. Before joining the service he was a high school dropout working several dead-end jobs and had his second child on the way.

Read Naylor's full feature on Wamsley here.

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Arrowhead Brigade sweeps over National Training Center