Army to phase in tan-colored Stryker vehicles

[unhappycamper]

More than six years after sending the first Stryker armored vehicles like the one above into desert combat, the Army has decided that it’s probably a good idea to start painting them tan so they will blend in with the environments in Afghanistan and Iraq.


Army to phase in tan-colored Stryker vehicles
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, October 26, 2009

ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan — More than six years after sending the first Stryker armored vehicles into desert combat, the Army has decided that it’s probably a good idea to start painting them tan so they will blend in with the environments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Safeguarding soldiers is the primary purpose for this color change,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter Butts, commander of the 1st Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade, who announced the change in a news release from Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, earlier this month. “Strykers will blend into surroundings better. They’re less likely to stand out like silhouettes.”

Since 2003, Stryker units deploying to Iraq have done so with their vehicles painted in deep green, while most other units deployed with tan vehicles. The 5th Stryker Brigade, from Fort Lewis, Wash., which deployed to Kandahar and Zabul provinces this past summer, did so with its vehicles painted the standard color. They are the first Strykers to go into Afghanistan.

Over the years, there’s been no satisfactory answer for the difference. The Army and its contracting agencies have been talking about changing the color of the Strykers since 2004, according to Butts, “but nothing firm was planned out until now.”

“New operational direction and command guidance was pushed to make it happen,” he said, in a follow-up e-mail exchange with Stars and Stripes. “For soldier safety, first and foremost, as well as materiel uniformity.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65642

[Captain Hilts]

1. Amazing. nt

[Ilsa]

2. Another great idea from the Dept of Duhfense. nt

[old mark]

3. Maybe they should run it through a committee just to make sure it's a good idea.

How the fuck did we win WWII with "leadership" like this?
(I KNOW why we've lost nearly everything since then...)



mark
(Former Sp4 back in the jungle boot days.)