For Immediate Release

July 22, 2004

ARMY TO BRING ANOTHER STRYKER BRIGADE TO FORT LEWIS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Army has announced a series of unit relocations today that will bring a third Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Fort Lewis in the upcoming fiscal year, along with an additional 3,900 active duty military personnel, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Thursday.

            The move involves the transfer of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk, Louisiana to Fort Lewis, where it will be converted into the Army's new mobile unit concept, centered around the new medium-weight Stryker vehicles.  Fort Lewis was the pioneering base for the Army's first two Stryker brigades -- one of which is currently deployed to Iraq.  Additional Stryker units are located in Alaska and Hawaii, and the Army's fifth brigade was slated to be established at Fort Polk in the upcoming year, Rep. Dicks said.

            "This is a logical move that takes advantage of the substantial investment we have made at Fort Lewis," said Rep. Dicks, who serves on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  The congressman added that the shift to lighter, quicker-deployed forces -- the so-called Army Transformation -- is a high priority at the Pentagon and in Congress.

            "The remarkable performance of the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis in Iraq has been a true 'proof of concept' and it has encouraged us to accelerate the plans for additional Stryker units," said Rep. Dicks.  He said that the final version of the Defense Appropriations bill that will be approved by the House and Senate before the end of the week contains initial funding for a seventh Stryker brigade.

            The congressman said that he also expected that the move of vehicles and personnel to Fort Lewis will also require additional military construction expenditures.  Since 2000, Congress has approved more than $300 million in military construction work at Fort Lewis related to the creation and development of the Stryker Brigade concept, he said.

            The unit relocations are scheduled to take place within Fiscal Year 2005, which begins Oct. 1, 2004, Rep. Dicks noted.

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