SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

CHAPTER 1PURPOSE, NEED, AND SCOPE1.1 INTRODUCTIONThe Department of the Army (Army) has embarked on a 30-year process to transform its forces. Thistransformation includes the modernization of its doctrine, equipment, leadership, organizational structure,facilities, business processes, and virtually every component of its operations. As part of thisoverall transformation effort, the Army has decided to transition to a modular or standardized forcestructure. Organizationally, this means a transition of the Army from large, powerful, fixed organizationsconstituted at the Division level (10,000 to 12,000 personnel) to an Army designed aroundsmaller, standardized, self-contained, rapidly deployable Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). In addition,this transformation has led the Army to develop and field the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT).The development and fielding of the SBCT is the Army’s most significant action taken to date to upgradeits operational capabilities and modernize its force structure in response to a changing globalsecurity environment.In April 2002, the Army completed an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Army transformation.Decisions made in the Record of Decision (ROD) following this EIS included creation of an interimforce equipped with an interim combat system. The 2 nd Brigade, 25 th Infantry Division (Light)was designated in this EIS as one of the units to transform to an interim BCT. In early 2002, the interimarmored vehicle was renamed the Stryker after two recipients of the Congressional Medal ofHonor.In May 2004, the Army released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Transformationof the 2 nd Brigade, 25 th Infantry Division (Light), (referred to throughout this document as the2/25 th ID (L)), to an SBCT. The SBCT is a maneuver brigade that includes approximately 4,105 1 Soldiers(infantry, artillery, engineers, and other Army specialties) and 1,000 vehicles (including about320 Strykers). In July 2004, the Army released a ROD documenting its decision to transform the2/25 th in place to an SBCT and permanently home station it in Hawaii.The Stryker is an armored infantry wheeled combat vehicle that provides Soldiers and Commanderswith significant increases in combat power, maneuverability, and, most importantly, survivability in acombat environment. The increased maneuver capabilities of the SBCT allow it to operate across areasup to the size of the state of Delaware as was recently demonstrated in Operation Iraqi Freedom(OIF); an area that formerly would have required an entire Army division consisting of three brigades.To be effective when operationally deployed abroad requires that the SBCT have the proper trainingand support facilities at home station. Such facilities include training ranges; housing, administrative,and quality of life infrastructure for the SBCT’s Soldiers and their Families; and maintenance infra-1 Between publication of the DEIS and this FEIS, the number of Soldiers assigned to the SBCT rose from approximately4,000 to 4,105. This is because civilian contractor maintenance employees have been replaced with about 100 Soldiers. Theuse of these contractor maintenance employees was part of the initial fielding process for the Stryker system and was phasedout Army wide from all SBCTs. This figure is also higher than the figure in the 2004 Transformation FEIS because slightpersonnel modifications and adjustments were made to all SBCTs based on operational experiences and mission requirements.February 2008 1-1 2/25th SBCT Final EIS