Arrowhead Stryker crew comes together as a team

Photo By 1st Sgt. Justin A. Naylor | Two Stryker combat vehicles with 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, prepare to fire during training at Yakima Training Center, Wash., Sept. 29, 2014. The Strykers are training as part of their brigade’s Integrated Training Strategy, a broad training initiative designed to ensure that all Soldiers have the training they need to accomplish whatever mission they are given.  

49420, WA, UNITED STATES

09.29.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Justin A. Naylor 

1-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Most people can relate to the anxiety of working with a new team, but when that team is responsible for the daily operation of a 15-ton hunk of hardened metal and rubber designed to transport combat Soldiers into battle that anxiety level can turn up a notch.

For three Soldiers with 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division, the last few months have been a whirlwind of training while getting to know each other after finding out that they would serve on the same Stryker combat vehicle together for the foreseeable future.

Two months ago, Spc. Nicholas Wgeishofski, Spc. David Wright and Pfc. David Vartan, all with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 SBCT, were selected from their platoon to serve as a Stryker crew during the upcoming training that was part of their brigade’s Integrated Training Strategy, a broad training initiative designed to ensure that all Soldiers have the combat skills necessary to accomplish whatever mission they are given.

The training events, known as crew qualifications, are taking place at Yakima Training Center and began in late September.

“None of us really had any experience being on a truck crew before this,” said Wgeishofski, an Everett, Wash., native and vehicle commander. “So, it’s a learning experience for all of us.”

Before coming to the “truck” the Soldiers all served as dismounted infantrymen.

After being assigned together, the team quickly started to learn as much as they could about the vehicle they were now responsible for.

“We’ve been getting a lot of help from the guys who’ve been on a vehicle crew before and getting a lot of advice from them on what works and what doesn’t,” Wgeishofski said. “Just getting familiar with the truck is the big thing. It’s really complicated; there is a lot to it.”

Already the Soldiers have gone through numerous training events, which started with the basics and worked up to crew qualifications using live ammunition. The training has been challenging for the new crew, who had never worked together before being assigned to their Stryker.

“We have to develop that familiarity with each others’ tendencies and stuff,” Wgeishofski said. “You’re working with new people and you don’t really know how well you’re going to work together. You’ve got to get to know each other on a professional level.”

Being placed in the field together and expected to perform at the same level as other crews who have worked together longer has certainly helped solidify the team.

“Just being out in the field, you get to know each other,” said Wright, a Tucson, Ariz., native and the gunner for the crew. “Being in the field is what got us to the point we’re at now.”

The Soldiers all agree that their team is getting better every day that they spend together.

“We’ve just got a good feel for working together already,” Wgeishofski said. “I feel like other crews might have more difficulty, but we just all get along together and fit together as a crew. We just kind of naturally mesh well as a group of individuals and that helps a lot.”

As the crew goes through their qualification events, they are striving for a perfect score. In this case, that means getting 1,000 points by firing quickly and accurately at pop-up targets on a course designed to test their observation and accuracy.

“That’s always the goal to get a 1,000,” Wright said. “I’m confident eventually we’ll be able to reach it. Yeah, definitely we’ll get a 1,000.”

Although their final score is important, perhaps nothing matters as much as just being able to work effectively as a team.

“I feel like we’ve already come a long way, but there is always room for improvement,” Wgeishofski said. “Anything we’re doing out here is just going to help us get better as a crew.”

• Date Taken: 09.29.2014
• Date Posted: 09.29.2014 19:30
• Story ID: 143685
• Location: 49420, WA, US
• Hometown: BEAVERCREEK, OH, US
• Hometown: EVERETT, WA, US
• Hometown: TUCSON, AZ, US