Fixing Strykers falls to soldiers as Army ends repair contract

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/02/20/3059377/fixing-strykers-falls-to-soldiers.html



Stryker brigade mechanics Sgt. Lorencio Banquel, left, and Spc. Maime Ramirez use a hydraulic lift to remove the engine cover on a Stryker vehicle during maintenance Jan. 16 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Fixing Strykers falls to soldiers as Army ends repair contract
By Adam Ashton
Staff writer
February 20, 2014

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Allen got a tongue-in-cheek warning from fellow Army mechanics when he told them he wanted to work on Stryker infantry vehicles at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

“It’s not heaven like it used to be,” his friends told him before he joined the unit last year. “You’ll have to do the work.”

Since the inception of the Army’s Stryker brigades more than a decade ago, private manufacturer General Dynamics was contracted to keep the machines running instead of handing the work to enlisted soldiers, as the military does with other ground vehicles.

Now, General Dynamics’ roughly $300 million a year maintenance contract is coming to an end as the Army seeks to contain its spending.