Skeptics Praise the Stryker!

Defense Industry Daily has a collection of interviews from military personnel who fought with the Stryker Armored vehicle in combat situations. I strongly suggest you read the whole thing but here are the highlights:

Col Robert Brown of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry div: The Stryker's fantastic. It has incredible mobility, incredible speed. It has saved hundreds of my soldiers' lives. I'm telling you hundreds of their lives. We've been hit by 84 suicide VBIEDs [JK: car bombs] have hit Strykers, and I've had the greater majority of soldiers walk away without even a scratch.

A Russian analyst:We were hit by 115 RPGs hit Strykers over the year we had here, not one penetrated a Stryker, not one. Not any -- no machine gun fire penetrated a Stryker inside.

Maj. Nicholas Mullen on the Stryker's slat armor: I was here [at Fort Lewis] when they came up with the slat armor. Everybody's like, 'oh, it's a birdcage. It'll never do anything...I've seen it hit with multiple rocket-propelled grenades and keep going. I've seen it hit with vehicle-borne bombs that you wonder how anybody could have survived—and everybody walks away.