Soldiers go through exercises at airport in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — Christmas is coming. And often that means time off to travel and be with family.

But for 150 soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, it was another day of training.

The soldiers, with their eight Stryker armored vehicles, flew into the Grant County International Airport (GCIA) on Wednesday as part of a deployment readiness exercise to test the unit’s ability to quickly deploy, by air, to anywhere in the world.

“This whole exercise is called an EDRE, emergency deployment readiness exercise,” said Capt. Daniel Strouse, commander of the soldiers deployed to the GCIA. “They were told on Monday that they’re going to deploy to an unknown location, got intelligence briefs and all those kinds of things, the info was handed down and they went out on target.”

Two Air Force C-17 transport planes, which already use GCIA for regular training flights, hauled the unit in, each plane carrying two of the 25-ton Stryker armored vehicles on each trip.

As the unit deployed, soldiers and their vehicles took up positions between the airport and Big Bend Community College.

“They are our mobility asset, and we came here to GCIA, established our security posture, and then we’re preparing for follow-on operations, the next mission,” Sprouse said. “But the main mission that we practiced here was the emergency deployment.”

Air Force C-17 pilot Capt. Tony Bianchi said he’s impressed with how well the plane handles even when it’s carrying 50 tons of armored cargo.

“It’s pretty awesome to see the performance of what these C-17s can do,” he said. “They’re designed to take off and land in fields as short as 3,500 feet. Even land on dirt strips, airstrips that aren’t any kind of pavement or concrete.”

The second of the two C-17s bringing the unit into Moses Lake used roughly half of the 13,500-foot-long main runway to land.

“It gives us a tactical advantage,” Bianchi said.

Army Capt. Alex Berlin, who helped plan the deployment exercise and will replace Sprouse as company commander, said companies and battalions in the Stryker Brigade Combat Team train regularly for future deployments, especially if they are not scheduled to deploy abroad.

“This will be the third exercise we’ve done in six weeks,” he said. “Typically, you’re looking at a couple a year.”

Sprouse said last month, his unit was at the Yakima Training Center as part of a live fire exercise.

“I want our guys to get behind the gun weekly,” he said. “If we can shoot weekly, that’s our main goal. It’s not as realistic as we want, but that’s the goal. We’re constantly trying to get out to the shoot, move and communicate piece.”

Sprouse said training so close to holiday leave may be inconvenient, but he noted that no one on Sept. 10, 2001, expected an attack, and yet one came the following morning.

“And we all got called to duty,” he said. “We’re out here, it’s never a convenient time, and it’s short notification to come out here and do this exercise like we’re going to deploy.”

But both Sprouse and Berlin wanted to thank the people of Moses Lake for being good hosts for ongoing military exercises.

“A big thanks to the the community for supporting our soldiers and our mission,” Berlin said. “A really, really big thanks to your community.”