Guard brigade may get armor

Miller calls for equipping unit based in Mich. and Ohio; she also wants Predator drones for Selfridge.

Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Candice Miller will propose equipping a National Guard brigade with the Army's newest armored vehicle and splitting the unit between Michigan and Ohio.

Miller, R-Harrison Township, met with Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, the nation's top National Guard officer, to pitch the plan last week.

Blum raised no military objections, she said, and she'll now propose the idea to members of Congress from Michigan and Ohio in hopes of building enough political support for the plan.

Miller also wants the Air National Guard to base unmanned aircraft, such as the Air Force's Predator drone, at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, which is in her district. That move would elevate Selfridge's profile and military value.

But the Army Guard proposal likely would have the biggest impact on Michigan units. Miller wants the two states to have a Stryker brigade combat team -- a unit of about 3,500 combat troops equipped with the Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier that has seen its first combat in Iraq.

Pennsylvania is the only state with a Stryker unit in its National Guard. And while the Army has not proposed additional Strykers for the Guard, the idea has gained favor with defense analysts: Experts from the Heritage Foundation and the Lexington Institute, two influential think-tanks, have suggested in separate reports that the lightweight, wheeled Stryker is the perfect match for the Guard's dual responsibilities of natural-disaster response and overseas combat.

A Guard booster group, the National Guard Association of the United States, has proposed two additional Stryker brigades for the Guard.

The Stryker has ties to Michigan and Ohio: It is made by Warren-based General Dynamics Land Systems. Much of the research and development on the vehicles is done in Metro Detroit; much of the construction takes place in Lima, Ohio.

You can reach Gordon Trowbridge at (202) 662-8738 or gtrowbridge@detnews.com.