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Is the Slat put on pre or post deployment? There is a repair/rebuild center in Quatar AFAIK. Is this where the slat armor is attached? Presumably there's a testing ground there. A possibility of seeing one w/out slat in a desert environment! Pushing the "what if" a wee bit, but better than a Mars setting....
If you want a desert setting w/ no slat you can do an NTC build. In my view that would make for some very interesting modeling since you would need to add the MILES gear, and there tends to be more gear stowed while at the NTC. Yakima is another option - it is a high desert with a bit of variable vegetation. I'm not 100% sure, but I think they go up there sometimes without MILES. They can even be depicted on a US highway since they are often seen driving from Ft Lewis (split by a major highway) to Yakima on I-5.
My understanding is that the slat is put on right after they get off the ships and before they go anywhere, including the local desert. Slat may have been put on in the US for the first deployment or two before they got on the ships.
There are opportunities to depict the Stryker without slat or the MILES gear by showing it at home station in all kinds of environments, including trees and built up MOUT areas.
The current SBCT readying for deployment is getting slat put on in the US, and they will train with slat in the forrests of Louisiana, with some new upgrades for us modelers to keep track of. How about that for something different to depict!
Bob
