Two Stryker vehicles and 28 soldiers returned yesterday from an exercise in South Korea as the Army ramps up training and also is sending the armored vehicles to the Big Island for gunnery and maneuver exercises.

Two other Stryker armored vehicles and the remainder of the platoon of about 50 soldiers are due back Thursday from Rodriguez Range in South Korea, just south of the Demilitarized Zone.

It was the first deployment out of the state for the eight-wheeled armored vehicles and the first time Hawai'i-based C-17 Globemaster IIIs transported Strykers.

Army Sgt. 1st Class James Burciaga, 29, said the platoon "experienced what it would be like to actually receive a mission and execute it from start to finish, working together with the Air Force."

The Strykers took part in Reception Staging Onward-Movement and Integration and Foal Eagle 2007, which ran through the end of March and involved 29,000 U.S. troops.

Since about mid-March, the Army also has been rotating Stryker units through convoy and live-fire training at 131,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, officials said. The 19-ton vehicles are shipped on Logistical Support Vessels.

A total of 286 of 328 expected Stryker vehicles are now on O'ahu. The Army said the 3,900-soldier unit still is on track for deployment to Iraq in late 2007 or early 2008.

Outfitted with extra "slat" armor that looks like a catcher's mask, the Strykers in Iraq have proved capable of stopping rocket-propelled grenades and are quieter and more comfortable to ride in than tanks.

Spc. Charles Haygood, 24, one of the soldiers removing rucksacks and weapons from the Strykers yesterday at Hickam Air Force Base, said: "It was a long flight (from South Korea), but it was definitely an experience. We learned how to load and unload the Strykers (from aircraft)."

Haygood, from Shreveport, La., said he's still making the adjustment from "light infantry" that marches and uses Humvees to riding in a Stryker vehicle.

"It definitely makes us more mobile and it protects the troops, which is my No. 1 concern," he said.

Pfc. Mike Miller, 23, from Fort Worth, Texas, said there "wasn't a whole lot of sittin' around" during the exercise in South Korea, which included a lot of live-fire training.

Miller said there has been a lot of training in general in recent months as the Stryker unit prepares for Iraq.

"As the time gets closer to the deployment, we're getting ready to go," he said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.