The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 ...

88 The Road to Safwan
indicating that enemy forces were operating near the small
town of As Samah, one kilometer north of the screen line.
Around 0300 (February 6), Wilson sent his two supporting AH-
64s forward to investigate. They discovered an Iraqi truck with
two three-man teams, one moving north of the berm and another
in the town. The division tactical command post told the
squadron not to engage these targets, but to go look for another
ten vehicles in the area that their sources indicated were near
the town. Unable to find the other target, the crews returned,
convinced that something was going on. 14
That morning, LTC Wilson decided to personally investigate
and when the crews of the two OH-58C and two AH-1s arrived
at the command post for their morning briefing, the
briefer announced that rather than their routine patrol, they
were going with the squadron commander on an aerial reconnaissance
of the village. As they flew over As Samah, they
noted many vehicle tracks. It was the post that formerly held
the Saudi Arabian border troops, which the squadron had encountered
several days earlier. Now many fresh tracks indicated
that someone from north of the berm was visiting this
area. The observers could see nothing from the air and Wilson
directed one of the Cobras to fire a few rounds of 20-mm in the
direction of the village. An Iraqi soldier came running out of
one of the buildings, frantically waving his arms and trying to
talk to the helicopter pilot. 15
Wilson, who was obviously caught up in the excitement of
the event and not wanting to let the Iraqi soldier get away, decided
to land and take the man prisoner himself, a task he
should have delegated. In the squadron commander’s defense,
he was the only person who could dismount for this action (the
OH-58 only required a crew of one; if the AH-1 Cobra dismounted
its front seat passenger, and subsequently needed to
engage the enemy, the pilot would have to do so without the assistance
of the assigned gunner). Directing the aerial team to
provide cover, Wilson had his pilot land the helicopter and
headed for the Iraqi who continued to wave his hands like a
madman. Approaching with pistol drawn, Wilson heard him
shouting at the Cobra “No more . . . no more shoot,” as though
the pilot could hear him over the noise. Like any good trooper,