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

96 The Road to Safwan
would be much bloodier and slower than need be. The second
part of the task force’s mission was to cut gaps in the border barrier
to allow the assaulting forces to cross it without delay. 3
Task Force Iron began its operation at 1100 hours on February
15 as the squadron launched two scout-weapons teams,
placing one under the operational control of Task Force 1-41 Infantry
and the other in direct support of the squadron. At 1130,
the 155-mm self-propelled howitzers from the 4-3 Field Artillery
fired at a trailer and a few trucks in the Iraqi sector that
could observe the American advance. Simultaneously, the twobattalion-sized
task forces advanced, with the 1-4 Cavalry on
the left and TF 1-41 Infantry on the right. Within the squadron’s
sector, CPT Pope’s A Troop advanced on the left while CPT
Bills’s B Troop moved on the right. As soon as they reached the
berm, the engineers began tearing down the wall with their M9
Armored Combat Earthmovers. Within fifteen minutes, combat
vehicles were moving through the gaps and into Iraq, A Troop
claiming credit for being the first divisional unit across the border.
4 Its tanks, led by SFC Ed Cyphers, pushed through the narrow
gaps first, followed by the lighter-skinned Bradleys. 5
Shortly after noon, all of Task Force Iron began moving
north. At the border berm, the units conducted standard defile
drills 6 and then crossed into Iraq. As they advanced on a front
almost thirty kilometers wide, gunners identified Iraqi vehicles
in front of them, but the enemy withdrew as the ground units
advanced. 7 In the cavalry’s sector, A Troop initially had no contact
with Iraqi troops as it crossed the border. However, in the B
Troop zone, the 3rd Platoon received small arms fire as it
worked on the berm. The shooting came from an outpost that
looked like a small earthen fort with a small trailer inside. In a
few moments tank and Bradley shells destroyed the structure
and its occupants. The troop also spotted some Iraqis in a white
pickup firing mortar rounds at them. When they returned fire,
the Iraqis managed to escape to the north unharmed. 8 In the
outpost the soldiers found a logbook with daily entries, which
the Iraqi scouts had maintained since August. Unfortunately, it
was unreadable and sent to the rear with other documents.
As A Troop fanned out to cover the north side of the breach
sites, 1st Platoon sighted some dismounted Iraqis running over