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

98 The Road to Safwan
promised his commander that he would never again complain
about coming to his location for another meeting. 10
As the troops moved their vehicles into the best firing positions
they could find in the open desert, they rotated crew
duties so everyone could get a little sleep. Some turned on
their portable radios to monitor what was happening in the
outside world. Chaplain Lou Parker remembered chuckling
upon hearing President Bush state that the United States had
no soldiers in Iraq. From the squadron’s perspective, the war
was already underway. 11
By late afternoon TF Iron began to slowly push the screen
line northward into Iraq. Troopers watched as Air Force A-10
close support aircraft attacked the Iraqi positions to the north.
LTC James L. Hillman’s TF 1-41 Infantry made physical contact
with the 1st Cavalry Division on its right flank and informed
them of Task Force Iron’s new location. Squadron aviators
screened the task force’s exposed left flank. 12 By nightfall, the
two units had moved a total of five kilometers into enemy territory
and were arrayed along the division’s Phase Line Minnesota.
13 The next day, the sixteenth, was spent in clearing the
sector and improving Task Forces Iron’s posture. This included
the placement of ground surveillance radars in observation
posts to cover both wheeled and infantry avenues of approach. 14
General Ahmed Ibrahim Hamash, the Iraqi VII Corps commander
responsible for the defense of southern Iraq, probably
knew by now that something was afoot in his sector. It is ironic
that corps-sized units with the same number, VII, confronted
each other along the border. From the Wadi al Batin to the west,
there was enemy activity. Holes had been torn in the berms and
unknown armored vehicles had crossed over to his side of the
border. His subordinate units were also receiving artillery fire
and were now subject to precision air attacks. It was time for
him to investigate and develop the situation. That evening, several
groups of Iraqi vehicles appeared to observe the Americans
and were driven away by indirect fire from the 4th Battalion,
3rd Field Artillery. 15
The squadron and TF 1-41 Infantry spent February 16 inspecting
the ground behind them and watching the area to their
front. At 2151 hours that evening, Task Force Iron reported the