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

Final Preparations 109
in army terminology. Following behind the troop trains were
the squadron combat trains, led by the S4, CPT Steve Harmon.
These contained essential support items that were of immediate
concern: repair parts, fuel, ammunition, and medical support.
The squadron organized the larger field trains into two
elements for ease of control and rapidity of response to demands
from the fighting units. CPT Doug Morrison would
lead a forward support element with most of the fuel and ammunition,
which followed directly behind the combat trains.
Farther to the rear would be the rest of the field trains under
CPT John Maloney, the HHT executive officer. They were located
in the 1st Brigade Support Area and moved with them.
The air troops remained collocated with the 4th Brigade and
moved with them. CPT Philbrick would relay instructions for
the squadron’s air elements through Pete Smith, E Troop commander,
and the squadron’s senior captain on site. In the absence
of any contrary instructions, Philbrick told Smith to
launch two SWTs each morning and send them to Flight Operations
for the day’s mission.
As part of the final preparations, each crew thoroughly
readied themselves and their vehicles or aircraft for combat,
and after several weeks on the line, there was much to be done.
They emptied each tank, personnel carrier, aircraft, or truck of
all of the trash and unneeded personal gear and restored it in
accordance with the squadron’s loading plans. They cleaned all
of their weapons, optical equipment, and chemical detection
devices. They loaded up cases of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)
and supplementary off-the-shelf rations such as canned beans
and franks, lasagna, and ravioli. Every vehicle was to have at
least one five-gallon can of water on it and, in the way of modern
American-style war, cases of soft drinks and Gatorade. 11
Then they opened the crew maintenance manual, known as
the “-10,” and began going down the checklist, inspecting and
servicing each item in turn. These checks addressed everything
from oil levels to track tightness. The air troop crew chiefs performed
similar tasks and coordinated with E Troop for any
needed repairs. In most cases, the crews or helicopter crew
chiefs fixed minor problems and were ready to go by the next
day. In B Troop, however, 1LT Gerald Danussi’s crew discov-