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

Final Preparations 111
eve of battle: how would they act under fire and could they kill
a fellow human being? They also talked of family concerns, and
what might happen to them if they got hit. Parker did his best
to calm their fears and concluded each of the group sessions
with a prayer. 15
Behind the scenes, squadron leaders dealt with other concerns.
Wilson pulled CPT VJ Tedesco aside and told him that if
something happened to one of the ground troop commanders,
he was going to take his place. On the one hand, he felt honored
since he had only been in the squadron for a short period of
time. On the other hand, it made him quite uncomfortable
knowing that his route to professional advancement might occur
over a friend’s dead body. 16
Another example concerned the leadership in A Troop,
where CPT Pope was unhappy with his first sergeant. After a final
incident involving his first sergeant and one of his troopers
he decided to take action. After a discussion with Wilson and
CSM Cobb, Pope and the other leaders decided to move newly
arrived MSG Gary Parkey into the job. When Cobb asked him,
Parkey jumped at the chance and pulled his old first sergeant diamonds
out of his duffel bag. He arrived at the troop command
post as it was preparing for the final order briefing. In less than
twenty-four hours he would be in combat and senior noncommissioned
officer of a unit he was just being introduced to. 17
Now things began to happen with an increased intensity
and sense of purpose. On February 22 the squadron changed its
radio call sign from “Dragoon” to “Quarter Horse” to prevent
confusion with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment on the division’s
left flank. The 2nd Cavalry sent over a liaison officer to
maintain contact between the two units. Brigade engineers began
removing the concrete dragon’s teeth that had blocked the
roads at the old border crossings. Supporting and attached units
checked into the squadron area. One of these was a psychological
operations team that brought along its capability to play music
over loudspeakers. These blared in the command post area,
picking up the soldiers’ morale and starting good-natured arguments
over the merits of country music versus rock and roll.
Meanwhile, leaders rehearsed their combat actions and the command
post streamlined the complex operation order into a