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

172 The Road to Safwan
mingle with the smoky oil well fires in the approaching darkness.
Wilson realized that the waves of Iraqi troops would soon
overpower A Troop, and it was time, in good old-West cavalry
style, to circle the wagons. He ordered CPT Mike Bills’s B Troop
to move from its northern screen line to form a defensive
perimeter along with A Troop. His unit defended the western
side of the highway while Pope’s troopers guarded the east. In
the center, Wilson planned to assemble the remainder of his
unit near the ever-growing Camp Favors. Bills got his troop on
the move quickly and headed for its portion of the squadron’s
perimeter. 32
Wimbish and his vehicles arrived at Burdan’s location
around 1730 hours. As they monitored the situation on the
highway, they soon realized that they would probably end up
stranded outside of the main perimeter on the road. They could
not move the two almost out-of-fuel helicopters until dawn and
they could not abandon them without good reason. In addition,
this was a good location to allow the cavalry squadron, which
had been out of contact for over two hours, to set up a more
powerful antenna and regain contact with the 2nd Brigade. Regretfully,
Wimbish therefore established his small command
post, deep in enemy territory, with little tactical security other
than one Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The headquarters’s soldiers
began digging in for what could be a harrowing night. As B
Troop arrived at the highway they found A Troop fighting vehicles
and Iraqi soldiers located in a pump house to the south
and in a collection of several warehouses to the north. B Troop
took up its initial positions on the west side of the highway and
A Troop took the east side. 33
Wilson called his two troop commanders to his location on
the highway to discuss the situation. The two young captains
drove up and jumped off their vehicles and climbed onto his. It
was eerie evening, the sun was setting, vehicles were exploding
and burning, and a fire-fight raged all around them. The three
discussed what had occurred and what they were going to do.
Wilson’s decision was to keep the squadron on the highway
and in its immediate vicinity while they awaited the arrival of
the rest of the division. They would establish a perimeter with
A Troop occupying from 12-6 and B Troop from 6 to 12. The