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

The Basra Highway 179
instances over the preceding few days, and could easily do so
again. The squadron had already demonstrated that it could
hold its own in a fight with Iraqi units under normal circumstances.
What made this threat more serious were the many enemy
soldiers now inside its perimeter.
At 1830 hours, Camp Favors contained 450 prisoners. Less
than two hours later, the number had swelled to over 1,000
Iraqis and the squadron now owned a pile of over 700
weapons, including pistols, rifles, sniper rifles, and machine
guns. All night the Iraqis continued to flow in. Some gave themselves
up. Others surrendered after the cavalry troopers destroyed
the vehicles they were riding in. By dawn, the squadron
had captured well over 2,000 Iraqi soldiers, most with their
weapons. 57 If Wilson’s force became engaged in a major battle
with an attacking Iraqi force, these prisoners would become a
serious liability and could compromise his defensive scheme.
At one point during the night the imprisoned Iraqis began to
grumble and appear rebellious. A young American guard, carrying
a rifle with a grenade launcher attached, tried to fire some
shots over the Iraqis’ heads to quiet them down. Instead of his
rifle, he mistakenly fired a grenade that exploded just outside
the perimeter. Everyone hit the ground, surprised Americans included.
From then on the prisoners gave the guards no trouble. 58
Of course, not all of the squadron’s personnel were on or
near the highway. Earlier that afternoon, 1SGT Gary Parkey, racing
to catch up with A Troop, found himself moving in the same
area as scout vehicles from the 3rd Armored Division. After getting
permission from the scouts to continue, he headed across
open ground to catch up with his unit. As he proceeded through
a ravine, he suddenly came upon an Iraqi BMP infantry fighting
vehicle. This Soviet-made, heavily armed infantry carrier,
mounting a 76-mm gun, an antitank missile, and several machine
guns, had its turret pointed directly toward him. He also
noticed five or six Iraqi soldiers, obviously the crew, clustered on
the ground a short distance from the vehicle. Once these soldiers
saw the Americans, they began running towards their combat
vehicle. Parkey ordered his driver to get their light truck between
the Iraqi soldiers and the personnel carrier. Once they
saw what was happening, the Iraqi soldiers threw their hands