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

210 The Road to Safwan
engineer team on board used C4 explosive compound to prepare
the vehicle for demolition. The problem was to ensure
there was enough of a delay after firing the fuse to allow everyone
to get back on board the helicopter and depart the immediate
area prior to detonation. On one occasion, C Troop’s 2LT
Steve Gruenig’s engineers had set the charges and were back on
board the helicopter and lifting off as a HMMWV headed for
the vehicle they had rigged to explode. They were apparently
souvenir hunters and oblivious to the explosion that was about
to occur. Fortunately, Gruenig was able to fly by and ward them
off before the explosion. 16
Like other American units, the squadron also appropriated
some Iraqi equipment to make their own existence more comfortable,
such as a few fully functional Iraqi command trailers.
Apparently designed as mobile offices and quarters for their
general officers, the trailers were often outfitted with showers,
latrines, sinks, refrigerators, air conditioners, and flourescent
lights. They also had portable generators mounted on racks.
CPT Morrison’s crews hauled them back to the squadron area
and cleaned them up. They were used by LTC Wilson, MAJ
Burdan’s S3 shop, and Headquarters Troop for the rest of their
stay in Iraq. Unfortunately, the squadron had to abandon them
before they returned to Fort Riley, since they were not exactly
approved issue for a divisional cavalry squadron.
Iraqi troops abandoned so much equipment that almost
every unit in the squadron found something to use. Many units
and sections found commercial trucks and staff cars to move all
of their equipment and people without having to share the ride
with others. For example, it was the first time CPT Shelby
Seelinger’s S2 section had a truck to call its own, after months
of trying to get one through regular channels. In A Troop, SFC
Molitor found a Chevy S-10 pickup truck, with a sabot-round
hole in the wall of the truck bed. He patched it up and it became
his platoon’s own special supply truck, nicknamed A17. In all
cases, the squadron used this equipment until it could no
longer run, since the army supply system did not have the repair
parts, and abandoned it when they left Iraq. 17
The troopers were still on guard, as the Iraqi Army was well
armed and dangerous. In addition, one never knew when iso-