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

214 The Road to Safwan
vision at Safwan. Next, the Big Red One first pulled back to a
temporary assembly area in Kuwait and then, from March 19 to
21, traveled west to an area thirty kilometers southeast of Al
Busayyah called Assembly Area (AA) Allen. After a short period
of rest and recreation, the squadron would then return to
the front line to screen the new military demarcation line. All of
this movement took place while Saddam Hussein’s troops finished
off the Shi’a rebellion just to the north. 2
Moving the squadron to AA Allen was a complicated event
as the 1st Infantry Division had to travel west into the desert at
the same time the 3rd Armored Division headed east and
northeast to the Safwan area. Each division had almost 9,000
tracked and wheeled vehicles heading toward and across the
path of each other. It was an operation that required each staff
to coordinate and ensure subordinate units stayed on route and
on schedule. However, it became even more complicated when
MAJ Burdan realized that the route he was given by the aviation
brigade for his squadron did not provide a trail for the armored
vehicles. Generally, it is not wise to put tracked vehicles
on a road, even a dirt one, because of the damage they can
cause to the surface. So, he directed the tanks and Bradleys to
travel on a parallel track nearby and hoped that no other unit,
from either division, had the same idea.
For this movement, the squadron was organized into four
parts. The advance party, led by CSM Cobb, had the mission to
prepare the AA Allen for the arrival of the squadron. The advance
party was followed by the main body of the squadron consisting
of the ground troops, selected vehicles from the air troops,
and CPT Morrison’s Headquarters Troop. MAJ Wimbish and the
squadron’s tactical operations center accompanied the main
body and maintained contact with each troop and the brigade
headquarters. The third part consisted of the squadron aircraft
who moved under the control of their troop commanders. Finally,
the fourth part consisted of CPT Philbrick, his flight operations
detachment, and some of the aviation troops’ vehicles that
remained behind to control the movement of the helicopters.
CPT Philbrick’s goal was to have the helicopters arrive at AA
Allen about forty-five minutes after the squadron’s ground units.
LTC Wilson traveled in an OH-58C helicopter to observe the