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

Postwar Operations 215
march and maintain contact with all parts of the extended column,
while MAJ Burdan brought up the rear of the main body. 3
The squadron’s movement to AA Allen began on March 19.
Just getting on to the designated route proved difficult. There
was little “deconfliction,” in military terms, as the route was, as
feared, also occupied by the traveling elements of both divisions.
Once on the trail, other vehicles darted in and around the
squadron’s column, making it difficult to keep the convoy serials
together. Other than this confusion, the road march was generally
uneventful. The route of march took them past Phase
Line Lime and the region where the 1st Armored Division had
demolished the Iraqi Medina Armored Division less than a
month earlier. Wrecks of armored vehicles, most still in their
shoddy battle positions, were spread across the landscape to
the north and south. It was visible evidence of the power of the
American offensive.
Arriving at AA Allen in the middle of the afternoon, they
found the squadron’s helicopters on the ground waiting for
them ahead of schedule; so much for detailed planning. Now
located behind the other VII Corps units, the squadron adopted
more of an administrative formation. The command post took
position in the center of a large wagon wheel with each unit (A
Troop, B Troop, aviation troops, and HHT) located one and a
half kilometers from the center at the four cardinal directions of
the compass. Once set up, each troop strung communication
wire to the command post.
Now the enemy was boredom. Although the OH-58C helicopters
were in great demand to ferry commanders around the
vast landscape, the AH-1F Cobra pilots flew few patrols. Tanks
and Bradleys remained parked in the assembly area. The officers
and noncommissioned officers organized baseball teams,
volleyball teams, weight training, and even scorpion fights to
keep the soldiers occupied. Occasionally the command received
a quota to send troopers down to the recreation boat, a
converted cruise ship nicknamed the “Love Boat,” anchored off
Bahrain. The leaders awarded these trips to soldiers who had
done especially good jobs. For a few days, the selected troopers
could take showers, eat, and enjoy living in a clean environment.
The longer they were in AA Allen, the more the comforts