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

Postwar Operations 219
son and Burdan jumped into an OH-58C and flew to the 2nd
Cavalry’s command post to discuss the mission, the refugees,
and the fighting still in progress on the other side of the demarcation
line. The regiment was manning more checkpoints along
the highway than the smaller Quarter Horse would. In conjunction
with the regiment, they picked the three most important locations
and planned to occupy them when the squadron arrived.
Each of these checkpoints required medical supplies and
interpreters, in addition to the standard combat vehicles. 11
The movement plan called for the squadron advance party
to depart on April 5 and for B Troop to depart at 0630 on April 6
with A Troop leaving at 1000 followed by the remainder of the
squadron. The air troops would fly out with the other helicopters
of the Aviation Brigade. The squadron was to be prepared to assume
responsibility for its sector at 1200 hours on April 7. When
the advance party arrived, it found the 2nd Cavalry conducting
tank gunnery at the site where Burdan had planned to place the
squadron command post. Burdan moved the squadron, therefore,
farther north along a pipeline road not too far south of the
Shia’s city of An Nasiriyah. Leaders of the 2nd Cavalry told Wilson
that things were still pretty dangerous along this demarcation
line. While the refugee flow was slowing, fighting in the
towns and villages north of the regimental checkpoints appeared
to still be pretty intense and quite visible at night. The next day
the remainder of the squadron and the Aviation Brigade arrived
in the new 120 kilometer-wide sector. At 0630 hours on April 7,
the brigade relieved the 2nd Cavalry and occupied three checkpoints.
12 The squadron command post relocated into the center
of its area in order to maintain contact between the cavalry
troops over the extended sector, nearly fifty kilometers wide. The
air troops, along with the squadron’s flight operations, co-located
with the remainder of the 4th Brigade, which was located
ten to fifteen kilometers from the squadron command post.
The squadron was now in one of the world’s most ancient
lands. On the south side of the Euphrates, within only a few
miles, were the ancient cities of Ur and Eridu. In addition, in all
directions the landscape was dotted with small hills or tells
which were probably “suburbs” of these earlier civilizations. In
the evening or morning, when the sun was just right, an ob-