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

236 The Road to Safwan
crews sitting on and sleeping in vehicles so their place in line
would not be lost, the squadron’s vehicles were ready. Customs
and agriculture inspectors examined each of the now spotless
combat vehicles in detail with flashlights and screwdrivers.
Once ready, they were driven to a secure holding area at the
port. In some instances, the process was more difficult than others.
For example, 2LT David Palmieri’s platoon had to clean up
a Soviet BTR reconnaissance vehicle. It had been hit during the
war and a fire had burned some of the interior. In order to prepare
it, his platoon had to clean off the burned remains of seats
and panels so that the vehicle looked clean on the inside. This
required them to spend several hours scrubbing the inside of
the vehicle with scouring pads and scouring powder until the
thing was clean. It was hot and exhausting work. 11
With all of the equipment in the holding area, the final phase
of the redeployment began. The squadron troopers prepared
their personal equipment for the trip home, bought gifts, used
recreation facilities, and made calls home. A number of armyapproved
vendors had set up shop in the Khobar Towers area,
selling T-shirts, swords, costumes, brass, gold, and watches. The
prices were set by contract and you were not supposed to be
able to bargain the merchants down; however, as was Saudi custom,
one could occasionally get them to do a little adjustment to
their prices. It was very convenient and the soldiers did not need
to leave the compound to get things to send home. The army
post office always had a line of soldiers with packages.
Some soldiers also took taxis to downtown Dhahran to
shop and eat. There were a number of places to shop and there
was even a small mall. Here the selection was larger than on
base and the troopers visited Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza
Hut, and other American-style restaurants. At the mall they
could buy velveteen paintings of tanks and helicopters, Tshirts,
gold, and Arabic clothing. Off base it was quite interesting
because they were expected to bargain for each of the items
they wanted. Those with access to civilian vehicles, and there
were a number still assigned to commanders and staff officers,
could go to the air base where an American-style mess hall was
set up. Wilson and his officers took advantage of this facility on
several occasions.