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

246 The Road to Safwan
cal Army Reserve Aviation Company, D/158th Avn Bn as a
Warrant Officer. He returned to Iraq in 2004–2005 as a CW2 flying
combat missions. He is currently an Aviation Safety Inspector
with the Federal Aviation Administration. The authors have
lost track of the two other troop commanders, James Tovson
and Peter Smith. Following the completion of his assignment at
Fort Riley, Chris Philbrick, a key member of the squadron staff,
commanded an aviation battalion, attended the Army War College
and, as of this writing, is the Garrison Commander of Ft.
Irwin, California.
Although he has lost track of many of the troopers of the
squadron, John Burdan has learned that at least two other
squadron officers have risen to command battalions. After serving
as a battalion executive officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom
I, Matthew Vanderfeltz, the former squadron support platoon
leader, returned to translate his experience into army
communications doctrine. He is the commander of the 29th Signal
Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington, and as of this writing,
has just returned from Mosul, Iraq, where he and his unit supported
Operation Iraqi Freedom IV. After a variety of assignments,
VJ Tedesco, former squadron S-3 Air, found himself back
in Kuwait in 2003–2004 planning the rotation of forces in and
out of Iraq. He is now commaner of the 1-37 Armor, 1st Armored
Division, and his battalion returned after fourteen
months fighting the insurgency in Iraq.
After serving as an instructor at the Army’s Command and
General Staff College, John Burdan retired from the service and
is now a defense contractor living in Colorado Springs with his
wife Bridget. For these and all the squadron’s veterans of this
conflict, the memories of this campaign will remain with them
forever: security operations, the breach, the night battle at Norfolk,
and the long road to Safwan.