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

258 The Road to Safwan
17. Wehage interview, 25 January 1994.
18. Gross, “History of 37th Armor on Operation Desert Storm,” 54.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Gross, “History of 37th Armor on Operation Desert Storm,”36–39.
22. Squadron Tactical Command Post, Daily Staff Journal, Tactical Operation
Center: 1700 8 February to 0500 9 February 1991, 8 February
1991, U.S. Armed Service Center for Research of Unit Records; 1st
Infantry Division, Daily Staff Journal, Main Command Post, G3 Operations
(9 Feb 91), Army, 9 Feb 91; Bracket interview, 23 July 1991;
Author’s notes; Gross, “History of 3d Battalion, 37th Armor on
Operation Desert Storm.”
23. Thomas G. Rhame, Letter to Commander VII Corps, Subject: Serious
Incident Report, 14 February 1991; VII Corps Tactical Operations
Center (TAC), Staff Journal, 15 February 1991, entry 7; Gross,
“History of the 37th Armor on Operation Desert Storm,” 51–52.)
24. 1st Infantry Division G3, Command Report, Department of the
Army, 19 April 1991, VII Corps After Action Report.
Chapter 8
1. 1st Infantry Division (1ID) U.S. Department of the Army, “Operation
Desert Shield/Storm Briefing” (paper presented at the VII
Corps After Action Report, Leavenworth, KS, 7 August 1991).
2. FM 100-5, Operations (1986), 65; VII Corps Main CP (Plans),
OPLAN 1990-2, 15.
3. Steve Vogel, “Hell Night,” Army Times, 23 September 1991, 14; VII
Corps Main CP (Plans), OPLAN 1990-2, 15.
4. Officially this area was a neutral zone established by treaty in 1937
that allowed for the free traverse of the various Bedouin tribes in
the region. In April 1975 Iraq and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement
to eventually divide the zone. The Saudi construction of the
border berm indicated that this anticipated division was in effect.
From the soldiers’ perspective, they were heading into Iraq.
5. LTC Stephen Hawkins “Interview: 1st Engineer Battalion,” Interview
by Thomas A. Popa , Fort Riley, KS, CMH Desert Storm Interview
Tape Collection, 26 July 1991; VII Corps Main CP (Plans),
Annex D (Fire Support) to OPLAN 1990-2; Tice, “’Coming
Through’ The Big Red Raid,” 18; Vogel, “Hell Night,” 14; Pope interview
#1.
6. A defile drill is a tactical procedure that allows a unit to negotiate
a narrow passage such as a bridge, a pass through rough terrain,