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

Preparation 19
the army’s manuals did not address a combined ground cavalry
platoon and scout-weapons team live-fire exercise, the squadron
developed its own. Under the scenario developed by MAJ Burdan
and his staff, each of B Troop’s three platoons moved down
a live-fire course under CPT Mike Bills’s control. In addition to
the six M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicles (“Bradleys”), for the first
time a scout-weapons team participated in the event. The battle
run was the first opportunity Bills had both to command his
ground troop and to work with the squadron’s aviators. 6
The summer gunnery period was also Wilson’s first opportunity
to command the squadron in the field and the threat of
war gave him a singleness of purpose. During the final qualification
period, he moved the entire command from garrison at
Fort Riley to the main gunnery complex and kept them there
for almost three weeks. The squadron staff had its first opportunity
to sort out its logistics and command and control structure.
While not training, they all lived in the same barracks
complex, allowing them to mingle and get to know each other,
something not usually done between ground troops and aviators.
These common experiences helped to mold Wilson’s command
into a cohesive unit.
Gunnery set the stage for a larger field training exercise,
called Gauntlet, directed by the 1st Infantry Division headquarters.
While the battle runs trained platoons and troops, Gauntlet
challenged the squadron commander to put it all together. Wilson
had the opportunity not only to maneuver his squadron, but
also do so against a live, thinking enemy in battle. Taking place
in October 1990, the exercise’s primary purpose was to help
COL Lon E. (Burt) Maggart’s 1st Brigade Combat Team prepare
for its November deployment to the National Training Center in
Fort Irwin, California. The division’s staff controlled, evaluated,
and managed the exercise, while the squadron provided the opposing
force, usually called OPFOR. The cavalry’s role was to
replicate an enemy motorized regiment and challenge the
brigade in a series of simulated offensive and defensive battles.
Wilson’s combat capability more than doubled as the division
assigned him two tank companies, a mechanized infantry company,
an antitank company and an engineer company to use in
the aggressor role. In a more exotic vein, he also had long-range