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

3 Deployment
On November 27, retired General William E.
DePuy spoke to the 1st Infantry Division’s
officers. DePuy’s career had begun as a
lieutenant in the 90th Infantry Division during World War II’s
Normandy Campaign. He went on to command the 1st Infantry
Division in Vietnam, and concluded his career as the first
Commanding General of the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine
Command. As one of the primary innovators in the army’s
reform movement of the 1970s and 1980s, his words were
sobering to the officers, few of whom were veterans of other
conflicts. Reminding them that in World War II, “my division
lost 40 percent of its platoon leaders each week for seven
weeks.” DePuy asked the division’s leaders: “Why fight the
battle the way the enemy wants?” He then answered his own
question by advising them instead to “fight the battle on our
terms.” Emphasizing “synchronization is important,” he urged
them to “try to fight the battle as smart as you can and use all
of the tools that are available.” 1 It was a fitting send-off and the
last time all of the division’s officers would reassemble for
many months.
Traveling to Saudi Arabia, or deployment as the army
called it, was the squadron’s next step in its journey that culminated
along the Euphrates several months later. This 6,500-mile
trip took place in several phases. First, the squadron moved
equipment to the port of Beaumont, Texas, for shipment. Then
the soldiers departed Fort Riley and flew to Saudi Arabia,
where they unloaded their Bradley Fighting Vehicles, trucks,
and aircraft from the ships and received the new tanks and
other equipment that was waiting for them. Finally, when
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