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

28 The Road to Safwan
ready to fight, the troopers each traveled to the desert of northern
Saudi Arabia to a region marked on the division’s maps as
TAA (Tactical Assembly Area) Roosevelt.
After the vehicles were painted at the various facilities at
Fort Riley or in Junction City, each unit returned them to its motor
pool to prepare them for shipment by sea transport. For
each commander, an early priority was loading wartime or
“service” ammunition into each tank, 2 Bradley, and mortar carrier.
Unlike the routine deployments in the past, this was not a
simple administrative move but to a war zone where crews
might have to fight soon after their arrival. Next, soldiers ensured
that all of the required tools, radios, cables, and repair
parts were cleaned, packed up, and correctly stowed with the
weapon system. Any items considered hazardous had to be
given special packing consideration. Of course, as soon as a
crew thought they had packed their vehicle with everything
they needed, some other item would show up and they would
have to revise the load plan and fit it in somewhere. Crews also
painted a standard identification number and an inverted “V”
on all vehicles, part of a coalition-wide standard marking system.
Once a cavalry troop was ready, it requested certification
and a trained unit inspector then checked each vehicle for
proper loading, hazardous materials placards, and unauthorized
items such as pornography and alcohol that the army
strictly prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Once approved, the inspector
attached a metal seal, and the equipment was ready for
loading onto a rail car. 3
Soon trains arrived at the rail loading dock at Fort Riley’s
Camp Funston. While this loading process was complicated
and potentially dangerous, there were plenty of experienced
troopers to move it along. SFC Allen C. Piper, the newly arrived
Headquarters Troop maintenance sergeant, and SSG William A.
Ball ran the squadron’s railhead operation. Since Piper had just
arrived at Fort Riley, Ball found himself directing several rail
teams and acting as the principal director of the effort. Each of
these teams consisted of a noncommissioned officer and three
soldiers whom the division had trained and certified to do the
job safely. Their first task was to locate all of the required equipment
including vehicle tie-down cables, large wooden blocks,