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

Deployment 29
and vehicle shackles; usually there were four of these hook-like
appendages on each vehicle. Unfortunately, they were also detachable
and, over the course of several years, they often disappeared.
Without them the truck or Bradley could not be properly
secured on the train. Even though the squadron had
ordered extra shackles, Ball, his teams, and vehicle crews spent
many hours searching for these precious items of equipment. In
addition, there was the normal friction that accompanies these
operations, such as unserviceable rail cars and vehicles leaking
oil. However, after several long days and sleepless nights, the
troopers had secured the squadron’s ground equipment on the
train and it was on the way to Beaumont, Texas. Leaving on December
5, the train with the squadron’s equipment arrived at
the port a few days later. There, another group of division soldiers
loaded the vehicles on to the ships. 4
In a way that would cause great concern among its leaders,
the squadron’s equipment lost its unit integrity in the loading
process. Vessel loadmasters brought equipment on board ships
based on the space available without considering that the unit
might need to organize quickly upon arrival. As a result, rather
than a cohesive organization sent to sea and ready to fight on the
other end, the Quarter Horse’s fighting power was broken
down among the eighteen different vessels that carried the Big
Red One to the Persian Gulf. Of course, by the time the trains arrived
in Beaumont it was fairly obvious that there was no need
for the command to be configured as if in an amphibious landing,
since Operation Desert Shield had apparently deterred any
Iraqi attack. Since carrying capacity and speed of deployment
were now more important than combat capability, the loadmasters
did the best they could to fit all the odd-sized vehicles into
the fewest ships possible. That rationale was lost, however, on
the officers watching their units’ growing disorganization. 5
In addition to shipping ground vehicles and equipment, the
division had to transport its aircraft and special support equipment.
Soon after Thanksgiving, CPT Christopher Philbrick,
Warrant Officer (WO) Gary D. Notestine and a team of aviators
and aviation mechanics flew to Ellington Field near Houston,
Texas, to serve as the squadron’s advanced party for the helicopter
deployment. On December 4, the division’s 4th (Aviation)