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

44 The Road to Safwan
Forbes Field and, in a snowstorm, headed to Boston and then to
Rome. Everybody was tired but had trouble sleeping in the
cramped aircraft. SFC William Molitor thought he would solve
the problem, for a short while, by stretching out in the aisle
while they were on the ground in Italy. In a few moments he
was sound asleep. The next thing he knew, the aircraft was
shaking and he thought it was moving down the runway. In reality,
they had been in the air for half an hour!
Next stop was King Fahd airfield, arriving around 2100
hours on January 11. Captains Bills and Morrison met the flight
on the runway. After a long bus ride, they ended up in the tent
city (also called Seaside) that was being formed down at the
port. As they pitched their tents, the sky became dark and
threatening. Somewhat surprised to be in this situation in the
Middle East, some soldiers dug small trenches around their
tents, just as they would during a training exercise in Germany.
Those who did not found their living quarters flooded the following
morning. Sometimes even those precautions did not
matter, as CPT Pope learned when his trench gave way and
four inches of water drenched the floor of his tent. It rained for
the next five days and some tents had four to five inches of water
inside. 6
The squadron continued to receive new troopers after it arrived
in Saudi Arabia. In most cases they came either from the
reserves (both the Army Reserve and the Army National
Guard) or from non-deploying units in the United States. Six
mechanics joined Headquarters Troop: three from one of the
army’s service schools, one from the National Guard, one from
the Individual Ready Reserve, and one regular army sergeant.
In A Troop, among other arrivals, 2LT Copenhaver received a
corporal from the National Guard to serve as his Bradley gunner.
Three full tank crews arrived in B Troop. CPT Bills
arranged to keep these together throughout the campaign.
These arrivals brought the squadron almost up to full-strength
and, with the arrival of air crews from Fort Drum, the C and D
Troops now had more than enough crew members for their aircraft.
The only exception to this wealth was the newly formed
A Troop. It was still short of Bradley crewmen and CPT Pope
had not met any of his tank crews. Until a few weeks before it