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

The Port 45
attacked into Iraq, the troop would continue to struggle with
personnel shortages. Most importantly, Pope would receive
thirty new Bradley crewmen only ten days before the ground
war began. 7
The squadron’s vehicles and equipment began arriving in
the port on January 8. Over the next three weeks, trucks,
tracked vehicles, and aircraft continued to trickle in on eight
different ships. Once the unit heard it had vehicles on board, it
had to unload them from the ship, inspect them, and give them
the maintenance attention tanks and armored personnel carriers
always require. In addition, the crews had to locate the vehicle’s
equipment, such as radios and weapons, which were
shipped in separate containers called milvans, a nickname for
“military vans.” While this was going on, Wilson received word
that he was to turn in his old Cavalry Fighting Vehicles for
newer M3A2 models. The old M3s were later distributed to
units within the division and used to provide additional convoy
and command post security. At the same time, he was receiving
the new M1A1 Tanks. The result was a busy couple of
weeks that saw troopers and their leaders running in a variety
of directions.
The vehicles came off the boats in fairly good shape, with
only a few dents and many dead batteries. Crews and mechanics
rushed to the docks to inspect and reassemble their equipment
and begin moving it to staging areas where they prepared
for the trip to the desert. There was no single way to unload the
cargo that arrived at port because of the many types of ships
used in the deployment, and soldiers had to learn a few new
tricks each time a ship arrived. This variety was caused because
the navy had only eight fast sealift ships, which carried only
thirteen percent of all American military ocean cargo sent to
Southwest Asia. There were also ninety-six ships in the Ready
Reserve Fleet, many between twenty and forty years old and
some had not been to sea or tested in over thirteen years. Needing
yet more shipping, the Department of Defense chartered
213 ships of various sizes and nationalities to carry equipment
and supplies to Saudi Arabia. The best of these were the “Ro-
Ro” (roll-on-roll-off) ships, which allowed combat vehicles to
be driven on and off the ship. Most vessels, however, required