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

5 Operations in the TAA
The squadron’s new home was a tactical assembly
area 270 miles northwest of the port
just north of the Tapline Road and east of
the Wadi Al Batin. There, LTG Frederick M. Franks, Jr.’s, entire
VII Corps assembled for its upcoming offensive against Iraq.
With 142,000 soldiers organized into five heavy divisions and
an armored cavalry regiment, it was the largest mechanized
unit ever assembled by the U.S. Army. The corps assembled in
a large assembly area called Juno.
Within TAA Roosevelt, the division’s portion of TAA Juno,
each of its subordinate brigades and separate units occupied its
own assembly area. The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, named its
area Camp Mackenzie, in honor of its dynamic leader of the
1870s. While at Camp Mackenzie, LTC Wilson had three main
tasks to accomplish: move the entire unit to the TAA, train it for
its upcoming mission in desert warfare, and defend its portion
of the assembly area in case of an Iraqi attack. While these were
three distinct activities, they took place simultaneously and
continued until just before the beginning of the ground offensive
in February.
Moving the entire squadron from the port area to the assembly
area was the first task. It entailed conducting a reconnaissance
of the sector, deploying an advance party to prepare
it, moving the main body consisting of most of the squadron’s
equipment and soldiers, and finally, bringing A Troop’s recently
trained and assembled crews to the desert in time for the campaign.
Wilson, SPC Harvey Kenworthy his driver, MAJ Burdan,
COL Mowery, and some of his staff conducted a leader’s reconnaissance
of the assembly area on January 3 and 4. Armed with
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