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

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was at Junction City. The command post set up near the Division
Support Command, and Burdan transferred all of his maps
and information from B Troop to his own command post vehicle.
After making contact with 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry (1st
Cavalry Division) on its right flank, the squadron began to acclimate
to its new desolate surroundings. In addition, it was
now well beyond the span of effective division command and
control. Communication between the unit and division headquarters
still back in TAA Roosevelt was tenuous and sometimes
intermittent. 11
The squadron was now deployed in its combat configuration.
The center of squadron command activities was the tactical
operations center or TOC. It centered on three M577 Command
Post Vehicles belonging to the S2 (Intelligence), S3
(Operations), and the FSE (artillery Fire Support Element) staff
sections. It also had vehicles from the Air Force liaison officer
(ALO) and the division signal battalion. From within this command
post, squadron staff officers, especially Captains VJ
Tedesco, Scott Sauer, and Shelby Seelinger, and CPT Dave Wallace
(the squadron signal officer who ranged between all the
command posts) managed all squadron activities under the supervision
of the executive officer, MAJ Bill Wimbish. LTC Wilson
and MAJ Burdan usually worked from the command post,
but operated from their M3s or HMMWVs when on the move.
The squadron’s logistics activities were organized into combat
and field trains. 12 CPT Harmon, the S4 (Logistics) officer, ran
the combat trains. The S1/S4 M577, also known as the ALOC
(Administrative-Logistics Center), was the heart of this organization.
It also included Chaplain Lou Parker’s HMMWV, medical
ambulances, maintenance and recovery vehicles, and tenton
trucks loaded with fuel (called Supply Class III), and
ammunition (called Supply Class V). The job of the combat
trains was to follow closely behind the combat elements and
provide them emergency logistics support, as well as coordinate
more deliberate re-supply and maintenance operations.
The field trains, led by the Headquarters Troop commander
CPT Doug Morrison, controlled the large number of supply,
maintenance, and other support vehicles that routinely followed
mechanized units. Working in the M577 assigned to the