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

Security Operations 75
briefed the ordnance officer on the squadron’s mission, exchanged
radio signs and frequencies, and directed them towards
their ultimate location. Based upon encounters such as
these, Wilson decided to move his screen line a few kilometers
north to protect these and other newcomers.
Wilson, Wimbish, and Burdan soon realized the magnitude
of their task of protecting a growing number of logistics units
in a sector almost seventy kilometers wide. This was far too
wide for a small divisional cavalry squadron to provide surveillance
twenty-four hours a day. Despite this problem, the
squadron’s leaders did their best in executing the screen.
Pope’s A Troop assumed surveillance duties on the sector’s
western fifteen kilometers while Bills’s B Troop observed the
next twenty kilometers. Each ground troop deployed its platoons
forward along an imaginary line. Typically, each platoon
set up two observation posts, “OPs” in army jargon, consisting
of two M3 Bradleys and ten soldiers led by a scout section staff
sergeant. The observation posts were between three and four
kilometers apart. Located farther to the rear was the platoon
leader with the remaining CFVs and tanks. The vehicles were
generally in the open and exposed, the terrain allowing little
opportunity for cover or concealment. 13
This deployment of the ground troops left about thirty-five
kilometers between B Troop and the 1st Cavalry Division to the
east unobserved. Wilson did the best he could to screen this area
by sending out a series of ground patrols supplemented by helicopter
reconnaissance patrols. Flying during the day was no
problem and the scout-weapons teams gained valuable flying
experience. However, flying at night was problematic as the
dark desert night seldom provided enough ambient light for the
pilots to effectively use their AN/AVS-6 Aviation Night Vision
Imaging Systems. Flying was so difficult that they were unable
to perform their tactical mission, so Wilson asked COL Mowery
for support from the Aviation Brigade’s AH-64A Apaches and
OH-68D Kiowas, both equipped with the most sophisticated
night optics available, to cover his sector during hours of darkness.
In response to this request, the division placed a company
of Apache attack helicopters from 1-1 Aviation Bn under the operational
control (OPCON) of the squadron. 14