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

82 The Road to Safwan
the squadron would continue to gain proficiency, prepare for
the upcoming corps offensive, conduct border patrols and surveillance
activities, and conduct small-scale raids and attacks.
The combat command’s advance party arrived on the
morning of February 3 and the main body followed the next afternoon.
Along with armor and artillery, the DTAC brought its
sophisticated radio and telephone equipment to allow the command
to communicate with the remainder of the division. It
also brought the most recent version of the division attack plan,
called Scorpion Danger, which planners had continued to refine
since the squadron had moved to the border. The division continued
to prepare for its attack and periodically MAJ Burdan or
LTC Wilson returned to TAA Roosevelt to discuss the details of
the operation with COL Lon E. (Burt) Maggart, the 1st Brigade
Commander, and the division staff. 4
Combat Command Carter’s primary mission was security
and this role dominated most of its effort. MG Rhame reminded
Carter not to engage in combat unless attacked and to avoid
electronic and physical detection since the entire chain of command,
from Rhame through General Schwarzkopf, did not
wish to draw the Iraqis’ attention to this portion of the border
area. LTC Gross’s task force, with three tank companies and an
infantry company, took over the eastern twenty-five kilometers
of the line on February 4, reducing the squadron’s sector to
about thirty kilometers. Like Wilson, Gross was one of the
army’s rising stars and destined to achieve the rank of general
officer. For the next two weeks the two units policed the Iraq-
Saudi Arabian border. Tank and Bradley crews occupied observation
posts and used their systems’ powerful thermal sights to
monitor activity along the berm. Ground surveillance radar
crews monitored possible Iraqi avenues of approach, while
mortar sections occupied firing positions behind the forward
screen line. The command used its Cobras and OH-58C helicopters
to investigate any possible activity to avoid disclosing
the presence of American ground troops. In support, as required,
were also the 4th Brigade’s OH-58D, a more sophisticated
version of the OH-58 with target acquisition sensors and
a laser range finder mounted in a sphere above the main rotor,
and AH-64 helicopters with their night operations capability. 5