Armored Cav (1994)

by Clancy, Tom - Nf

  Doffing our body armor and hopping into a couple of HMMWVs, Generals Taylor, Coffey, and my team headed up the hill to the 1st Squadron command team to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Martinez and find out what he had seen. As we drove up to the pair of M3 command tracks at the top of a ridge, Toby Martinez was pulling himself out of the small rear hatch to greet us. You could clearly see that he was in pain just standing there breathing. But through the pain you could also see a profound exaltation at what his troopers had done. As he briefed General Taylor on how the fight had gone, he assured Pete that he would not only get more vehicles back on-line for that evening’s live-fire shoot, but that they would “kill every damned one of those targets tonight, sir!”

  Medical personnel of the 3rd ACR’s support squadron treat simulated medical casualties after an NTC live-fire exercise at Drinkwater Lake.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  Clearly excited themselves, Generals Taylor and Coffey made sure that Toby and his TOC staff knew just how well they had done that morning. In just two hours (it seemed like about twenty minutes with things happening so fast), the squadron’s attitude had been turned around by the amazing performance of Lieutenant Colonel Martinez’s preplanned artillery fire. Now NTC “winners,” they could look forward to other engagements with the knowledge of their “good fight.” It was a rare privilege to watch Pete Taylor, a veteran of shooting wars with three stars, put his arm around the young lieutenant colonel and tell him, “Someday you’ll have a regiment of your own, son.”

  Aftermath

  Happy as Toby was over the outcome of the battle, he and the squadron had things to do before they could grab a few hours of sleep. The squadron had to refine the artillery observer positions and artillery targets, artillery batteries needed to reposition, barriers had to be reseeded, simulated casualties had to be evacuated properly, and repaired vehicles had to be brought forward from the Unit Maintenance Collection Point (UMCP, the slang term is “Bone Yard”). Failure to do all that would cause the O/C team to downgrade the squadron’s performance, and so undo their success. At the same time, ammunition and food had to be brought forward and vehicles reloaded, and if necessary (or possible) repaired.

  The early performance had been amazing. But it got better when the sun set later that day. Getting a few more tanks and Bradleys out of the repair yard and shifting more forces toward Sabot Ridge in the eastern end of the valley, they killed even more targets that evening, demonstrating the spirit of the 3rd ACR troopers under adversity. In that moment of victory on Sabot Ridge on Sunday morning, they reaffirmed the regimental motto, “Brave Rifles!” and its response, “Blood and Steel.”

  The commander of III Corps, General “Pete” Taylor, talks with Colonel Bob Young, the commander of the 3rd ACR, after a force-on-force engagement at the NTC.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  Back over in the force-on-force area, though, 2nd Squadron was having their own troubles with the OPFOR. The previous day, fresh from several excellent live-fire performances of their own, they had also suffered heavily up near Brown’s Pass. In an engagement with a superior OPFOR force, the scouting broke down again, Colonel Young had difficulties getting information over the radio nets to decide when and where to commit the squadron’s reserve company of tanks. The OPFOR blasted through the northern part of their over-extended line; and in just seventeen minutes, OPFOR tanks overran the regimental supply and trains area. It was a tough learning experience for the new regimental commander, who was going through his first NTC rotation. But learning is what NTC is all about, and Bob Young took his knocks like a professional.

  The regiment had another week of simulated combat, producing a smattering of successes, as well as the inevitable losses to the OPFOR. As they finished up the rotation in the third week of September, they turned in their borrowed vehicles and equipment, and boarded the charter buses back to El Paso. A couple of weeks later, the NTC staff shipped them the payoff for all the efforts—the 1,300-page “take-home” package. This is a catalog of every move and shot by the regiment during their entire rotation. This package provides guidance on what the regiment needs to work on until they come back for their next NTC rotation in the summer of 1994.

  While most of the regiment was at the NTC rotation, back home at Fort Bliss, Lieutenant Colonel Gunzelman and his 3rd Squadron were getting ready for deployment to Kuwait later in the fall. At the end of 1993, 3rd Squadron finished up Intrinsic Action 94-1 and came home for the holidays. The regiment was together for only a short time, however, before the next set of training rotations.

  Because of all this hard work and dedication, the 3rd ACR will remain one of the units that the Army can count upon to be “ready” in case of an emergency or crisis. And the troopers of the Brave Rifles will continue their almost 150-year tradition of service to the United States of America.

  A Cavalry Officer’s Life

  In previous chapters, we have explored the equipment and institutions that allow the U.S. Army to train and equip soldiers and make them into a working part of a cavalry or armored unit. But what about the human part of all this? Just what does it feel like to join the Army and dedicate your professional life to it? Our talk with General Franks provides some telling insights, of course, but what does the Army life mean for someone younger, less senior? How does a young man or woman just starting out see it, in those early years of young adulthood when the world is just opening up and all of life is a new adventure?

  To get a feel for how it is for a young person to live in today’s Army, let’s get to know one of the service’s brightest and most successful young officers. Herbert Raymond McMaster, Jr.—H.R. to his friends—was born on July 24th, 1962, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A West Point graduate in 1984, H.R. has gone on to a rewarding career in the Army. As commander of Eagle Troop of the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment during Operation Desert Storm, he led a highly successful attack on a brigade of a Republican Guard Division. This attack—in what has come to be called the Battle of 73 Easting (a reference to a map grid position in Iraq)—is generally considered to be a textbook example of small-unit operational art and command initiative. Not despite this impressive accomplishment, but because of it, H.R. is representative of the new generation of soldier that has joined the Army in the last twelve to fifteen years. Smart, fit, attractive, and committed to the ideals that made him join the service. Let’s meet him.

  Since the early 1800s, Americans have sent their sons-and more recently, their daughters—to join the “long gray line” of West Point’s Corps of Cadets. Through the post gates overlooking the Hudson River have passed some of the greatest officers in military history. Names like Lee and Grant. MacArthur and Eisenhower. Bradley and Patton. Schwarzkopf and Franks. The Academy positively oozes history and tradition, and H.R.’s early memories of the post tell us a great deal about such things.

  Life at West Point is more than just academics and military discipline. On the contrary, it is also filled with comradeship and adventures. Following each school year, the cadets are given the opportunity to spend time with Army field units, or to study abroad. And no description of life at West Point would be complete without stories of athletics. H.R.’s experiences were no different, as he became a member of the Academy rugby team:

  During the cadets’ four years at West Point, they are exposed to a variety of military experiences designed to assist them with making the vital decision of what branch of the Army (Armor, Infantry, Intelligence, etc.) they will join and specialize in during their career. Almost everyone who follows this path seems to have a story about how he wound up where he did, and H.R. is no exception:

  When it first arrived in the U.S. Army inventory in 1981, the M1 Abrams was a whole new world to the young crews who had to learn to use its complex systems. Let’s look at H.R.’s perspective on this.

  By the end of 1987, H.R. had come a long way in the Army, and was beginning to think about how he might gain command of a small unit in Europe. Afte
r a year as a tank company executive officer, he was assigned as the battalion scout platoon leader. This was a significant move, for it headed him onto a path to his goal, command of a cavalry troop in Germany.

  As part of his growing experience, H.R. was given, in 1987, the opportunity to take his scout platoon to Exercise REFORGER. This gave him an appreciation of relatively independent operations, and increased his enthusiasm for gaining a troop-level command in Europe.

  During REFORGER, units trained in a variety of places with the forces of many nations. And the missions that they trained for were not all defensive. The new U.S. Army maneuver doctrine—first spelled out in the 1982 edition of the Army field manual FM 100-5—emphasized that even missions that are primarily defensive involve offensive operations. This was a shift in conceptualization for Army units. And units of all sizes quickly changed their focus to offensive operations. REFORGER-87 allowed H.R. and his scout platoon to participate in corps-sized offensive maneuvers:

  By the end of 1987, it was time for H.R. to begin moving up to the “middle management” of the U.S. Army. To this end, he attended the Advanced Armor School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and prepared to move to his first European assignment with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Germany:

  In early 1990, H.R. finally had the opportunity to command his own maneuver unit, Eagle Troop of the 2nd ACR. He and Katie also had the excitement of the birth of their second daughter, Colleen, in February 1990. Nine months after he took over Eagle Troop, his unit was alerted for what would become a combat mission, Operation Desert Shield. Even before the alert orders came down, he had a feeling of impending action, and began to “work up” the personnel of Eagle Troop to get them ready for combat.

  As we move into the Persian Gulf with Captain McMaster, it is useful to get to know something about the people and equipment that he took to war. In the story that follows you can see in microcosm what all of the troops of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm went through as they counted down the time to G-Day (February 24th), the start of the ground war.

  Captain H. R. McMaster (center) with his Eagle Troop platoon leaders. (Left to right) 1st Lt. Jeffery DeStefano, 1st Lt. Timmothy Gauthier, 2nd Lt. Michael Hamilton, and 1st Lt. Michael Petschek.

  H. R. McMASTER

  When he reached Saudi Arabia in early December 1990, H.R.’s first job was to get Eagle Troop’s equipment off the ships at Al Jubail, and get them to their first assembly area along the Saudi/Iraq border. After that, his early days were spent keeping his troops healthy, fit, and fed, keeping the troop’s equipment ready for action, and getting his personnel trained and positioned for the coming assault into Iraq.

  One of the most important late additions to the equipment of Eagle Troop, and all of the Coalition forces in the Persian Gulf, was a number of the new NAVSTAR GPS terminals, which greatly aided in desert navigation. Though the U.S. Army had about a thousand of these units prior to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, this number grew to several thousand as an emergency procurement of the car-stereo-sized units were bought and sent to field units. In addition, thousands of commercial GPS units were bought by individuals for use in everything from tractor-trailer trucks to helicopters:

  Along the way, H.R. had to deal with all of the things that U.S. military commanders have dealt with since George Washington at Valley Forge. Keeping people fed, Christmas away from home, keeping morale up. There was even an occasional encounter with friendly Bedouin tribesmen.

  The crew of Eagle-66 (left to right) Captain H. R. McMaster (commander), Staff Sergeant Craig Koch (gunner), Specialist Christopher Hedenskog (driver), Private 1st Class Jeffrey Taylor (loader).

  H. R. McMASTER

  On January 16th, 1991, Operation Desert Storm kicked off with a massive aerial bombardment of Iraqi targets and forces. As they watched the explosive storm to their north, and suffered an early scare, they continued to prepare for the coming assault upon the Iraqi forces in Iraq and Kuwait.

  Shortly after the air war started, 2nd ACR, along with the rest of the VII Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps, began a long movement several hundred miles to the west to support the “Hail Mary play” that was to be the centerpiece of General Norman Schwarzkopf’s plan for the ground war phase (called Desert Saber) of Operation Desert Storm. Done in almost complete secrecy from the Iraqis (who had their intelligence collection limited to pirating signals off the CNN satellite feeds by this time), it was designed to allow the Coalition forces to cut off any possible escape routes from Kuwait into Iraq, and in particular, to allow VII Corps, with its heavy armored divisions, to destroy the five Republican Guard divisions that were standing by on the old Iraqi/Kuwaiti border to attack the Arab and Marine Corps units that were to liberate Kuwait itself. These divisions, oversized and equipped with the best equipment in the Iraqi Army, were felt to be the primary threat to the forces attempting to liberate Kuwait. Assigned to VII Corps as their organic reconnaissance element, 2nd ACR was going to lead the way to the Republican Guard; then the rest of the corps was going to destroy it.

  When Colonel Leonard D. “Don” Holder, the 2nd ACR’s commander, led his regiment over the border berms (long mounds of earth) into Iraq, he commanded a unit greatly enlarged from its normal peacetime organization. In fact, by G-Day, he commanded a unit that was more like a small armored division, with all the cross-attachments assigned. The more specialized of these units, such as engineering and combat-intelligence units, would play a vital role in the initial assault against the Iraqis:

  On the night of February 23rd/24th, 1991, H.R. led Eagle Troop through the berms and into Iraq. Over the next couple of days, while the rest of VII Corps came through the berms and sorted themselves out, the 2nd ACR moved forward slowly. The weather was less than pleasant.

  One of the keys to the success of the ground phase of Desert Storm was the synchronization of every unit on the battlefield. This was necessary to help plan and execute air and logistics support operations, direct Coalition units to their desired targets (the Iraqi ground units), and to help avoid incidents of “friendly fire” or “fratricide.”

  February 26th, 1991, was the day for which the U.S. Army and H.R. had prepared themselves for over a decade: head-to-head armored combat with the best that the Iraqis had to offer, the Tawakalna Division of the Republican Guard. Of all the Republican Guards divisions that were encountered during Desert Storm, this was the only one which maneuvered with any real aggressiveness.

  This was the way things were supposed to go: With Eagle Troop on the point, 2nd ACR was to locate the enemy, hold them at arm’s length, and then pass the heavy armor of the 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions through to destroy the Iraqis. That was the plan. But the reality simply did not work out that way. High winds and blowing sand kept the helicopters on the ground, and it was left to the cavalry troopers on the ground to find the enemy, much like their mounted forefathers of the previous century.

  The formation of Eagle Troop, 2nd Cavalry Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, on the afternoon of February 26th, 1991. The 1st Scout Platoon is out in front with Captain H. R. McMaster (Eagle-66) leading the wedge of M1A1 tanks.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  On the late afternoon of the 26th, as the regiment continued to move to contact with the Tawakalna Division, Eagle Troop encountered a small village astride the demarcation line, with 3rd Squadron to the south (below the 00 Northing or centerline of the VII Corps advance). After taking fire from machine guns and a dug-in ZU-23 anti-aircraft mount (a twin 23mm gun), the tanks and Bradleys of Eagle Troop responded in a much bigger way and silenced the enemy fire.

  The opening moves of the Battle of 73 Easting, Captain McMaster and the tanks of the 2nd and 4th Tank Platoons return the fire from the Iraqi village after taking several prisoners.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  It was at this moment that all hell began to break loose ahead of Eagle Troop. Reports of enemy tanks (from Lieutenant Michael Petschek
of the 1st Scout Platoon) ahead in the blowing dust and sand forced H.R. to make a decision: Did he stay where he was (as the accepted U.S. Army armored cavalry doctrine of the day suggested) and try to hold them there while the armor from the heavy divisions came up? Or should he assault the enemy armor?

  When H.R. observed that after shooting three tanks in the early moments of the fight (in under ten seconds!) the enemy tanks were not returning effective fire, he made his decision. Realizing he had surprised and gained an advantage over the Iraqis, he ordered the troop forward to assault the enemy positions. Maneuvering and fighting with Eagle Troop at this time was Major MacGregor, the 2nd Squadron S-3 (operations) officer in an M1A1, and the 2nd Squadron Tactical Command Post (TAC CP) in an M2 Bradley: