Rob, part of 11 ACR went. I have friends whe were there with them and my boss, LTC Jim Miller was there with them as a 2LT. 11ACR had the How Bat that had a FAASV blow up in Suadi Arabia waiting to load the ships when the heater was left on and it started on fire. It was fully loaded with ammo and took out almost the whole battery’s worth of equipment.
Here is an excerpt from their Regimental history that talks about the deployment and the How Bat incident.
[quote]
The Regiment was not deployed into the Gulf as a unit. The first deployment of 200 troopers included aircrews, mechanics, truck drivers, physician’s assistants, intelligence analysts and others. The scout platoons of Troop E and Troop K deployed as units. In the brief, but violent ground campaign that routed Saddam Hussein’s Army, one group of Blackhorse scouts, the 1st Platoon of Troop E distinguished themselves. While fighting as part of the 3rd ACR, led by 1st Lt. Tom Johnson and Staff Sergeant Richard Shelton, Troop E moved over 325 Kilometers in less than 60 hours, finishing the war just south of the Iraqi City of Basra. This one platoon captured thirteen enemy prisoners and destroyed thirteen trucks, two command bunkers, and the communications bunker. None of the scouts of Troop E, nor any other Blackhorse trooper, suffered any casualties.
The end of the actual hostilities in the Gulf did not result in a return to normalcy. Far from it, the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s defeat triggered an uprising of Iraq’s oppressed Kurdish minority. The Iraqi military bloody suppression of the Kurdish uprising sent hundreds of thousands of Kurds fleeing into the mountainous wastes of southeastern Turkey and western Iran. The world watched in horrified wonderment when the United States took the lead in responding to this intolerable situation. American and Allied military units were directed to deliver relief supplies to the refugees.
The morning of 10 April 1991, V Corps directed the Blackhorse to deploy an aviation task force to supervise the relief operations in Turkey. This was no different than the “No-Notice” deployment to join General “Black Jack” Pershing, in 1916 in Mexico. The Regiment responded quickly and deployed for Operation PROVIDE COMFORT. Within 70 hours of receiving first warning orders, Task Force Thunderhorse, under the command of Major John Mainwaring, launched from Fulda and landed in Diyarbakir, on an austere and remote airfield in southeastern Turkey. Fourth Squadron played a leading role in PROVIDE COMFORT. Fourth Squadron was the foundation from which massive allied helicopter fleets emerged: flying hundreds of sorties, delivering supplies, flying Special Forces teams and relief workers in and out of refugee camps, evacuating the sick and wounded, and inserting the Allied forces to protect the Kurds from Iraqi interference.
In orders dated 16 May 1991, as part of the Operation POSITIVE FORCE, the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed the 11th ACR to deploy immediately to Kuwait in order to sustain a presence there.
13 June, only two weeks after the first Blackhorse soldier had arrived in theatre, the Regiment assumed from 1st Brigade, 3d Armored Division the responsibility for defending Kuwait. The Regiment’s new base camp was a sprawling complex surrounded by an eight-foot high wall.
The three line squadrons took turns pulling “Z Cycle”, a designation that included responsibility for security. Manning gates, towers, the Z Squadron kept a platoon-size Quick Reaction Force (QRF) on alert around the clock, seven days a week. The QRF deployed off the compound without notice at least twice daily, a muscle-flexing exercise.
On the morning of 11 July a defective vehicle heater triggered a motor pool fire in the north compound of Blackhorse Base Camp. Despite valiant efforts to extinguish it, the blaze burned out of control and began detonating ammunition stored in and around the Regiment’s vehicle fleet. The resulting shower of shrapnel and unexploded ordnance forced the evacuation of the entire compound and caused extensive damage.
Some fifty Blackhorse troopers suffered injuries that day, a number that would have been far higher had it not been for numerous individual acts of heroism and the Regiment’s disciplined response to the emergency. Miraculously, there were no fatalities.
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Central Command, visited the Regiment. He presented the Soldier’s Medal for Heroism to three Blackhorse soldiers.[/qoute]
Now that I think about it, I think the tank incident was from 24ID, at the battle of 73 Easting. I could still be off, but it did happen.