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McMaster at center of Iraq action

Sep-30-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

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By: George E. Beetham Jr.

During the Gulf War of 1991, then Capt. H.R. McMaster commanded Eagle Troop of the Second Squadron of the Second Armored Cavalry Division.

His troop led the armored advance into Iraq, driving in advance of the main armored divisions across miles of desert in a traditional cavalry scouting role.

This was the drive popularized by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf as the "Hail Mary" attack, in which mobile armored divisions swept around Kuwait deep into eastern Iraq to take on the Iraqi Republican Guard divisions based near the port city of Basra.

Eagle Troop's mission was to find the Republican Guard - elite armored units of the Iraqi army. The troop did just that.

In a short, but fierce tank battle, Eagle Troop took on and destroyed a larger force of Republican Guard tanks after McMaster, having sized up the Iraqi force, decided to attack in order to maintain the element of surprise.

In the 20-minute battle, the 10 M-1 tanks and 13 Bradley fighting vehicles of Eagle Troop destroyed 28 Iraqi tanks and 16 armored personnel carriers, as well as a number of trucks.

Other American armored units moved into the area to complete the destruction of the Republican Guard.

Now a colonel and commanding the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, McMaster is back in Iraq, and back in the center of action.

Early last May, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was assigned to Ninevah Province in northwestern Iraq in the area between Mosul and the Syrian border. The desert region embraces the route over which insurgent forces travel along a road from Syria into Iraq.

The force of 3,500 Americans was augmented by elements of the Iraqi army - another 5,000 troops.


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