# 73 Easting — 2d ACR at the Grid Line

**Semantic kernel:** A map grid line became a threshold where reconnaissance, mission command, training, weather, sensors, weapons, logistics, and Iraqi resistance converged on 26 February 1991.

## Grounded anchor

Official U.S. Army histories describe the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment leading VII Corps' advance and fighting Iraqi forces associated with the Tawakalna and 12th Armored Divisions on 26 February 1991. The engagement was later named the Battle of 73 Easting after a north–south map grid line.

Use the historical 1991 name **2d Armored Cavalry Regiment (2d ACR)**. Do not silently substitute the present-day unit name or treat “2nd Cavalry” as a timeless organizational identity.

## Moving toward

Study the battle as an interaction among mission, reconnaissance, mutual support, disciplined initiative, reporting, training, weather, sensors, weapons, sustainment, Iraqi organization and action, adjacent formations, and later passage of lines.

## Moving away

A decisive-battle story can let technology, one leader, one troop, or one national account stand in for the entire action, opposing force, campaign, political context, casualties, environment, Veterans, families, and aftermath.

## Sense → Choose → Act → Learn

- **Sense:** Reconstruct mission, map, weather, visibility, unit locations, reports, uncertainty, opposing action, and source perspective.
- **Choose:** Compare the decisions available at each echelon without giving historical actors hindsight they did not possess.
- **Act:** Use only historical simulation, education, and public analysis. This card does not provide contemporary targeting, attack planning, or tactical instruction.
- **Learn:** Separate lessons claimed at the time, later doctrinal use, simulation findings, participant memory, official history, and unresolved perspectives.

## Questions

- When did reconnaissance become battle, and who recognized the transition?
- Which capabilities mattered only because training, maintenance, communication, weather, and adjacent units made them usable?
- What disappears when the action ends at tactical victory?

## Source boundary

This release uses official U.S. Army sources. Iraqi participant, civilian, regional, environmental, and independent scholarly sources remain an explicit gap. The card is a source-bounded study instrument, not the final history.

## Sources

- U.S. Army Center of Military History, *War in the Persian Gulf*: <https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog/War-in-the-Persian-Gulf-ODS-and-DS/>
- Stephen A. Bourque, *Jayhawk! The VII Corps in the Persian Gulf War*: <https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog/Jayhawk/>
- U.S. Army NCO Journal, “Mission Command at the Battle of 73 Easting”: <https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/nco-journal/images/2022/October/73-Easting/73-Easting.pdf>
