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Panama Stories
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subego
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Chicago, Bang! Bang!
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Feb 8, 2023, 08:16 PM
 
This is a thread for Panama stories. No idea if anyone here has any.
     
ghporter
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Feb 8, 2023, 09:28 PM
 
I'll start with a less-than-fun story.

I was assigned, with my family, to Howard AFB, Panama, from November 1987 to December 1989. We were assigned base housing on Albrook AFS, which was on the other side of the canal, so my work day started with driving across the Bridge of the Americas. And to get there, I had to drive past the Balboa (a municipality on the edge of Panama City) Police Station. And so would my wife if she needed to take our son to the clinic for his well-baby checkups, and so on.

This facility was essentially rectangular and situated at an angle on a large corner lot. There were two entrances to the parking behind the building, and each was guarded by (when we got there) a guy in a police uniform.

After a few months, the guard was now in a military uniform, and had an automatic rifle slung across his shoulders, held parallel to the ground. And the guard would note if a passing car had a "US FORCES" sticker on the windshield. If so, he'd track that car with his automatic rifle. It didn't matter whether the person in the car was a GI, or was instead a GI's dependent spouse and infant child. Like mine.

This was an example of Noriega's psychological warfare against US forces, and his supposed allies.

During Operation Just Cause*, intelligence had noted that the Balboa Police Station was being used to stockpile tens of thousands of AK47s, ammunition, etc. So they used an AC-130 gunship to eliminate the problem of where all those guns would go. And essentially eliminate the building. Completely.

There were a couple of palm trees in front of the building, and they got singed. There was also a Virgin Mary statue in a grotto in front of the building. It wasn't touched. Thanks, guys.

The place was beautiful despite the humidity. And every individual we ever encountered as an individual was kind, polite, and genuinely friendly. But the drug/power politics that Pineapple Face ran there left lasting scars.

*I kindly request that anyone who wasn't there during the time I was, kindly leave their opinions of our military actions out of this. You weren't there. You didn't have the threat of local military forces storming your home - while you were away. Or of them "detaining" your family members for no reason other than to mess with you and the rest of the US Forces. (Please note that I asked this politely. Anyone who wasn't there who weighs in about how the invasion wasn't a good thing will find out that I can be quite impolite.)

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego  (op)
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Feb 9, 2023, 02:13 PM
 
Ooooh… I didn’t remember the part where it got leveled. Satisfying ending.

I guess the reason I asked is (Noriega excepted) I get the feeling there are a bunch of cool things about Panama, but I know little about it ultimately, and wouldn’t mind some semi-random Panama stories.

You mentioned the weather. Does having the two oceans so close make it distinct from other tropical locales?
     
ghporter
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Feb 10, 2023, 12:48 PM
 
I never lived anywhere else tropical (the Gulf Coast sure doesn’t count!), but here’s what we experienced. I have to think that the effect of the Caribbean on one side and the Pacific on the other was similar to how large islands’ weather works.

From April to December is the “rainy season,” and it rains pretty much every day, often for much of the day. The rainfall amounts will vary from day to day, but expect plenty of rain every day.

From December to April is the “dry season,” which means that it only rains a few times a week, and sometimes only a little bit when it does. The grasses there have adapted to being soaked for 8 months of the year, so when it doesn’t rain a lot every day, it dries up. And grass fires are common during that part of the year.

It was never super hot while we were there, but it ranged from highs in the low 80s to low 90s. On the other hand, it was almost always pretty humid. Green stuff grows on windows…that humid all the time.

The geography was breathtaking. A tropical, triple canopy rainforest is a sight to see, too. I saw orchids with flowers the size of a desert plate. And blue morpho butterflies with 8” wingspans. And hummingbirds the size of robins. Really.

If everything hadn’t been in crisis mode - ramping up from “serious” to “OMG” through our stay - it would have been wonderful. My Air Force job was great, I got quite a bit of college credit during my off hours, and as I’ve said, the individuals we encountered were always wonderful.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego  (op)
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Feb 10, 2023, 03:42 PM
 
All very interesting!

So, I’m imagining during the rainy season the grass felt like grass, and not that razor wire stuff they make lawns out of in Florida?

Where was the place to go when off-duty? Same question for R&R.


Edit: just learned my geographical knowledge was all out of whack. I assumed the canal was an east-west kinda thing, and placed Panama City on the wrong side. I’m positive this is due to my oceanic bigotry.
( Last edited by subego; Feb 10, 2023 at 05:31 PM. )
     
ghporter
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Feb 10, 2023, 11:19 PM
 
One of the touted “great things” about being assigned there was being able to take “hops” on scheduled military flights to all over South America. Like Rio. We were stoked about that.

Sadly, after New Years 1988, they curtailed that, and a few months later just stopped it. We came back to the States on hops, but mostly to San Antonio, where our best friends were.

Much of the time, we entertained ourselves with hiking on Albrook, or going to the NCO Club on Howard. An NCO Club was (then) essentially a restaurant, bar and often a dance venue as well. Having to drive a short but fraught distance to Howard made that less than wonderful sometimes.

I don’t really know what the single guys did off duty, but mostly I drove home and decompressed with my family. There was a little bit of fast food on Albrook, and sometimes we’d get that. No movie theater there, but there was one on Fort Clayton, which abutted Albrook. We saw “The Last Crusade” there.

I’ll add that our son was born in late July, 1987, and I actually got the Air Force to push back my assignment from August to November so we could all travel together. So he was 4 months old when we got there, and as the father of a brand new baby, I started out all wrapped up in my wife and our son. As the politics got worse, the decompression became simply seeing that they were safe for another day. If the VA doesn’t have an entry in their “How to Diagnose PTSD” playbook that says “if veteran was assigned to Panama between 1988 and 1990, assume they are positive for PTSD,” I have to wonder why…

There were plenty of night spots in Panama City, and they were not off limits when we got there. In fact, our first couple of months there, we were put up in the Marriott Hotel downtown. It was a beautiful hotel, and the local, walking distance area had so much character, and so many wonderful people who fawned over our cotton-topped baby boy and tolerated my wife’s minimal Spanish.

Today, it’s a completely different place. When we got there, there were literally sheet metal shanties blocks away from major government buildings in Panama City. Take a look at Google Maps of the city now. Much more advanced, much more EQUAL for all Panamanians.

Now look at Google Maps for Kobe Beach. My shop was in a large clearing just north of the beach, and everything around it was lots of jungle. Now, there’s a bunch of hotels and tourist venues on the beach. It was a “nice little beach,” and close enough to the Pacific end of the canal that I watched the QE II sail past to enter the canal twice. It was beautiful then, but remote and not very well “improved” (or probably safe, either).

Obviously, my experience there is heavily colored by being intentionally victimized by a psychotic, drug dealing megalomaniac, along with my wife and son, and everyone we really knew. But talking about it actually helps to process the experience, so I’m glad you asked.

I hope that was at least useful information.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
subego  (op)
Clinically Insane
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Feb 12, 2023, 10:56 AM
 
All very interesting! Thank you!

Will write a more extensive reply shortly!
     
subego  (op)
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Feb 14, 2023, 03:08 PM
 
Total drag about hops being limited to the US. What made me start the thread is my ex’s sister lives in Medellin, and I envy her ability to take spontaneous trips to places like Panama. Were the hops ending service-wide?

My apologies for dragging up the horrible parts of your time there. If I was trying to drag up anything, it was the fonder memories, like the hiking.
     
ghporter
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Feb 14, 2023, 04:53 PM
 
Hops were ended for everyone.

And frankly, by the time hops were stopped, we felt too vulnerable to enjoy exploratory travel. We'd head home whenever we could, mostly for the comfort and support of family.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
   
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