25 years ago

Time passes so quickly. It doesn't seem so long ago that 25 years ago, right now, I was part of the Invasion of Panama. In an airplane in the dark. The lines of tracers, the noises, the colors in the dark, going through the procedures and duies in myhead. It doesn't seem so long ago. Rather nostalgic and a bit drunk sitting here with some momentos and equipment. Wife is asleep. She doesn't truly understand who and what I was then. She didn't know me then. My family is unable to make the connection. To them it is getting ready for Christmas. They know, but only in a disconnected way. My past. Old comrades are with me. Thoughts of then. Remembering it all.

After college, I considered joining the Army. My recruiter was a Ranger who had been in there...probably with you. I wish I could remember his name...

Have you considered writing about it all? Even if just memoirs for family to read, may make them connect with it more readily? Plus.....I'd love to proof read it!

I understand where you are coming from OG.
But life if far from over now...it's just the excitement and vibrant times of a hard warrior, are over. We all only get one time around. A new chapter is going to have to be written. Remember what they say....

"It ain't over, till it's over"

And it's not over for you yet.
Just the horrifying and exciting part of your life is over.
Now the rich 'knowing' part of life starts.

Sit back....and smile, cause....'you know'.
And some, will 'never' have your experiences, or even get that far.
Be happy you're a survivor.

Sometimes I remember the ones that didn't make it.
We should be celebrating 'life', at this point.
For them.

'S'

Well, after I spent parts of the day pondering how to respond, Murphy pretty much said it all and then some. Respect, remember and learn from the past and live for today man.

My Army pictures (and I didn't have many) are put away, but a few months ago my wife found the shoe box and thumbed through them.

"You looked kinda rough back then."
"Hey," I say, taking the picture, "I'm high-and-tight in this one."
"That's not what I meant."

"Well, I was a little bit different back then...."

We were hard back then because we had to be hard. We're softer now because we have to be softer, and there's no reason to be hard.

The advantage of our youth is that the steel of those days can shine through when we need it to, another tool in our boxes.

War is a young man's game. Old men don't play for such small stakes.

"There's nothing further here for a warrior. We drive bargains. Old men's work. Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men. Courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace. And the vices of peace are the vices of old men. Mistrust and caution. It must be so."

Operation Just Cause. Remember it well. No idea what part you played, but thank you!
Took Noriega out of the picture. And that was a good thing.

Read the history on this one. The truth is far more complicated and far uglier than is commonly known or spoken of.

That is the truth of it. The US created Noriega.

Always remembers stories my Dad would tell us about during his tour in the Army in Panama.
He said they government changed hands 4 times during his 18 months there. They would have
secure the canal every time they had another coup. This was during the Korean war.

Including training at Ft. Bragg and being a hired thug on the CIA payroll for twenty-years, including during his time as the narco-tyrant of Panama.

He was only removed from power because he became a disobedient thug, and the invasion to remove him killed - depending on what report you cite as being the most credible - up to 3000 Panamanian civilians.

History is a complicated place.

25 years ago I was home from Korea on mid-tour leave, bored out of my mind after barely 2 weeks, when I saw the beginning of Operation Just Cause on CNN. I immediately called my old unit at Ft Bragg (3/27 FA, part of XVIII Abn Corps artillery) and told them that I was coming down and signing in off leave if they got alerted. They never did, and not even 9 months later I was on my way to my own fight.

OG,

You have to bear in mind that the revisionists in this thread will never have to make the life and death decisions that you have had to make through your career. In fact the most dangerous decision the revisionists in this thread are ever likely to do is to choose between full fat milk and semi skimmed milk.

Mailman

Thanks for your service Phil.
And anyone who served their country, especially during ANY military operations, from our surviving WWII vets, to Afghanistan. And I'm talking 'any' soldier, from 'any' country, and 'any' campaign.

They served, and some died, for Citizens and Country.

'S'

Some make it more 'complicated' than it has to be.
The guys who did the fighting, didn't think it quite so "complicated"...it was more a "Will I wake up in the morning?"...type thing.

Perhaps you can give us your version of "enlightenment" as to what it means to risk your life, under fire?
In the proper forum please, if you wish to discuss the "Politics" of survival.

Murphy.

And what was the other choice? A neo-Marxist regime that would have killed many more and put the people under a greater degree of oppression? You act like the other option was a vibrant Jeffersonian democracy.

It was the US squashing the dog that got too uppity for its own good that stabilized the region. Like it or not.

Like Murphy said, it was and is "complicated" only for those who either weren't there at all or are just reading about it now.

For the soldiers involved the only complications were tactical ones involving fire and movement.

And that is what OG was posting about.

I did not post to make any political statement. It was just the 25th anniversary of a combat operation I was involved in. I was just commenting on how quickly time goes by and we are left with our memories. Our past. It was late, I was being nostalgic, and had opened a bottle of scotch I had reserved for the anniversary. I regret it. It allowed some to get on a political soapbox. Not the correct place for it. Nice display of empathy and understanding. Shame.

I find the political remarks in this thread disrespectful towards OG, and out of place. Not to mention irrelevant to the thread topic.

Why do some people feel the urge to rain onto someone else's parade? There is a whole section on this site that was created specifically for these kinds of debates. There is absolutely no need to "infiltrate" someone's nostalgic trip down memory lane. No one keeps you from starting your own thread, preferably in the appropriate, dedicated sub-forum.

I mean, if you don't have anything meaningful and appropriate to add, there's always the option not to comment.

Thanks for the reminder Jayhawk, and again....thanks for your service OG.
Thread cleaned up.
Please keep politics and controversial agendas out of the Community hall.
Sorry for the interruption.
Thanks

Thanks for serving, OG. Many will never understand. Some will.

I'm not american, I'm from Catalonia, but I still say thank you for all who served, nd that incluides you OG.

Service and honor of that service know no languages or borders, Stratos. They are all one and the same.

So, this scotch...
How long has it been sitting on your shelf?

And glad you have survived "civvy life" long enough to share the story.



(I don't think you should regret posting this on the forums, after all, freedom of speech!)

My apologies OG for taking your post into a political thinking. I really appreciate the service you went
through in this operation.

Thank you for your service OG, it is much appreciated, and you are a class act sir, I have learned a lot from reading your posts.

I had the same recollection recently... But a little different... I was bathed in blue light, sitting in the cold Sonar Shack of an LA boat... Operation Just Cause was about to kick off... We were scheduled to make a delivery 2 days prior and a pickup one day later, with signals recon in between... It didn't quite go as planned. But I still remember the fear that was in me... I was only 19... Almost 20 at the time... It was right after the big San Fran quake... Really erie thinking about it, and the light pickup we made on Day 3...

-Skater

December '89 i had just arrived at Ft Bragg from AIT at Ft Eustis VA. My unit didn't deploy anyway but it could have.