A sad sight
 

Barracks at Ft Sherman, Panama

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a53...ortSherman.jpg

(sorry, the image didn't link...please delete)

Link restored by Richard

Not sure sure, but that may be housing and not barracks. :munchin

Looks like quarters to me. Hard to believe that they would let it got to hell like this, but everyone there at the time said that this is what would happen.

I have memories of passing back and forth through "The Zone" pre- and post-Carter and the PCC, and its return to the Panamanian Government; the changes which began taking place due to their neglect of the infrastructure were almost immediate and I can imagine what the areas look like today.

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

Grass looks cut though...maybe sched for tear down....Bubba H lives down there now. I'll ask him whats up with the Post.

Thank you for restoring the link.

IIRC those were the quarters.

Definitely quarters, not barracks. A damn shame. Maybe they were going to put up a 4 Star Resort, like over by Kobbe Beach.

Lots of good memories from Ft Sherman and JOTC.

There was something about it I liked. ;) We may be sorry we gave it up someday.

Have any seen the 4 star hotel that was the School of the Americas?

Isn't that where we trained hispanic assassins ;)

S**t, you said the "a" word....... wait till the media gets a hold of this....;)

Noticed in Quantum of Solace that the boat scene was filmed in the lagoon at Ft. Sherman. You can see the theater (?) in the background.

Ft Sherman clip starts around the 2:15 mark on this video; only lasts about 5 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X3_3...feature=relmfu

Great instructors there. Too bad I went through the course after Vietnam and not before. It's been a long time but I remember doing seat hip rappels down a cliff that had a waterfall streaming down it, and when you swung back into it your boots went underwater.

But that jungle....

A barracuda stole my St. Christopher in that lagoon.

Is THAT what you called her?

TR

lol I've cleaned up my lingo lately. ;)

Deleted.

I've got older pictures of the place when I went back in '96 to do research for my second novel. Sherman was the only active post on the Atlantic side as I remember. Both Davis and Gulick were closed and turned over to the Panamanians.

I have a forty-two foot sailboat that I keep in Florida and spend some time on the sailing forums ... one of which provided info that the area where the barracks used to be for JOTC (near the theater) is now a marina. It's the only place where cruisers feel safe while making arrangements for a canal crossing. I went into Colon in '96 and it was pretty ugly then, from the 'cruiser' traffic it's gotten a lot worse.

I didn't see the Washington hotel ....

The jungle reclaims everything in a very short time. Who knows what archaeological ruins are in the jungles down there. Probably a few left in Southeast Asia, also...

We cut the jungle back on the old Gatun Water Works building and made a shoot house on Davis. Also on Davis we found an abandoned ASP not on any maps that had old wine bottles scattered about. Talked to a WW2 guy who said the pulled guard duty there 30 days at a pop and was given wine as daily rations -- imagine that today, drunk troops guarding the ammo.

The second house on the left was my old home, 618A I think. All those places were renovated between 1997 and 1999. Turning that place over exemplifies the stupidity of our foreign policies....thanks Jimmie.

Great memories of that place. Remember coming out of the aircraft in Sep '79 and looking down. On first glimpse, Gatun looked like a mowed field in the middle of the jungle. Lol...moments later you can't see your buddy 10m away on the ground. Some knucklet lost his weapon in that grass. Had helicopters hovering for hours trying to find it.

One of the best obstacle courses there at Sherman, too.

I heard the economy in Panama has been booming . New roads, high rise buildings, tons of construction. You can cross over on the new highway in 30 minutes.

It's a facade (much like Dubai). Get away from the main drags of 1/2 empty buildings into the slums...

Too bad all the way round...much like Tolz was for the 10th Gp guys...that great place away from the flagpole.
I went thru the jungle expert school sometime in '73 (of course after my tour in RVN, that made sense) and got the worst sunburn of my life prior to day one on one of the beaches, can't remember the name but lots of beer etc....
Humping my ruck with those blisters was a great "stupid is as stupid does" few days.
To bad we've given up our Colonies.....