Jungle Warfare School Panama

1965 - 1999

Although highly beneficial to the survival and combat
effectiveness of US troops in Southeast Asia, the Jungle
Operations Committee remained fairly low profile throughout
the early 1960s. However as American involvement in Southeast
Asia increased, so did the importance and utilization of the
JOC. Extensive positive feedback about the value of instruction
was quickly brought to the attention of LTG Creighton Abrams,
the U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff. Soon the Department of the
Army (DA) increased the quota of trainees for the JOC, and
agreed to increase instructors and funds late in 1967. In
addition to conducting course after action reviews, the JOC
sent questionnaires to officers and NCOs that deployed to Vietnam
about 90 days after they had been in country; this questionnaire
asked for a reappraisal of course curriculum based on their
experiences. The commentary received was very positive overall,
but valuable suggestions were made that led to modifications in
the course. In October 1965 a team from the USARSO G3 visited a
jungle perations course being taught in Hawaii. The POI was
similar to the Panama jungle operations course, but the Hawaii
course included a cordon and search of a mock Vietnamese village;
this was added to the Panamanian course. This program of
cadre/instructor self-critique and rotational unit after-action
reviews (with the goal of constantly refining the Jungle Operations
Course) continued until the school was closed in 1999.