Just Cause---Night One ---At the Roadblock

...As they say, the plan never survives first contact. Our mission until the day prior had been to secure the swing bridge over the Panama Canal between the two southern locks. This was the mission we had rehearsed but on 19 December it was changed. Our new mission was to secure the Arrijan Tank Farm and to block the PanAmerican Highway a couple miles further East.

We moved down the highway dropping off an element lead by 1/Lt Mike Ramos at the Tank Farm and tried to find the Army engineers that were supposed to meet us there and help block the road. We could not find them and headed down the road. I remember is was humid and cloudy with some ambient light.

Remember, at this time, no GPS, no cell phones and very few Gen 1 night vision devices. Single channel radio, 1:50,000 paper maps and your own Mark 1 "eyeballs." We found our roadblock location and set up. The main effort was oriented West on the hard surface road, toward the town of Arrijan, but there was also a gravel road that ran to the South and showed on the map as looping around the town and reconnecting with the main highway, so we placed a squad of Marines there also. And we were still looking for the Army Engineers and their heavy equipment.

We were familiar with the PDF's order of battle and knew that much further west in Rio Hato, was their 6th Company that had armored cars with MGs and small cannons. They clearly had the ability to move down the road toward Panama City to reinforce the city. So looking for these vehicles was a high priority and clearly on our minds.

So we settled in and listened to the radio. Other MARFOR Panama units, Delta Company, 2d LAI Battalion and the FAST Platoon that we had given our unarmored Suburbans, were further to the East looking for PDF units. The rifle company from 3/6 was operating near Howard Air Force Base and was to secure important communication stations. LAI and FAST had reported attacking and destroying the PDF police station in Arrijan and we could see flames on the horizon.

Suddenly the Marines to the South yelled that they heard vehicle noise. I ran to their location and heard the same engine noise. We all took cover and the Marines prepped the small number of LAAWs we had to fire. Was it the PDF's 6th Company vehicles? We heard more engine noise closer to our position. We were ready to engage once we had a visual. Everyone was alert and ready to fire our first shots of the fight.

Then out of the darkness walked an individual. We challenged him, he stopped and he said, "Hey, I am an Army engineer with a couple vehicles to block the road. You seen any Marines around here?"

We had found our Army Engineers.