Thanks N/E, for the info... So did you like it in Panama??? ITE ... :thumbup:
ITE, sorry for the late response. It was a very interesting assignment on a number of levels. The canal itself is a fascinating piece of technology and one of the engineering marvels of the world. In the mid-90s it was operated pretty much the same way it was operated when it opened back in 1912. It was so well built that it required only routine maintenance to keep it operating. Of course, by the 90s the lock chambers were getting too small for the emerging class of ocean freighter so the canal was starting to lose revenue. Still, it was a busy place. Today few Americans know anything about the history of the Panama Canal, but in the first part of the 20th Century it's construction absolutely consumed the American public.
The Canal Zone had been an American colony for decades and was operated with military efficiency. EVERYTHING focused on the #1 mission - safe passage of ships through the Canal. To ensure a stable and experienced workforce the Panama Canal Company (chartered by Congress) took good care of its employees, virtually all of whom were American. It turned the Canal Zone into a safe and secure tropical paradise. I've talked to dozens of people who grew up in the Canal Zone - many of them born there - and to a man and a woman they loved the experience. In a way it was very socialistic - everything was provided. You lived in company housing (for free), you shopped at the company stores (subsidized), rode the company rail line or buses to work (subsidized), you worshiped on company churches (all denominations), attend movies in the company theaters, swam in the company swimming pools, your kids attended the company schools (including college, if you got accepted), played baseball on the company ball diamonds, got treated at the company hospitals and dental clinics and when they got old enough they took summer jobs working for the company. If they wanted, those summer jobs could morph into permanent jobs when the time came. Of course, all these expenses were covered by the monies collected in tolls from ships passing through the Canal, and the Canal operated 24/7/365 to handle the enormous volume of traffic passing between the Atlantic and Pacific.
By the time I was there we were in the process of closing down facilities for transfer to the Panamanians as part of the Carter-Torrijos Treaty. My group got involved in identifying a lot of old facilities and camps we used to occupy but had been reclaimed by the jungle. The Panamanians wanted assurances that all ordnance and hazardous material had been removed. During WWII we had set up dozens of small coastal defense sites up and down the Panama coasts to defend against imagined attacks by the Japanese or Nazis. The concern was not far-fetched. We now know both enemies had serious plans underway to attack the Canal and the Japanese were able to launch at least one successful attack on the Canal, but it did little damage.
My family loved living there - it was an endless tropical paradise. After three years, though, I was ready to move on. Panama was becoming a US military backwater and I wanted to move on to more exciting assignments.
