This February, American and Panamanian soldiers are conducting a jungle warfare training course called the Jungle Operations Training Course-Panama (JOTC-P). The 18-day course is being run at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, Panama.
For decades, the United States military ran its own jungle warfare school when soldiers were stationed there at Fort Sherman. The school was open from 1951 to 1999. Jungle warfare training was sidelined while most of the military was deploying to the deserts of the Middle East during the war on terror, but it has made a comeback with a jungle warfare school in Hawaii.
After decades away, the U.S. military is now back in Panama, conducting joint training with the Panamanians. The training course sees soldiers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division (and some Marines) training alongside the Panamanian Servicio Nacional de Frontera, the Servicio Nacional Aeronaval and the Policía Nacional de Panamá.
Phase one of the training is largely taught by Panamanian instructors on skills such as "machete use, fire craft, water purification and building primitive shelters," according to an Army press release. Phase two consists of small unit tactics, including waterborne operations, and is mostly taught by American instructors. Phase three culminates in five training missions that include attacking a mortar firing position and conducting recon and ambush missions in the jungle.
The Army first began revitalizing jungle warfare training in Panama last year, but this iteration of training marks the largest participation seen thus far.