WHO

1999 drawdown actions (continued)

June:

-- U.S. Army South (USARSO), under the command of Major General Philip R. Kensinger, Jr., began transition to Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico June 1 and departed Panama June 30, following departure ceremony same date.

-- Army's 245th Support Battalion (Fort Clayton) inactivated June 22. Units in the battalion were 79th Army Band, 193d Supply and Transportation Company, 786th Explosive Ordnance Company, 534th Military Police Company, 911th Maintenance Company, and 1097th Transportation Company (Waterborne).

-- 24th Air Postal Squadron (Howard Air Force Base) inactivated June 25. (Theater postal executive agent responsibilities in the southern theater -- Latin America -- transferred to the 83rd Communications Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.)

-- Other major Air Force units inactivated were the 24th Wing (including its 24th Operations Group, 24th Logistics Group, 24th Support Group, 24th Medical Group), 612th Air Support Operations Squadron, and 640th Air Mobility Support Squadron.

-- The 10 C-27 Spartan cargo aircraft (assigned to the 310th Airlift Squadron at Howard Air Force Base) departed Panama in June (for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona) after a decade of service in Panama and Latin America. The C-27, a toned down twin-engine version of the C-130 Hercules aircraft, was built especially for the Southern Command which required a cargo aircraft with short take-off and landing capability. The Spartans flew a variety of missions in the region, ranging from humanitarian assistance (civic action and disaster relief support), to supporting peacekeeping operations (Peru-Ecuador) to counterdrug support, including providing access to many airstrips otherwise unreachable by other fixed-wing aircraft.

Remaining force levels: 2,900 military + 1,180 civilian employees)

July:

-- Closing ceremony for Southern Command Network (SCN Radio and Television) (Fort Clayton) held July 1, with inactivation in November. (SCN and its predecessor Caribbean Forces Network had been operating in Panama since 1941.)

August:

-- Army's 1097th Boat Company support from Panama terminated August 31.

September:

-- Majority of remaining U.S. Forces departed Panama by September 30.

-- Corozal and Howard Air Force Base commissaries closed September 30.

Remaining force levels: 1,200 military + 375 civilian employees.

October:

-- All fast-food concessions and shoppette at Howard Air Force Base closed; Curundu and Howard Gas stations/shoppettes closed; and all fixed communications facilities at Corozal West (including Army Signal Battalion) vacated October 30.

November:

-- Corozal Main Exchange of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service closed November 15.

-- The Southern Command's Tropic Times weekly newspaper ceased publication. The Tropic Times' predecessor, Southern Command News, began publication in 1964.

-- Rotational Marine Rifle Company departed Panama.

December 1999:

-- Navy's Ocean Representative relocated; Military Sealift Command Office inactivates and the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO) personnel departed Panama December 1.

-- Remaining force levels: 8 military and 9 U.S. civilians (Southern Command) + 9 non-U.S. civilians; military reduced to 3.

-- December 10 -- The Southern Command completed the Department of Defense's Panama Canal Treaty Implementation Plan as of 10 December 1999

-- December 31 (Treaty deadline) -- 0 military remaining in Panama.

(So noted by the then U.S. Embassy spokesman Joao Ecsodi quoted by AFP (Agency France Press) report published in El Panama America. "Not one U.S. soldier remains in Panama," December 19, 1999.)