 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Drawdown aspects of treaty implementation planning.
The withdrawal of U.S. military forces in Panama under the Department of Defense's Panama Canal Treaty Implementation Plan, approved in 1992, was conducted through unit reductions, relocations, and inactivations (official termination or demobilization). One of the elements of the policy guidance governing the Treaty Implementation planning since 1990 was to effect a phased, orderly drawdown (and subsequently transfer the vacated facilities to Panama) designed to:
- Spread over as much time as possible the impact to the Panamanian economy of reduced revenues from the U.S. military (in the form of salaries to Panamanian employees, supplies, services and contracts by Panamanian vendors and local purchases by families) and
- Keep the quality of life for the U.S. military community as high as possible for as long as possible recognizing there would be some degradation in service. To this end, the plan was designed to consolidate base operations functions as much as possible to ensure availability of sufficient hospitals, schools, recreational, and shopping facilities throughout the drawdown to support the remaining population.
The plan called for (1) drawing down the infantry units first followed by the units and personnel supporting them and (2) at the same time drawing down U.S. military presence on the Atlantic side to only the Army Jungle Operations Training Battalion at Fort Sherman. (The JOTB's long-standing mission of training stateside infantry battalions was deemed important to continue operating in Panama for as long as possible while the search was on for a new site for the training center.) Civilian employees of the military were reduced at the same rate as the military. As units were inactivated or relocated from Panama, the remaining U.S. military units and personnel were consolidated onto fewer military installations -- primarily Fort Clayton (including its subpost of Corozal), Howard Air Force Base, Rodman Naval Station, and Fort Kobbe.
To help keep a credible force-protection capability throughout the drawdown process, some units and personnel were deployed to Panama on rotational temporary duty, such as military police and a Marine rifle company.