Fort Sherman, a 23,100-acre facility on Panama's Atlantic side, included an airstrip, training facilities, 67 homes,  dormitories for 300 people, and recreational areas. Over half of Fort Sherman's land area is covered by tropical forest.¹

Much of this forest was put to use by the Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC), a facility run by U.S. Army South (USARSO) that trained U.S. and Latin American personnel in jungle warfare and survival techniques. Founded in 1951, the JOTC trained about 9,000 U.S. and Latin American soldiers each year in jungle survival techniques, land navigation, waterborne operations, and combat tactics.²

Fort Sherman is to be handed over to Panama in late 1999. The last rotation through the JOTC took place in March 1999, and there are no plans to replace the facility. Future U.S. jungle training will occur through small unit exchange programs with other countries.

Other sites:

Sources:

¹ United States Southern Command Headquarters, Fact Sheet: U.S. Military in Panama Now, (Panama: January 31, 1997).

Description of the Military Bases in the Interoceanic Region, Panama, Inter-Oceanic Region Authority (ARI), April 1998 <http://www.ari-panama.com/ari-ing9.htm>.

² Jungle Operations Training Battalion, U.S. Army South, April 1998 <http://www.army.mil/usarso/jotb.htm>.

“U.S. Army South moving out of Panama,” Army News Service, May 26, 1999 <http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/May1999/a19990527panama-new.html>.