Joker
12-19-2019, 13:32
Happy Operation Just Cause 30th Anniversary! Some of us participated...
:D
From COL Roach:
With the Anniversary of JUST CAUSE just around the corner on the 20th December, it seems like an appropriate time to mention Operation MA BELL, which was an unplanned, and largely unknown, improvisation by 7th SF Group soldiers during Just Cause.
In December 1989 I was a student at the Army War College in Carlisle PA, so I was not directly involved in Just Cause. But am proud to say that I have several friends (Roy Trumble, Kevin Higgins and Gil Perez among them) [he added Dave McCracken to this list] who were not only "involved" but were the brain trust that developed the idea of Operation Ma Bell, and were also leaders of the small teams that traveled out of Panama City to make contact with isolated Panama units, and convince the Panamanians to surrender, rather than fight to the death.
Within the first week, the US Military Invasion Force had control of Panama City, but there were still about a dozen isolated Panamanian Army Garrisons in the "Interior".
"Big Army" is a sledgehammer rather than a surgical scalpel, so the Task Force, Division and Brigade Staffs were busy developing their plans for an all-out assault on those Isolated Panamanian Army Garrisons, which would include Air Strikes and artillery fire as part of the preparation before ground troops would assault the garrisons. The results would have been hundreds of Panamanian casualties and several dozen US casualties.
But members of 7th SF Group had trained for years with the Panamanian Army and pushed the idea that if they were allowed to travel out to the Isolated Garrisons that they could convince the Panamanians to surrender. Some of the US Military Senior Officers were dismissive and just wanted to 'get on with the Military Operations'.
But cooler heads prevailed (not all Senior Military Officers are blockheads), and the small 7th SFG teams ventured forth and made contact with the garrisons. And not surprisingly Operation Ma Bell convinced 11 garrisons to surrender.
By the way, the name Operation Ma Bell came about because most of the phone lines were down in Panama, and only local phone service was available in the "Interior". So the SF Teams would travel to the closest town to the Panamanian Cuartel, and then call the local commander on the phone. That solution didn't come from the "Top Down". It was a "bottom-up" solution - "How in the hell do we solve this problem?"
Overall Operation Just Cause resulted in 250-300 Panamanians dead. (Different sources show different numbers) But if the "Big Army" Assault plans had been carried out against those isolated Panamanian Army Garrisons, there would have been several thousand more Panamanians dead.
I am very proud that Roy Trumble, Kevin Higgins, and Gil Perez [and Dave McCracken] were able to propose this concept, and then pull it off with such amazing success.
Also attachment on the radio station hit (semi true -- only from the perspective of a select few).
:D
From COL Roach:
With the Anniversary of JUST CAUSE just around the corner on the 20th December, it seems like an appropriate time to mention Operation MA BELL, which was an unplanned, and largely unknown, improvisation by 7th SF Group soldiers during Just Cause.
In December 1989 I was a student at the Army War College in Carlisle PA, so I was not directly involved in Just Cause. But am proud to say that I have several friends (Roy Trumble, Kevin Higgins and Gil Perez among them) [he added Dave McCracken to this list] who were not only "involved" but were the brain trust that developed the idea of Operation Ma Bell, and were also leaders of the small teams that traveled out of Panama City to make contact with isolated Panama units, and convince the Panamanians to surrender, rather than fight to the death.
Within the first week, the US Military Invasion Force had control of Panama City, but there were still about a dozen isolated Panamanian Army Garrisons in the "Interior".
"Big Army" is a sledgehammer rather than a surgical scalpel, so the Task Force, Division and Brigade Staffs were busy developing their plans for an all-out assault on those Isolated Panamanian Army Garrisons, which would include Air Strikes and artillery fire as part of the preparation before ground troops would assault the garrisons. The results would have been hundreds of Panamanian casualties and several dozen US casualties.
But members of 7th SF Group had trained for years with the Panamanian Army and pushed the idea that if they were allowed to travel out to the Isolated Garrisons that they could convince the Panamanians to surrender. Some of the US Military Senior Officers were dismissive and just wanted to 'get on with the Military Operations'.
But cooler heads prevailed (not all Senior Military Officers are blockheads), and the small 7th SFG teams ventured forth and made contact with the garrisons. And not surprisingly Operation Ma Bell convinced 11 garrisons to surrender.
By the way, the name Operation Ma Bell came about because most of the phone lines were down in Panama, and only local phone service was available in the "Interior". So the SF Teams would travel to the closest town to the Panamanian Cuartel, and then call the local commander on the phone. That solution didn't come from the "Top Down". It was a "bottom-up" solution - "How in the hell do we solve this problem?"
Overall Operation Just Cause resulted in 250-300 Panamanians dead. (Different sources show different numbers) But if the "Big Army" Assault plans had been carried out against those isolated Panamanian Army Garrisons, there would have been several thousand more Panamanians dead.
I am very proud that Roy Trumble, Kevin Higgins, and Gil Perez [and Dave McCracken] were able to propose this concept, and then pull it off with such amazing success.
Also attachment on the radio station hit (semi true -- only from the perspective of a select few).