[Green Light]

December 20th, 1989 at 0017 hours the war began for us with a fire fight. That was a day never to be forgotten. We had prepared as a unit for 18 months. We lost my team sergeant on a fast rope accident rehearsing for the attacks. He lived for 10 years but was paralyzed for the rest of his life. My senior engineer was on loan to another team and he was wounded. We had a VERY politically sensitive mission that was later obviated by events - it was better that way.

We hit national radio down town. Later, after a call from JCS, we loaded up and hit the AM side of it that was still operating. It looked like our commander was going to turn down the mission (he'd turned one down before daybreak) and I wasn't going to let that happen again. I told him that I'd been an engineer for 10 years and I could organize and prosecute the mission. We did it.

Things I remember: sitting on an island on New Year's Eve 1990. Some of the guys left $40 on the counter at a store and bought some bubbly. At midnight, we cracked it open to celebrate. The next day we road across the isthmus back to Ft Davis. The Panamanians cheered us the entire way across. We were greeted as heroes. Pretty headdy stuff.

After the shooting stopped, 7th Group ran the country. Period. It was the greatest thing I've ever seen. They ran cities and villiages, restarted electrical generation, ran courts and police departments, and in a couple of cases were judges. No one could have done it like the Devil's Brigade.

Way to go 7th SFGA. Congrats to all you Panama veterans. This is a forgotten war, but it was one of the most important battles of the Latin American Campaign.