FORT SHERMAN, Panama -- It was a three-week trip to the tropics for the young man from Texas. The weather was hot and the water was close. But this was no vacation.
Jose Avellaneda is a soldier. He came to this jungle base that once trained fighters for the Vietnam War to crawl through the mud and fight off mosquitos in one of the base's last military exercises.After four decades, the base will be turned over to Panama on June 30 as part of the handover of all the U.S. installations here -- and finally the Panama Canal itself -- by the end of the year.
Fort Sherman, a 23,000-acre reservation on the Caribbean side of the canal, is the United States' only major jungle training camp. Located in the rain forest, it is home to snakes, monkeys, birds and wild cats.
But Avellaneda, a sergeant sent down from Fort Campbell, Ky., wasn't admiring the scenery.
He was guarding a swamp with his M-4 carbine, his uniform covered in mud and his face painted. He dabbed insect repellent on his uniform, but it was no match for the mosquitos. He was tired after spending the night in the swamp.
"It's been a tough experience, but interesting, too," Avellaneda said, catching his breath. "It rains and it's sunny and hot. There are a lot of mosquitos."
Sherman was built at the beginning of the century, but the Army started to use it for jungle training only in 1953. Many of the American soldiers who fought in Vietnam trained here, and the base also played host to joint exercises by U.S. and Latin American armies.
With its hot, humid climate and flat and hilly sections, Fort Sherman has been an ideal place for U.S. soldiers to learn the ropes of tropical combat. U.S. Navy sailors also have trained on the fort's Caribbean coast.
Panama, which doesn't have an army, plans to develop Fort Sherman into a resort for ecological and adventure tourism.