Remembrances of Operation Just Cause, Panama, December 1989--January 1990

Back in March, our Current Events Forum speaker was to have been Colonel Steve Bond, U.S. Army Retired.  Unfortunately, we suspended in-person meetings that month, including the March forum due to the pandemic.  However, we have rescheduled Steve to be our October BYOC&D speaker.  His topic is Just Cause--the operation to remove Manuel Noriega from power and install the elected government in Panama.  Operation Just Cause began on 19 December 1989, and lasted into January of 1990.  The operation took down the Noriega Regime overnight and remains the largest parachute assault conducted since World War II.  At the time, Steve was freshly out of the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) and on the Army’s XVIIIth Airborne Corps staff, where he found himself in the whirlwind for planning and preparations, leading to combat operations in Panama. 

Steve retired from the U.S. Army after serving 29 years.  Over his military career, he participated not only in Just Cause, but also Operations Desert Shield and Storm in the Gulf in 1990-91, and in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations in Saint Croix, Virgin Islands in 1989, and Haiti in 1994.  In 2008-09, he served as a U.S. Government Senior Civilian in a Flag Officer position as a Transition Team Director during Operation Iraqi Freedom.  In addition to being a graduate of CGSC, he is also a graduate of the Army War College, and holds a master’s degree in history. 

Join us virtually, using Zoom Video-Teleconferencing, as we welcome Steve as our speaker on Thursday 22 October at 0930, immediately following an abbreviated TMBC.  This will be a special tribute to the men and women of the Armed Forces who conducted Just Cause, an operation that still impacts military planning and operations.  We encourage other veterans of Just Cause to join us and share their memories as well.  Guests are welcome.  If you haven’t registered for a previous virtual TMBC, “click” on the events calendar link on our website to register and receive the joining instructions for the event. 

Don’t miss this special MOAACC event!

<<Colonel Steve Bond, US Army Retired, our BYOC&D Program Speaker for October, shows momentos from Operation Just Cause in Panama, including an AK-47 Bayonet captured from Panamanian stocks

Center of Military History (CMH-Pub 70-33) Map of the Operation>>

CLICK HERE FOR POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

CLICK HERE for Basic Training in Joining a Zoom Call for the First Time -- Online Tutorial