Mark

 "I was stationed at Ft. Sherman when it was the Canal Zone. Went through the course in 1972 and 1975. I was assigned/stationed for duty there from 1978 -  1981, then again the whole year of 1990 until I retired from the military from Ft. Sherman in 1991.

The Jungle Warfare Branch (JWB)  provided the instructors to teach the course, name, explain and demonstrate the tactics and techniques used in Jungle Warfare and to evaluate each mission  conducted by the unit while attending  the Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC) located at Ft. Sherman. It was a good assignment and it was a feather in your cap to be chosen to represent the United States Army in this capacity. You may have been assigned there, but before you went to work there, you had to pass what we called a “Murder Board”. You had to excel at the PT test, the swim test,  and the day and night compass course. You also had to excel at the  “Green Hell” obstacle course. After all that, you had to give a class to the Cadre of JOTC. Most of the time it was  conducted with the Commander, the Command Sergeant Major, the Adjutant. And most of the Team Chiefs. They were looking you over, asking you questions and checking your information. Most of all  they wanted to know if you could get up in front of 1,200 soldiers and  give a class and not look like Bozo The Clown. To say that the members of the Jungle Warfare Branch were proficient in their duties is an  understatement. They were honed. There were about 50 Instructors whose job it was to see that the units got the best training we could give them, and how to survive in that hostile environment. 

Here is a list of some of the people that were stationed  with me. 

• John Everitt E-7 He worked with our engineers and demo people. 
• Ty Haigh, E-7 taught patrolling and tactics. Later made E-8 and went to be a 1SG. 
• John Swinney, Ops Sgt went on to teach cadets at the Citadel in SC. As an E-8 
• William Chambone E-7 SF qualified, taught Tactics, Patrolling, Ambushes retired.  
• David Stafne E-6 taught patrolling and tactics. 
• William Fish, E-7 taught Patrolling, escape and evasion. 
• Charles Bonnet E-7 taught Patrolling 
• Dennis Blake E-7 worked in S-2 section, went on to be a Batallion CSM E-9 
• Tommy Roland E-7 worked as Opn Sgt for the Teams at JWB. If you needed it, you got it. 
• Paul Gerton CSM retired Prostate  Cancer. 

The people I listed above are all dead now. Mostly from cancers of one kind or another. Maybe a heart attack in 3 due to extreme hypertension. 

"The following people were pronounced as sick with cancer but so far (SO FAR) have survived: 

• Mike Craig E-8 1SG - stroke 
• Robert Little E-7 - throat cancer 
• Paul Roberts E-8 - Heart Surgery CABG 
• Mark Minter E-7 - Heart Surgery CABG 
• Myself…- E-7 Prostate Cancer, Heart Surgery CABG, Lumbar back surgery Laminectomy L-1t hru L-4, R knee replacement due to spontaneous  osteoporosis necrosis, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, throat cancer, 53 radiation treatments, 5 months of chemo 2 years to go on immunotherapy.  

This is not some coincidence that this many people died or got some kind of sickness out of such a small group of 50-60 instructors. These are just the ones I know about. I’d be willing to bet they would find more if someone found the intestinal fortitude to look into it. 

"Nothing too good for the troops," you hear this from pontificates all the time. That his exactly what they get too, Nothing Too Good."