Thirty years ago this morning, I awoke to a thunderous barrage and shaking as U.S. Army Sheridan tanks positioned around the corner from our home blasted away at Noriega’s HQ in Chorrillo overlooking the Bay of Panama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After months of escalating violence and political rhetoric in Panama, we had known that war was inevitable, though we did not know when. As a 13–year-old kid, I took in a lot those few days hunkered down in an active combat zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living in Panama again, and looking back, I am thankful for God’s mercy. While many lives were lost, and there was much destruction during Operation Just Cause, we all know the death toll could have been significantly greater had it not been for the professionalism and restraint of individual soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and civilians of the U.S. armed forces…the combined force of which in this case was certainly overwhelming. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First Published: 20 December 2019 Contributed by: Drake Sprague Thirty years ago this morning, I awoke to a thunderous barrage and shaking as U.S. Army Sheridan tanks positioned around the Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,47,6,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-disasters","category-panama","category-the-united-states","category-war"],"yoast_head":"\nOperation Just Cause - Panama - A Survivor's Story - Our World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Operation Just Cause was a war fought in Panama around the year 1989. It claimed the lives of many people. Here is a survivor's story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Operation Just Cause - Panama - A Survivor's Story - Our World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Operation Just Cause was a war fought in Panama around the year 1989. It claimed the lives of many people. Here is a survivor's story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-20T23:51:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/\",\"name\":\"Operation Just Cause - Panama - A Survivor's Story - Our World\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-20T23:45:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-20T23:51:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Operation Just Cause was a war fought in Panama around the year 1989. It claimed the lives of many people. Here is a survivor's story.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/10\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1\",\"width\":640,\"height\":426},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Operation Just Cause – Panama – A Survivor’s Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/\",\"name\":\"Our World\",\"description\":\"News, Sports, Technology, History, Crimes, Commentaries...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/our-world\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Operation Just Cause - Panama - A Survivor's Story - Our World","description":"Operation Just Cause was a war fought in Panama around the year 1989. It claimed the lives of many people. Here is a survivor's story.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Operation Just Cause - Panama - A Survivor's Story - Our World","og_description":"Operation Just Cause was a war fought in Panama around the year 1989. It claimed the lives of many people. Here is a survivor's story.","og_url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/","og_site_name":"Our World","article_modified_time":"2019-12-20T23:51:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/","url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/","name":"Operation Just Cause - Panama - A Survivor's Story - Our World","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-20T23:45:06+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-20T23:51:16+00:00","description":"Operation Just Cause was a war fought in Panama around the year 1989. It claimed the lives of many people. Here is a survivor's story.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1","width":640,"height":426},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/operation-just-cause-panama-a-survivors-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Operation Just Cause – Panama – A Survivor’s Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/#website","url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/","name":"Our World","description":"News, Sports, Technology, History, Crimes, Commentaries...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PekbB2-g6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003,"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998\/revisions\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/patrickcarpen.com\/our-world\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/12\/52e4d44a4954a514ea898675c6203f78083edbe25559794c762b79_640_warplane.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n