The US Invasion of Panama | Operation Just Cause
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- čas přidán 10. 11. 2022
- Fieldcraft Survival had the unique opportunity to interview Joe Sedach, a US Army Veteran of the 82nd Airborne, who led a platoon of men during the US invasion of Panama in 1989.
On this veteran's day, we remember the stories, like Joe's, of extreme sacrifice and dedication to our country.
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#FieldcraftSurvival #veteransday #panamainvasion
When I was in, the guys in my unit called it 'Operation Just Because'... LOL
For everyone who's served, thanks for doing your part!
I got down there about a year later and some of the buildings there's big old recalls rounds straight through the side of buildings nice to see nice to see just because we can
My platoon Sergeant Joe Sedach. So proud to have served with him. No better man has walked this Earth. Thanks Mike For telling our story and for helping us keep the memories of our fallen brothers Jerry Daves and Martin Denson alive. Means more to us than you know.
God bless
I lived there as a dependent of the US military. Felt safe till the US invaded. Amazing the propaganda the stateside US people believe.
Why did we invade? "meh...just cause..."
The Panama President cut out the CIA from their drug running profits
President Carter signed a treaty to give control of the canal to the Panamanians at midnight new years day year 2000. The Chinese had plans and were buttering up Noriega way back then.... Something had to be done, to prevent Chinese control of the canal
That's what my wife says about it.
Hahaha I always say the same thing!
@don julio oh yeah plenty of pictures of him and bush Sr together, when Sr was CIA director
I didn't go to Panama. Several years later, got somebody in my platoon that did. The highlight of his story is the worst firefight they were in turned out to be another 82nd unit.
Something like 16 of the 28 deaths were friendly fire .
Oooof
I guess that's one of those difficulties when facing another military that was trained and equipped by the Americans for the past few years. Some of the better equipped units of the PDF, like Battalion 2000, were pretty much equipped similarly to the American forces with woodland camo, ALICE webbing and even PASGT helmets so identifying friends from foes wasn't easy. One of the few differences was that they still used the old M16A1s vs the M16A2 the US forces used.
@@NCrdwlf I see the US pulled out the old massacre of broken knee playbook
@@kutter_ttl6786 I deployed to Panama with an A1 . Lots of us still had A1s at that time .
I served in the 1/504 from 1977-1980. Ironically, I was the on-duty shift Sergeant with the Catawba Co. Sheriff Dept. that went with a chaplain and 1st Lt from Ft. Bragg on the night of the 20th to notify family members of Jerry Daves passing. I also attended his funeral at Ft. Bragg. Having served in the 1/504, I felt especially saddened to learn of the loss of a fellow infantry paratrooper and honored that I was able to meet his family and attend his service. All The Way! Thanks to SSG Sebach for answering my questions about what happened to Spec. Daves.
I served in C 1/504 1ST Platoon I was WIA and I also attended his Memorial Service at FT. Bragg.
As a Panamanian and being there when all went down is heart breaking, came to America a year later due to my stepdad was there as 82nd airborne, I still remember all the bad things and killing, watching US military shooting at panamanian military personnel while running away
Gracias por recordar a los norteamericanos cómo funciona su ejército cuando invade países.Desde España
Joe was 2nd Squad leader of 3 rd platoon. I was in third squad. One of the greatest men I have ever met. Very proud to have served with him.
Upmost respect dude
My history teacher was an army ranger and he was in charge of calculating the amount of ammo they would need for the initial jump. He checked with his sergeant to go over the numbers and he says "powell, you're overestimating the ammo we need. We suspect a tenth of the men wont even be alive before they hit the ground.” So he said everyone in the plane started counting to see who would make it based on those odds. He was a total bad ass who just spoke about his war stories for the whole class.
What an awesome interview. Thank you for this 🇺🇸
Powerful story. Thank you both. Your service is greatly appreciated.
God how I love what you’ve done with your channel mike.
Great episode Mike!! I hope you've got another episode coming with Joe Sedach! I definitely want to hear more!
Happy Veterans Day to all that served an to all that gave all so much respect there should be way more than one day to show how much appreciation is deserved
This was awesome. Loved to see more of these videos
Mike happy Veterans Day.
Wow. Outstanding episode, thank you. Thank you to all of the veterans who have served our country. And thank you also to the families of the veterans, and the sacrifices you had to make as well.
Outstanding story. I was with HHC 4/17 INF, 7th ID (L) on the Caribbean side. H hour at Coco Solo Hospital/France Airfield. It was a busy night and a few days following. Much respect to all who were there.
Awesome story! God bless you guys on the ground; I was flying in KC-10 tankers overhead refueling the AC130s; quite an experience flying super low and refueling those guys...Happy Veterans Day!
Awesome interview. It's stories like this from the veterans who were on the ground doing their jobs, that need to be told and preserved for history. Semper Fi Joe Sedach.
Because of this whole situation my dad who served in the US Military he met my mom in Panama. I was born there just cause 🤷🏽
Thank you Mike for your video
Good video
Happy Veterans Day!
- from this old Army LLRP and 2/75 Ranger
Happy Veterans Day my fellow brother! Simper Fi!
Wild, thanks for sharing.
My uncle, Col. Mark Pentecost, helped plan this mission. He was 82nd airborne as well. I wonder if they knew each other. This is really awesome to see. Proud of everyone who took part in this.
Orgulloso ? Invadir un país de 2.5 millones de habitantes ? Con un ejército pequeño y pocos medios ? USA no puede estar orgulloso de nada .
Great video as always. I was permanent party on Fort Davis with the 549th MPs and we worked side by side with the PDF MPs. When we had joint patrols if the Sh*t went down while we were joint patrol we would be dispatched to a fictitious location where we were supposed to "take out', our Panamanian "partner"! One on one they would tell you they wanted nothing to do with starting anything with us, but in a group they would be gung ho and motivated against us. Exciting times. First time I witnessed an instant 'CO" conscientious objector, while waiting for a mission brief. Loved Panama so much I married one 33 yrs together and three kids. Wrote a book called "Why Paradise", nothing long just a bit of history and stuff.
Thank you Mike for keeping our story alive. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about our fallen brothers, Denson and Daves.
Strike Hold!
Thank you for your service Ranger Joe.
I was in Panama at Ft Sherman in Feb 86 for JOTC. Loved that training and the country.
Beautiful women in that country
@@Nino_J yes there sure are. I met one special one named Illuminati Diaz Pastor and her sister Kiti in Ciudad De Panama. Beer was $1.25 per 6 pack for Cerveza De Panama which was decent beer.
@@tomahawk5118 beer in panama is still cheap you can get 6 packs of cerveza panama for about $3.45 nowadays.
@@commanderclaude8781 that’s awesome. You can barely get a six pack of bottled water in the states for that little. As I recall Cerveza De Panama was pretty good beer.
Great video/interview and story! I was on leave in DC when I got the call to turn on the TV. Saw the breaking news. Drove back to Ft. Bragg and was in Panama 24 hours later. My unit 21st MP Co (ABN) 16th MP Bde ABN did not jump in. Our unit was ready to deploy to Panama in October from St. Croix before Just Cause. We were on the islands for Opn. Hawkeye. after Hurricane Hugo tore it up.
This needs to be a movie. Thx for this Bros. 🇺🇸💪
I was in A Co. 1-504th PIR for OPN Just Cause. That is a very accurate tale of OPN Just Cause.
Thanks Mike!!!
Small boat unit while I was there and thank you to all my brothers and sisters
My first duty station in 1991 was with 1/9 Inf. 7th ID. My squad leader and a few others I knew were in Panama. I remember watching it on TV news, then I was able to meet some of the guys who may have been the Soldiers I was watching. I was in awe when I reported in.
Thank you for your service. Keep up the fire.
"Keep Up The Fire," I was attending a PCS briefing in Nurenburg Germany the morning of the invasion and would join up with 5/21 Infantry a few months later after the invasion. I heard some wild stories from Just Cause. I ended up a Manchu a few years later in Ft. Lewis with C 2/9 and a rotation to Saudi Arabia.
@@happynowfarms hooah!I joined HHC 2/9 at Ft Old, CA Nov 1990, then transferred down to Charlie in 1991. Han 1993, I was ADVON to Ft Lewis, WA. what was our 1SG's name?
The heat in Panama is brutal. Spent some time there in the 80's
The best interview I've seen yet on Operation Just Cause/Operation Promote Liberty. Keep them coming, very informative, and very interesting. 7th ID 88-92.
We're you 7th ID during the invasion? There was a kid pvt named "flipper" that took a grazing 50 Cal round from the front gate at albrook FF. stomach torn open. Medics were working on him, never found out of he made it or not. I was with the TACPs next door to the 7th when the invasion began.
@@brushymountain1 Bill I was there I was staying at Ft Sherman and CoCo Solo and a PDF Barracks but I can't remember the name starting with an E. I didn't hear about flipper but that sounds pretty intense.
Great video.
First one here! Awesome story! Thank you for your service God bless the US!
Third looksit.
5/87th, ‘89,’90, & ‘91, Ft Clayton & Ft Davis, Loved it.
I served in DS with a PFC that was in the 82ND that served in Just Cause. His PSG got shot in the bird. This PFC was a Canadian that joined the US ARMY. In a little over two years, he was in two different combat operations.
B-Co 3/504 PIR here. We had the fun of going by Chinook to a golf course LZ.
Saw those guys jump in, great interview.
Outstanding!
Brings back memories! I was one of the Air Liaison Officers that jumped with 1-504.
No way
This is amazing this is the kind of stuff I love
My brother in law was there ~ USAF airborne ~ freed a lot of American hostages on day one! Happy Veterans Day Mike & to all those who sacrificed and served our country //(- -)
OJC was my first exercise when I got to the 82nd. Was with the 3/504th PIR, and we were already there setting up our water assault straight at 0000 hours. Wish I would have gotten the jump, but proud to have been there regardless.
I was in Panama for jotc I was with the 1/502nd 13 months before the invasion. We knew something was up and something was going to happen except we didn't know when. We did patrol the canal zone it was interesting and we thought we where just there for the school.
I was there too!!!!!! Special Operations Aviation!!!! Thank you for your service!!!!
Dignity Battalion, hahaha we called them the Dingbat Battalion. Oh man thank you for that memory. I haven’t heard those words in years!!!!!!
Los del batallón dignidad ,los que si se defendieron tenían más cojones que todos vosotros juntos ,soldados de papel.from Spain.
i lived in panama when i was a kid. my dad and us were stationed at fort clayton. we got out before the invasion . loved playing in the jungle ! even though i got grounded weekly lol
I was a medic in 1/504 Cco. 2nd put during Panama. I remember him as a PSG he is a great NCO. hearing relive it brought back so many memories. I helped Bco. Medics work on Daves. As well as all the heat casualties we had.
@tx--8674 thanks
@@rauldiaz3193 Assuming it's not too late, that "user" is likely a bot. And it's clearly spam. I've been reporting all similar posts I've been seeing on most of the comments here. Not that it'll stop them. Highly doubt CZcams really give two tosses about spambots considering how often they post.
Also, thank you for your service.
Happy birthday marines…and love all our vets
nice piece of work got a whole country in under
25' days and it showed what the new army leadership was all about that was the gig that got colin Powell his promotion to commander of the joint chiefs of staff a real nice us military combined operation
thanks to all vets for their service.🇺🇸
Invadiendo países indefensos. ?
The picture used at 1:55 is from the video game ArmA 3, not the actual invasion.
Arma moment
I was an M60 AG, Cco 5/87th Inf, 193rd Inf Bde (LIGHT) Task Force Bayonet Op. Just Cause
19 yrs old, 2 yrs in the Army. Stationed at Ft Clayton Panama. CSM Eric L. Haney was our Bde CSM. He was one of the first guys in CAG/Delta Force. This was my first combat tour, my second was Op Desert Storm, Aco 3/502 Inf, 101ST Airborne Air Assault as a Dragon AG. at 20 yrs old. Now a 52 yr old 100% Disabled Vet for the last 25 yrs. Got sick as soon as I got the Anthrax booster in Iraq. Misdiagnosed for the next 4 yrs. INFANTRY doing more with less since the worlds first fight!
My cousin Sgt. Robert Duncan said he was in that. In practice they dropped off delta 300’ at 150 knots. When it happened, there was a machine gun on the end of the runway no one knew about. It pinned him down along with a buddy. All they had was an m4 and a mortar to chuck back at them.
Happy Veterans Days to all who served, are serving and will serve. For you are reason we can sleep soundly and are the tip of the spear for freedom.
Libertad. ? Cuál. ?
This had been building in the news all week so no real surprise. I lived in Spring Lake and came home from shopping late and I could hear all the planes running over at Pope. Woke up in the morning to the news watching CBS station out of Raleigh. News came from a telephone contact in Panama saying there was reports of casualties and the TV signal got jammed as a strange blotch appeared and stopped the report. I had to get to PT and the rest of my day.
I was at Howard for this, -141 crew chief.
Cool to see this since we always here about SOF but being a paratrooper is a tough job and a community full of a lot of tough men and women. Many of the individuals go on to SOF as well.
My grandfather on my mom side he started out in the 82nd airborne division before becoming a green beret
I was with the 7th Id light out of fort ord cali, 1/9 Manchu. Good times and bad.
Wow, heavy stuff.
I love the chain link part, “ya know, ya gotta take your shit off, and the fuckin sheath, and cut the chain link”
My next door neighbor and great friends was in Panama with the 7th ID out of Fort Ord. He was awarded the CIB.
Hello from Montana, I ETS,ed out of the army in 1980, May 18, the day Mt saint Helen,went off,, I served with,Bco 2/325, wpns PLT fo,, Airborne all the way brother 🐓☠️
I was in Panama on the First Plane that landed after they secured the field. stayed there two days with no rations so we removed Turkeys left from thanksgiving in the Airport and cooked them, fed lots of people and then they flew us to one of Noriega's base, and then to boco del toro to a home of his. Hot and rainy , muggy place. they flew us back on regular civilian aircraft, I actually was on the flight back to Miami with (Roberto Duran) he was there checking on family. man that was so long ago, but I remember some of it real clear.
Hell of a story
1/504th here... it was a total cluster F the first night. Almost everyone was dropped in the wrong area. Tanks were dropped in the swamp. Total chaos in the air.
The randomly inserted ArmA3 image at 2:00 does it for me 💀💀
SSG Sedach, God bless.
All that rukcus was seal team 3 getting their ass wiped at the airport All this for a CIA ,,,,,🤡 who got caught
My grandfather was 1st SF Group and ran with the marines as a Spanish translator in Panama after his time in Vietnam
1:59 Is that a picture from Arma 3? Lmao great video but that is funny as hell
Shout out to the Arma III screenshot at 2:00
Good men
I served in 2nd platoon B company 1/504 under SGT Bauman. Everything Mike said is true. Denson was hit in the upper thigh from rifle fire below us as we made our way to the LZ at the base of Tinajitas. Denson was Captain Thrash’s RTO. We left him with a medic and thought he would be okay until a Medevac arrived to get him out of there. The PDF shelled the area with mortars. One hit next to Denson killing him. Word came over the radio around 3 pm that Denson was dead. We were all shocked at the news. SGT Bauman lead a squad to recover Denson’s body the next day. We found him at the base of the hill where we left him. I think PFC’s Allen and Alvis were part of the recovery party. We wrapped him in a poncho and started pulling him back up the hill. Then an American convoy of small armor spotted us from the road. They stopped and turned their guns on us.. SGT Bauman pulled an orange panel out of his helmet and started waving it at the convoy to signal that we were friendly. He probably saved our lives by his quick thinking. That is a day I will never forget. Martin and I were friends. He was a good man and soldier. My condolences to his friends and family.
I was C 1/504 but was rotated out to the Rock before this event. My unit was there.
I was stationed there, and was with my brother , those that where there get little to no credit.
I was B company 2/504 PIR and I think I might have been there with you when we cut the fence.
My dude. 👍🏼
December 1989? I was 2 yrs old living in NYC while this was going on. I wish I remembered what Christmas in NYC was like, I dont remember if we had a tree, most likely not because we lived in an apartment. I do remember my 2nd birthday in NYC tho 🙂
My helicopter was the one in the mud at the 7:50 mark, I was the crew chief. I had the holes and blood on the floor. A Co. 3-123 AVN 7th ID Ft. Ord, CA. The grass was so tall in Tinajitas. It was definitely uphill to the compound, tall wires and towers to climb over to get out of that hot LZ.
I was on the third bird, second stick. I was sitting right side, sitting on the floor, no strap. I remember taking fire half way to the LZ and again just before landing. The fire stopped just after we landed as we came down between two small hills that gave us bit of protection. If my memory serves, it was the first bird that the pilot got hit in the jaw leaving the LZ. C Co. 1/504 PIR. Cheers Bro!
@@jaywellington9904 Captain Muir was shot across his forehead, only injured A Co. 3/123 AVN 7th ID.
Got the love the arma 3 footage
My lifeguard instructor was a PDF soldier during the invasión, he was shot in his left leg and 2 of his friends were killed in action, he still has bad memories of That night
Badass
I got bummed from 2/504 Chalk 18 and got put back on as stick pusher with Chalk One with 1/504. I watched one of the Little Birds get shot down by a Huey door gunner with a yellow triangle on the side. The first pass dropped the drop to about 400feet, I landed in 10ft elephant grass and could hear Spanish. No, General Johnson was the the first jumper. With his son in the other door and the Dignity Battalion were released prisoner militia the Macho de Monte were their Special Forces. The jump took 10 hours because of extreme weather in the US. Our company Blachawks were brought down. It was freezing rain at Ft.Bragg, it was 70s at night in Panama so by morning were were sucking wind. That was the harder 58 day Ranger school.
I think you were my platoon SGT? I was a M60 gunner. On my bird, the corps and division POGs fucked up ; didn't stow the seats. So the aisle was blocked. so inboard jumped before all the outboard. So I jumped (probably on red light?) higher than ever before, plane was on the way back home. I couldn't see ANY of the DZ. I landed on a house and rolled off and was knocked out. I had seen chutes around me, but when I came to, no one was around. some where I lost my helmet. It was a long walk walk to the company rally point; but I was first. I told the CO, where have you been, I've been here since Christ was a carpenter. At Tinahitas objective, we were pinned down on the hill. I found enemy fire from a house and returned fire; about 800 rounds---the other M60 was down, so I had all the ammo. so then the platoon moved over the hill to cover. A lot of guys said they were more afraid of me than the enemy...lol. My AG, Bodiford got shot in the back of his helmet and the shards went into the back of his neck. We all laughed at what a scene he made. After I got out, I thought about Daves and Denson from time to time. But at my 40th birthday, I realized I had lived twice as long as them. From then on, I think about them every day. They haunt me.
1:56 and 12:28 are images from a video game called Arma.
Yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of Operation Just Cause. Let’s not forget the 23 great Americans that gave their lives and the 325 wounded US Soldiers so Panama could be free of Noriega. HOOAH, KEEP UP THE FIRE.
Sadly, the US military and population in general who were stationed in the panama canal zone and all that didn't treat Panamanians any better than Noriega did, in the 60s there were a group of unarmed 17 year old boys from a local highschool who went in the "zone" (the place that was controlled by the US) and put up a Panamanian flag in the zone, a lot of those unarmed teens were shot dead on the spot, all this was after a policeman or MP I don't really know, hoisted ONLY the US flag in the area where there was a monument commemorating the Gamboa war, they were supposed to hoist both the Panamanian and US flags, and well that provoked a social disdain feeling between the Panamanians and that caused the riot and that's when those kids were shot, all of this resulting in the Torrijos-Carter treaty which specified that the canal had to be trespassed into Panamanian administration before 2000, so us Panamanians don't see the US military and the operation just cause as "Heroes" but rather just Regime 2.0, Regime 1.0 was Noriega's.
I remember when this happened well, I had just turned 20.
Cpl. Ivan M Perez and PV2 Ken Scott 4/6 5th I.D. Gone but not forgotten 🙏🏼🇺🇸
12:31 Aw yes, good old Arma 3 screen shot. hahaha
Jumping on to a secured airfield courtesy of 1/75 and C Co. 3/75.
The picture at 12:30 is from Arma 3 lol
loved the arma pic
Only 500 likes... come on guys! 💪
C Co. 1/504 PIR 88-90. I can pin point on Google maps where on Omar-Torrijos I landed. Cheers Brother! ATW!
RIP
To the 23 US soldiers, three US civilians, 314 Panamanian soldiers, 202 Panamanian civilians, and one Spanish journalist who were killed in the 1989 United States invasion of Panama
Alright why is there a Arma 3 picture at 2:00 ? Good video tho