We had a war-game going on in Panama for the JOTC, that's Jungle Operations Training Center. Persons stationed in Panama were generally selected to be the bad guys for troops coming down from the states for training. Being Infantry, we hit the jungle just about every week, and a few times stayed in for a couple months.

One week-long "war" involved 82nd Airborne as the good guys, and we were the harassment team. I was to take my squad to a specified location and set up for a series of ambuscades along a road and the surrounding area. Getting to our site took a bit of trail-building and a lot of machete swinging. About half way there, we came across a beautiful, crystal-clear, 12-foot waterfall. We dropped packs and scouted out the area, filling canteens and eventually breaking for chow. After lunch, I told my troops we had arrived at our location. They all looked at me like I was nuts. After 2 years of ambushing the bad-guys, I decided it was time for a command decision. I might soon be taking a lot of flak for this, but the cards and Frisbee came out, and a good time was had by all.

We spent the week at that waterfall, openly lying over the radio to our command about where we were -- or at least thought we were. At the end of the war, we packed up and headed back to the road for our ride. We were the cleanest group to come home that day.

And no flak. My squad kept their mouths shut, and simply enjoyed the memory.