GO ARMY

United States Army South

United States Army South
United States Army South shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1904–present
Country	United States
Branch	U.S. Army
Part of	United States Southern Command
Garrison/HQ	Fort Sam Houston/Joint Base San Antonio
Motto	"Defense and Fraternity"
Engagements	World War II, Operation Just Cause, Operation Uphold Democracy, Operation Unified Response
Decorations	Philippine Presidential Unit Citation- 1941, World War II Meritorious Unit Commendation - 1944, World War II Army Superior Unit Award- 1994 Operation Uphold Democracy, Army Superior Unit Award - 2011 Operation Unified Response
Commanders
Current commander	Major General Frederick S. Rudesheim Former Commander - Major General Simeon G. Trombitas November 2009 - September 2012. To see complete list of former commanders click here
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

United States Army South is the Army's service component command of United States Southern Command whose area of responsibility includes 31 countries and 15 areas of special sovereignty in Central and South America and the Caribbean. It is headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Contents 1 Mission 2 History 3 References 4 External links

Mission

U.S. Army South (ARSOUTH) conducts and supports multinational operations and security cooperation in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility in order to counter transnational threats and strengthen regional security in defense of the homeland.
^[1]

History

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U.S. Army South has existed under its current name since 1986, but its historical roots reach back much farther, to the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama Canal Guard of 1904–1914, both of which played a pivotal role in the construction and early defense of the Canal.^[2]

On 6 June 1963, the United States Caribbean Command (the theater command) was re-designated as the United States Southern Command, to reflect primary responsibility in Central and South America, versus the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the United States Army Caribbean was re-designated the United States Army Forces Southern Command.^[6]
During the 1970s, the troop strengths averaged between 10,000 and 14,000 soldiers. Implementation of the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 on 1 October 1979, brought with it the following changes: a new arrangement for the defense of the Panama Canal; the disestablishment of the Canal Zone; a change in designation for the brigade to 193rd Infantry Brigade (Panama), resulting in the beginning of the process of reorganizing from a heavy to a light infantry brigade; and a headquarters move from Fort Amador to Fort Clayton.
On 4 December 1986, the United States Army South was activated as a Major Army Command and the Army component of United States Southern Command, with Headquarters at Building 95, Fort Clayton.
Operation Just Cause, the United States military action used to depose Panamanian dictator, General Manuel Antonio Noriega, was officially conducted from 20 December 1989 to 31 January 1990. United States Army South Headquarters became the Headquarters for Joint Task Force-South, the Headquarters designated to execute the operation. During the Panama Invasion the total troop numbers increased to 27,000. Of these, 13,000 were already stationed in Panama and 14,000 were flown in from the United States.^[7]
As part of a Unified Command Plan change, United States Southern Command also assumed geographic responsibility for U.S. military forces operating in the Caribbean Basin and the Gulf of Mexico on 1 June 1997. Within this framework, United States Army South's geographical area of responsibility expanded to now include today, 31 countries and 15 areas of special soverignty in Latin America and the Caribbean, except Puerto Rico and Mexico. In 1998, United States Army South units participated in 15 platoon exchanges at the Jungle Operation Training Center with soldiers from Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay.
As part of a larger Army transformation in response to the demands of post-9/11 operations worldwide, U.S. Army South merged with U.S. Army South (Sixth Army) on 16 July 2008, a change that expanded its size and capabilities to include an Operational Command Post (OCP) that could serve as the nucleus of a Joint Task Force (JTF) or Joint Forces Land Component Command (JFLCC) headquarters anywhere in the U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility. In addition, U.S. Army South incorporated the lineage and hearldry from Sixth U.S. Army. While U.S. Army South received an exception to policy from the Army Chief of Staff to retain its distinctive Spanish galleon insignia, its colors were merged with 6th Army’s to mark the new, combined lineage and hearldry of the two historic organizations—one that played a pivotal role in the security of the Panama Canal and the broader region of Latin America and the Caribbean, and one that fought a series of famous battles in the Pacific theater of the Second World War.^[8]

References

• Mellander, Gustavo A.; Nelly Maldonado Mellander (1999). Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. ISBN 1-56328-155-4. OCLC 42970390.
• Mellander, Gustavo A. (1971). The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Danville, Ill.: Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568.

1. ^ USARSO – United States Army South
2. ^ Global Security
3. ^ Almanac of Theodore Roosevelt
4. ^ Merrill's Marauders
5. ^ Out from the Canal Zone
6. ^ U.S. Southern Command History
7. ^ Operation Just Cause
8. ^ Cavallaro, Gina (9 October 2007). "New name, same mission for U.S. Army South". Army Times (Army Times Publishing Company). Retrieved 21 December 2008.

• Bennett, Ira Elbert (1915); History of the Panama Canal: its construction and builders. Washington, D.C.: Historical Publishing Company. OCLC 138568
• Williams, Antwan C., Lt. Col. (2012); Army South receives award for deployment, celebrates 100-year historical milestone. Fort Sam Houston, Texas: Defense and Fraternity Magazine.
• U.S. Army South Command Strategy published January 2013.

External links

• United States Army South (ARSOUTH) official websiteU.S. Army South Command Strategy

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Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1989

6

Operations

Introduction

Army operations in FY 1989 reflected two basic themes that defined the Army as a strategic force. The first one pertained to the Army's global responsibilities, which are considerable in peacetime as well as in wartime. Forward-deployed Army forces in Europe and Korea have been inextricable elements in the nation's Cold War strategies of containment and deterrence. In Latin America the Army addressed the deterioration of security in Panama, while its security assistance programs in El Salvador and Honduras helped to deter the spread of insurgency from Nicaragua and to strengthen anti-Communist governments coping with threats to their security. The Army's peacekeeping and other missions in the Middle East further illustrated the Army's global role. The second theme resonated with the history of the Army's centuries of service characterized by the Army's assumption of multifarious missions to assist federal, state, and local authorities. While the Army's involvement in environmental issues, the war against illegal drugs, and combating terrorism grew during FY 1989, the service continued its long tradition of providing humanitarian assistance.

Central America

The Army has maintained a presence in Panama for most of the twentieth century. The U.S. Army, South, the major Army command in Panama, is the Army component of the unified command, the US Southern Command. USARSO's area of interest is Central and South America. Its primary units were the 193d Infantry Brigade and the 324th Support Group, stationed at Fort Clayton, and the 470th Military Intelligence Group, with headquarters at Corozal. US armed forces personnel assigned to Panama in FY 1989 totaled 12,719, of which 8,605 were Army forces. The large number of American civilians there included many military dependents and civilians who worked with the Panama Canal. There were 2,111 of these workers, and about half worked for the Army.

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As FY 1982 began, the harassment of American soldiers and civilians by Panamanian military and paramilitary elements had slackened from the high level that began in the spring of 1988. Nevertheless, the Reagan administration had reinforced American military forces in Panama. The Army dispatched several military police (MP) units and intelligence teams from the United States. The Commander of USSOUTHCOM (CINCSO) activated Joint Task Force-Panama (JTF-P) to prepare contingency plans and arrange for the command and control of US combat forces should hostilities erupt between American forces and the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), a 14,000- to 16,000-man security force that exercised both military and police functions under Panamanian President Manuel Noriega .
The majority of the JTF-P staff were Army personnel who also served on the USARSO staff. In preparing its contingency plan, ELABORATE MAZE, JTF-P assumed that the PDF was hostile. Throughout the spring and summer of 1988, confrontational actions by the PDF worsened. The PDF intruded into American installations and sometimes exchanged gunfire. American forces adhered to nonprovocative rules of engagement, but prudence dictated that security be reinforced. Between August 1988 and April 1989 several Army MP and aviation units were sent to Panama. During this period USARSO was reinforced by one military police battalion headquarters, three MP companies, and an aviation task force, TF HAWK, with about twenty-seven aircraft from the continental United States. During early FY 1989 tensions in Panama abated. Some consideration was given to inactivating JTF-Panama, but American officials deferred until after the Panamanian elections scheduled for May 1989. JTF-Panama maintained operational control over Army forces in Panama, but in February 1989 the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps became the JCS' executive agent for contingency planning for possible hostilities in Panama. USCINCSO proposed a phased redeployment of the security augmentation forces from Panama during FY 1989, but the Army continued to replace forces temporarily sent there. Army aviation assets were rotated about every ninety days.
To minimize incidents between Americans and Panamanians, USSOUTHCOM directed military dependents either to leave Panama or to move to base housing. In the spring of 1988 USSOUTHCOM directed shorter service tours in Panama to encourage newly assigned soldiers to accept unaccompanied tours, thereby mitigating the severe housing shortage and reducing the risk of terrorist attacks against Americans. Under a new DOD policy announced in September 1988, tours for service personnel assigned to Panama after l March 1989 were trimmed by six to nine months.
Early in 1989 General Noriega's PDF began a campaign of harassment, detention, and beatings of American dependents