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I lived at Howard AFB as a child from ‘76 through ‘78. I remember when Jimmy Carter came in to negotiate the Panama Canal Treaty and how all of the military folks despised him. Last year, I cashed in my airline miles and went to Panama for the first time in 30 years. (I tried to get assigned there when I was active duty but was sent to the Azores instead.) It was a great trip. I was delighted went I went to the same Napoli Pizza parlor I used to go to as a kid. That was the best pizza I ever had because of the fond memories I had of that place. There is a beautiful mall and large bus terminal at the former Albrook AFB. It also serves as a regional airport to supplement the Tocumen International Airport. You can see a bus with the word Albrook on it in the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. The scenes from “Bolivia” were filmed in Casco Viejo and the “Haiti” scenes were filmed in Colon. In fact you can see the ships lining up to enter the canal in one of those scenes.

I was in the Hooters and there were 5 or 6 guys who were obviously US military, in civilian clothes. Most of the younger Americans you see there are backpacker types who smell like they haven’t bathed in a week. They were very suspicious of me and insisted they weren’t in the military. I don’t know what they were hiding, but it was obvious to me. Usually, military guys are very friendly and know that people can identify them. A few years ago, I had a good time drinking some beers with some Navy guys who came into the Hooters in Singapore. There are even pictures of their ships posted around the restuarant. Panama is a nice country and it’s good we have a chance to defend the strategic location of the Canal that America took so much trouble to build.