Security· Panama Invasion (Op JUST CAUSE)
Arraiján Tank Farm
The action at the Arraiján Tank Farm was one of the sharpest episodes of the long Marine standoff in Panama before the invasion, a nighttime firefight at the fuel-storage facility on the western side of the canal that Marines were guarding against Panamanian incursions.
As tensions with the Noriega regime ran high, Marines manning positions around the tank farm exchanged fire with intruders who probed the perimeter in the darkness, one of a series of confrontations that marked the period when the Marines were, in a literal sense, in foxholes on the front lines. The engagement reflected the dangerous, ambiguous environment of the prewar months, when Marines faced armed provocations and had to respond with discipline and restraint under uncertain rules. Arraiján was emblematic of the intensity of the Marine experience in Panama in the buildup, a small but real fight in the shadow war that preceded the open invasion.
Record no. 800