Special Operations.Com

Fort Sherman was named by the War Department on 24 November 1911, in honor of General William Tecumseh Sherman.

The mission of Fort Sherman through World War II was to provide a defense for the Atlantic port of Cristobal and the Gatun Locks. This defense, provided by Coastal Artillery, consisted of Batteries Mower, Stanley, Kilpatrick, Howard, Baird, Pratt and McKenzie, each of which housed either coastal guns or mortars. From 1946 to 1948, Fort Sherman served primarily to billet troops assigned to the Caribbean side of the isthmus.

In April 1951, the Department of the Army assigned the U.S. Army Caribbean the mission of "keeping the art of jungle warfare alive in the Army." In compliance with this directive a provisional headquarters was established to conduct "Exercise Brush Bay" on the Fort Sherman Military Reservation. From this small beginning grew the groundwork for the U.S. Army’s Jungle Training School.

The growth of the jungle school was not a rapid one. After operation "Brush Bay," the headquarters was disbanded, but the 7437th Army Unit was activated to care for the maneuver area and was attached to the 33rd Infantry Regiment.

The facilities at Fort Sherman were improved in 1954, as units from the 33rd Infantry Regiment were being trained. The objective of this training was to make the entire regiment completely proficient in jungle operations.

In May 1956, the 33rd Infantry was deactivated and replaced by the 20th Infantry Regiment, which inherited the mission of conducting jungle warfare training. Under this regiment, reorganized in December 1957 as the 1st Battle Group, 20th Infantry, cycle training was conducted for military personnel outside the Panama area. Normally, ten training cycles, each three weeks in duration, were programmed annually.

On 1 July 1963, the jungle school's mission and functions were assumed by the Jungle Operations Committee (JOC) of the newly redesignated U.S. Army School of the Americas, Fort Gulick, Canal Zone. Later, on 1 July 1968, the United States Army Jungle Operations Training Center (USAJOTC) was established to carry on the mission of training soldiers to conduct operations in a jungle environment.

On 1 July 1970, the JOTC was placed under the operational control of the 8th Special Forces Group (Abn).

In July 1975, the USAJOTC was designated an independent major subordinate command under the 193rd Infantry Brigade. In 1976, JOTC began the transition from an individual training center to a unit training center. Finally in January 1989, the unit which operates the JOTC became designated as the Jungle Operations Training Battalion (JOTB).

The JOTB participated in "Operation JUST CAUSE" (December 1989 - January 1990) as part of Task Force SHERMAN, operationally controlled by Task Force ATLANTIC, 3rd Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Light). The JOTB conducted successful security and defense missions of Fort Sherman and the Gatun Locks Complex; cleared and secured 27 towns and villages and 140 kilometers of coastline; conducted 19 separate air assault operations; conducted civil-military operations in 4 towns and villages; eliminated the threat from the "Hunter Platoons" south of the Rio Chagres and captured numerous enemy prisoners, weapons and large amounts of munitions and military equipment. For its contributions during "Operation JUST CAUSE", JOTB was awarded a battle streamer, the only TDA unit in the U.S. Army to receive this distinction.

In December 1991, FORSCOM approved a rotation cycle reduction from 15 to 12 light infantry jungle warfare courses, 4 engineer warfare courses and 4 aircrew survival courses annually. Continued modifications to the TDA have allowed the JOTB to evolve over the past four years into the premier training center for keeping the "art of jungle warfare alive in the Army". This includes: increasing efforts to train Latin American allied armed forces as part of an overall regional military to military contact program; enhancing the realism of training by incorporating civilians into the battlefield; adding new live fire exercises; improving the instructor certification program and revalidating the flexible programs of instruction for units attending the training.

In August 1994, JOTB was designated a dependent restricted tour area due to the implementation of the 1977 Treaty Implementation Plan. By October 1994, families were no longer allowed to be assigned on Fort Sherman. Beginning in the summer of 1995, transitioning efforts commenced on the Atlantic side of Panama which resulted in the closure of Fort Davis and Fort Espinar on 1 September 1995. This left Fort Sherman and the JOTB as the only significant U.S. presence on the Atlantic side of Panama. Steady efforts to improve the quality of life on Fort Sherman since the closure of Fort Davis and Espinar continued through FYs 96 and 97.