A 600-soldier battalion from the Army's 10th Mountain Division has begun deploying to a new jungle training facility in Panama, according to U.S. military officials. The soldiers, based at Fort Drum, New York, will train first in Panama before some rotations move on to Colombia and Honduras to work alongside local forces there.
The deployment is part of a broader expansion of the Pentagon's campaign against drug trafficking in the region, as reported by The New York Times. Several hundred 10th Mountain Division soldiers are also scheduled to help staff a new Western Hemisphere operations command based in Miami.
Separately, the Pentagon has begun sending conventional ground forces to Panama to train in the jungle there for the first time in more than two decades, according to ABC News. The U.S. military had been absent from Panama since 1999, when its old jungle training site was shuttered and the last American forces departed the country, the outlet reports.
Inside the ‘Green Hell’ Course
The revived training program is based at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, formerly known as Fort Sherman, and centers on a grueling three-week course nicknamed the “Green Hell,” per ABC News. So far the Combined Jungle Operations Training Course has produced 46 graduates — 18 Marines, one Army soldier and 27 Panamanian personnel — and the Army plans to scale that up by sending platoons of roughly 40 soldiers at a time over the coming year, the station's reporting shows.
Earlier in 2026, the Combined Jungle Operations Training Course began in Panama, involving Panamanian forces. In August, special forces personnel joined the multinational PANAMAX 2026 exercise in Panama City, which was led by Panama and sponsored by U.S. Southern Command.
A Permanent New Command Structure
U.S. Southern Command has activated a new standing headquarters, the Joint Task Force–Western Hemisphere, to coordinate operations against drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, according to the Miami Herald. The task force, announced by Southern Command in August and led by Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Jarrard of the Marine Corps, replaces Joint Task Force Southern Spear — a temporary command stood up in October 2025 under the II Marine Expeditionary Force — with what officials describe as a permanent operational headquarters.
The new headquarters is meant to integrate intelligence and surveillance capabilities, support maritime interdiction operations, oversee multinational planning and expand joint military training with partner nations, the Miami Herald reports. The activation also formalizes a broader restructuring within Southern Command intended to give the region continuous command and control, according to the same report.
Reaper Drones Shift to the Region
The Pentagon has moved several MQ-9 Reaper drones from Africa to Colombia and Ecuador, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine, and shifted an undisclosed number of additional Reapers from U.S. Africa Command to Southern Command.
Gen. Francis L. Donovan is the Southern Command commander.
Strikes and Casualties
The campaign involved at least 78 boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific by Sept. 19, 2026, with 234 deaths reported; the death toll had reached 238 by Oct. 4.
A Regional Coalition
The Trump administration has built a military coalition to help dismantle cartels; the Miami Herald described the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition as an alliance of 18 countries established earlier in 2026.
Hegseth recently created a Pentagon office to help oversee military counter-cartel activities, the Times reports.
Regional Responses
Officials in Panama, Colombia and Honduras did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the U.S. plans.
