BASE CAMP SERVES AS STAGING AREA FOR GUARD OPERATIONS (SECOND OF FOUR PARTS)

An aerial view of Camp Legendre, the base camp for Task Force Mule. The camp was set up for 500 to 550 men and women.

CAIMITO, Panama -- Although Panama was invaded by U.S. troops in December 1989, the only gunfire heard last week at Camp Legendre was from the tent with the television and video cassette recorder.

The threat level in Panama is low for the American forces assigned to the Central American country.

And when members of Missouri's 1140th Combat Engineer Battalion arrived at the base camp March 4, they were greeted with open arms by residents living near Caimito, a village about 50 miles southwest of the capital, Panama City.

With the arrival of the engineers of the 1140th, the Show-Me State has been an influence on Panama for about 80 years or since the United States directed the digging of the Panama Canal. After the canal was completed in 1914, Missouri mules were shipped to the country to pull ships in and out of the canal's lock system.

This year, Missourians in the National Guard are participating in Task Force Mule, constructing roads, schools, health clinics and water wells in villages near Caimito.

"We have to do this training every year," said Col. Clyde Vaughn, the senior adviser on National Guard affairs at the U.S. Southern Command, "so it's good that we can come down here and help the Panamanians."

Vaughn, a native a Dexter, said guard troops can't do training of this magnitude in the United States because federal law prohibits the military from competing with private business.

The base camp, Camp Legendre, has been operational since Jan. 15. But last week the work sites -- some as far as 20 miles from the base camp -- were sent the men, women and materials needed to begin building the structures agreed to by the Panamanian government and the National Guard.

Because of shoddy roads, it can take up to two hours to travel by truck to some of the villages where work is to be done.

Troops from the various engineer units in Southeast Missouri were sent to work sites the day after they arrived in Panama last week. Most of the soldiers spent two, three or four days at the work sites before returning to Camp Legendre for a hot shower, a shave and a night on a cot in a tent.

"It's a big change of pace from what I usually do," said Brian Monier of Cape Girardeau, "but I like doing it."

Monier said he commutes to Jonesboro, Ill., for his regular job as a nutritionist with the Southern Seven Health Center.

As a member of the Perryville unit of the 1140th, he handles a variety of tasks to build a school and clinic at a village near the base camp.

Monier, like many other soldiers, either is transported by helicopter or truck to the base camp for a night's stay away from a designated work site. The following morning, soldiers return to their designated work sites for another stint.

Camp Legendre is the base for monitoring the progress of engineers, meeting requests for additional equipment or personnel, medical attention and providing a hiatus for engineers who need a night's break from the work site.

The base camp is connected to the work sites by a two-way radio system. Officers responsible for supervising the various construction projects visit the sites daily for progress reports. The reports are compiled at Camp Legendre.