Editing 82nd Airborne Division (section)

===Operations Safe Haven and Safe Passage===

On 12 December 1994, the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry, with the 2nd Platoon of Company C, 307th Engineer Battalion, deployed as part of [[Operations Safe Haven and Safe Passage]]. The battalion deployed from Fort Bragg "to restore order" against what American officials termed "[[1994 Cuban rafter crisis|Cuban refugees"]] who had attacked and injured a number of Air Force personnel and one marine while protesting their detainment at Empire Range along the [[Panama Canal]]. The battalion participated in the safeguarding of the Cuban refugees, a camp cordon and reorganization, and the active patrolling in and around the refugee camps in and around the Panamanian jungle along the Panama canal for two months. General Engineering support in the area of camp establishment/improvement operations was provided by the Sappers of the habitually associated Task Force Panther Engineer platoon, 2/C-307th. (Task Force Panther was commanded by LTC [[Lloyd Austin|Lloyd J. Austin III]], who would later be the first African American General to commander of [[United States Central Command|U.S. Central Command]] and [[United States Secretary of Defense|U.S. Secretary of Defense]].) This support included the planning of camp power requirements, pouring of 78 concrete pads, three-foot bridges, a set of "mock doors" for airborne pre-jump training, and a system of decks for the muddy camp. During the deployment, the paratroopers experienced a 92-degree Christmas Day and returned to Fort Bragg on 14 February 1995.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}