NARRATIVE AND CITATION FOR THE DECORATION
I recommend Colonel James A. Ruffer, SSAN xxx-xx-xxxx, for the award of the Bronze Star Medal for Heroism for exceptionally, distinguished and courageous, achievement and outstanding service to humanity and to the Armed Forces of the United States in a duty of great responsibility while serving as Deputy Surgeon, Command Surgeon Directorate, Headquarters, United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), Quarry Heights, Republic of Panama and as the Co-Chairman, Sub-Committee on Health, of the Joint Committee/Combined Board of the Panama Canal Treaty during periods of imminent and of actual hostility between U.S. Forces and the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) of military dictator General Manuel Antonio Noriega from 7 April 1989 to 23 December 1989.
I was Colonel Ruffer’s administrative supervisor at the time of the events contained in this narrative. Colonel Ruffer reported to other individuals at the time (The U.S. Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee of Treaty Affairs; U.S. Army Special Operations – Delta Force; and an American hostage), so while I have limited firsthand knowledge of the specific actions herein, I do support his receiving recognition for his exceptionally, distinguished and courageous, achievement and outstanding service to humanity, and I recommend him for the Bronze Star for Heroism for his exceptionally distinguished achievements.
Colonel (Dr) Ruffer, then a lieutenant colonel, volunteered to locate and medically treat American citizen, Kurt Muse, thought to be held incommunicado by LTC Nivaldo Madrinan, Chief of General Noriega’s Department of Investigations/”Secret Police”.
Lacking any guidance, and aware of the prisoner’s grave danger, Colonel Ruffer, along with LTC Robert S. Perry, the U.S. Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee, Treaty Affairs, USSOUTHCOM, forced contact with LTC Madrinan and demanded visitation with Kurt Muse who was charged with “promoting subversion and crimes against the security of the Panamanian state” (Kurt Muse was a former commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, a Panamanian businessman, a leader of the opposition forces against the Noriega Regime, and the operator of the clandestine radio “Voice of Liberty”, with CIA connections).
After four failed attempts Colonel Ruffer was able to evaluate and comfort the suffering prisoner. Based on medical findings of torture, Colonel Ruffer confronted LTC Madrinan and demanded thrice weekly visitations. This set in motion an arduous and dangerous eight month period during which Colonel Ruffer visited within the cellblocks of the infamous Modelo Prison, where intimidation, rape, torture, and murder were being carried out with regularity. Despite a violent break in diplomatic relations with Panama, members and representatives of the Joint Committee were charged with protecting U.S. Forces’ treaty rights in accordance with the “Agreement in Implementation of Article IV of the Panama Canal Treaty.” Visitations with Kurt Muse were facilitated by the suggestion of forthcoming U.S. sanctions in the event the “Regime” rejected visitation privileges with the prisoner.
Colonel Ruffer became a conduit for information of prison atrocities, human rights violations, and treaty violations, and he became a key player in the care and rescue of Kurt Muse, who was considered by U.S. Forces to be a PDF hostage. Colonel Ruffer observed and reported on prison floor plans, prison routines, prison personnel, morale, activities, weaponry, communications, barriers, electrical-power-generation, Kurt Muse’s changing location within the prison, as well as providing emotional and medical care for Kurt Muse. Of Colonel Ruffer, Kurt Muse would later say, “he became my confidant, shrink, doctor, my everything.”
The “Regime” made it clear to Kurt Muse that he could be assassinated, and thus the assassin and the assassin’s prison quarters had to be identified by Colonel Ruffer. Colonel Ruffer’s visits were pre-briefed and de-briefed with U.S. Army Special Operations’ planners (Delta Force) who requested, among other things, his observation of PDF response to aggressive, air-assault-faints periodically made against the prison by U.S. Forces during the Colonel’s visits. These and others U.S. actions and the Colonel’s very presence in the prison caused dangerous and unpredictable reactions among PDF forces. As an example, Colonel Ruffer walked through pools of blood to find Kurt Muse in a state of emotional shock after a man had been tortured, and apparently murdered, just outside Kurt Muse’s cell. Such shows of PDF rage were not new to the hostage or Colonel Ruffer. The Modelo mission was a test of mind and will.
Colonel Ruffer had previous knowledge of the Regime’s vindictiveness and penchant for murder. His own Panama City apartment had been targeted by the PDF at night, while his family slept, as the PDF searched for his landlord. Colonel Ruffer’s landlord, Lidia De Janon, a Panamanian national, had been arrested and taken away to suffer cruel abuses within Modelo Prison. His occasional Modelo visiting companion, Kurt Muse’s lawyer, Marcos Ostrander, previously had had a headless human corpse heaped upon his porch, and a U.S. Forces’ military policeman, in the performance of his duties, had been abducted by the PDF and brutally assaulted while in PDF captivity.
Conditions worsened dramatically within the prison after the failed 3 October 1989 “coup” attempt against General Noriega. The assassinations of, so called, unworthy PDF officers began to be carried out within the Modelo. Having Colonel Ruffer in their prison while the PDF “Brotherhood” killed their own was unbearable to them, and their disdain for Colonel Ruffer took on a potentially lethal edge; the depredations of the Noriega Regime were unpredictable. Details of the coup which had occurred at the “Commandancia” (in clear view from the Modelo) and of the murder of PDF officers were obtained by Colonel Ruffer. Planning for the rescue of Kurt Muse was intensified. Based on information provided by Colonel Ruffer, U.S. Army Special Operations’ forces (Delta Force) were able to construct a mock-up of the prison on a site at Elgin AFB, Florida.
Contingency plans for the rescue of Colonel Ruffer, should he be held by the PDF, were discussed with Colonel Ruffer during a face-to-face discussion with USSOUTHCOM CINC, General Maxwell Thurman, and his Deputy J-3, Colonel Tom Brotten USMC, on 6 October 1989.
Colonel Ruffer was detained and otherwise impeded from performing his mission on several occasions. In spite of the attempts to stop him Colonel Ruffer continued. His detention by force of arms on one occasion was mitigated by USSOUTHCOM’s Treaty Affairs’ Officers in a brief but tense “stand-off” with the PDF. Colonel Ruffer would not allow himself to be stopped. He knew that the hostage’s mental and physical condition depended on continuing the thrice-weekly, visitation, routine. Colonel Ruffer feared that any brief stoppage of the visits would result in repeated stoppages and, ultimately, in mission failure. If this happened, the Noriega Regime would have won. Colonel Ruffer would not allow this to happen, and he continued, relentlessly, knowing that many lives depended upon his mission’s success.
Kurt Muse smuggled a letter to the President of the United States through Colonel Ruffer, but the potential compromise of that act, had it been discovered by the PDF guards, posed a grave danger to Colonel Ruffer and, more importantly in his mind, to the entire mission. Colonel Ruffer relentlessly guarded against any threat to the mission. He memorized the intelligence requirements for each visit, but he wrote nothing down. He was nearly apprehended as he conducted a physical inspection of the lock of an upper floor, iron, gateway that led to one of Kurt Muse’s, several, cells.
Kurt Muse knew nothing of plans to rescue him, and yet he and others within the prison contributed significant information to Colonel Ruffer without their knowing it. For example, Colonel Ruffer discovered a dying American prisoner within the cellblocks (Mr. Dana Keith, a former U.S. soldier, in whom fulminate, pulmonary, tuberculosis was clinically apparent to Doctor Ruffer, but who was not being diagnosed or treated for this terminal condition, within the prison). Colonel Ruffer cajoled the warders and the prison doctor to save the dying tubercular’s life but to no avail. Colonel Ruffer persisted, and he was able to initiate a flow of information that led to his prison conversation with Panama’s Minister of Health and to the transfer of the dying man to the PDF military hospital, Santo Tomas. Colonel Ruffer made repeated visits to the PDF hospital, proactively assisting and assuring the diagnosis and treatment of the American for his tuberculosis. Colonel Ruffer then acquired indispensible intelligence information, by ruse, from the unsuspecting patient, regarding prison floor plans, officer’s quarters, stairwells, personnel, and atrocities.
Colonel Ruffer knew, from the contingency plan discussion with the CINC, on 6 October 1989, that the U.S. Command was unable to protect him, but he asked for nothing other than permission to press on for the duration of Kurt Muse’s captivity. The PDF’s mouthpiece newspaper, “Critica”, made mention of “Doctor Ruffer” in its spying diatribe against LTC Robert S. Perry, the U.S. Treaty Affairs officer, on 9 October 1989. Colonel Ruffer considered it a warning. Meanwhile, the hostage’s emotional condition was on a “roller coaster” ride. Kurt Muse would awaken to his own screams. Colonel Ruffer employed every skill in his medical inventory to sustain the health and sanity of his ward.
Late in November 1989 the Modelo began to arm itself more visibly, and the shadowy torturers donned military uniforms for the first time. Their vitriol and hatred were unleashed. Kurt Muse pleaded for help; he had been advised, once again, that he was to be assassinated if U.S. forces made any move against the “Regime.”
The Modelo mission demanded long arduous hours. It was a multifaceted endeavor with the potential for grave political and military consequences. Colonel Ruffer refused to be worn down by the increasing stress and danger of his demanding duty. He described the terror within the Modelo Prison, to U.S. intelligence officers, as a “feeding frenzy of sharks.” PDF officers who had failed to come to the aid of General Noriega during the October Coup were beaten, tortured, raped, sodomized, shot, or hung within the prison during that period.
The end of the hostage’s plight came just after midnight on the 20th of December 1989. U.S. Army Special Operations’ assault forces (Delta Force) breached the prison, and, while killing and otherwise neutralizing the defenders, killed the assassin within his quarters. Kurt Muse was whisked away to relative safety within six minutes. This was the first rescue of an enemy-held American prisoner since World War II. It was Objective One Prime of the “Invasion of Panama”.
After the initiation of armed conflict Colonel Ruffer reentered the partially evacuated, unsecure, Model Prison on 23 December 1989 as fighting continued in Panama, to conduct interviews, to obtain PDF documents, to provide information for an after-action report, and to retrieve Kurt Muse’s personal belongings. The events had consumed 262 days.
Michael A. McConnell, Col, USA, (Ret)
San Antonio, Texas 78217
Michael A. McConnell, Col, USA
USA ELM SOUTHCOM/SCSG
QUARRY HEIGHTS, PANAMA (July 1988 – July 1990)
The Citation Reads as Follows:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Bronze Star Medal for Heroism to: COLONEL JAMES ALLEN RUFFER, MEDICAL CORPS, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, for service as set forth in the following
CITATION:
“For exceptionally, distinguished and courageous, achievement and outstanding service to humanity and to the Armed Forces of the United States in a duty of great responsibility while serving as Deputy Surgeon, United States Southern Command, Panama, during periods of imminent and of actual hostility between US Forces and Panamanian Defense Forces from 7 April 1989 to 23 December 1989. Colonel Ruffer, then a lieutenant colonel, demonstrated exceptional courage and initiative as the key individual for medical care and a key player in the rescue of an American hostage held by Panamanian forces hostile to the United States. In the absence of specific direction, Colonel Ruffer forced contact when the hostage had no other support. His actions helped save the lives of two Americans and provided the intelligence necessary to assure the hostage-rescue mission’s success. During a period covering 262 days Colonel Ruffer exposed himself, on over 100 occasions, to the precarious, hostile, and potentially life threatening environment of the Panamanian Defense Forces’ infamous Modelo Prison in Panama City, Republic of Panama, risking his safety and enduring threats to his person, during periods of extreme military and political crisis. Colonel Ruffer’s performance was characterized by volunteerism, courage, initiative, skill, dedication, tenacity, and endurance, and merits recognition for clearly conspicuous intrepidity and outstanding meritorious service that facilitated the rescue of the first enemy-held American prisoner since World War II. His selfless dedication and exceptionally significant achievements helped secure a prime objective during the Invasion of Panama and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Air Force and of the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Michael A. McConnell, Col, USA, (Ret)
San Antonio, Texas 78217
Michael A. McConnell, Col, USA
USA ELM SOUTHCOM/SCSG
QUARRY HEIGHTS, PANAMA (July 1988 – 1992, approximately)