Yes, there really is a Panama Jones

Since

1992

Professional

Bilingual Guides

Win (Panama Jones) Rice visits with friends at Parara Puru, an Indian village on the Chagres River.

YES...

There really is a

Panama Jones

Win was presented with the Panamania Paratrooper wings after participation at the Panamanian jump school at Fort Cimeron, Panama. Left is friend, Art Tucker. Win and Art made several free falls together with the Guardia Nacional as well as the sport parachaute club. They meet up in Panama now once in a while and talk about old times. The officer at the right is Lt. Col. Pedro Ayala of the Panamanian Guardia Nacional.

Win was an instructor and Master Parachute Rigger for the Civilian sport parachute club in Panama. He still stays in touch with some of these jumpers.

Team prepares for a jump from a Tri-Lander at Paitilla Airport in Panama City. Jaime Benites (left) was an officer in Panama's Guardia Nacional. Later he was involved in a coup attempt against Manuel Noriega, captured and beaten badly by Noriega with a rifle butt, and imprisoned for two years. His survival is a long interesting story. Ivan Herrera (at Win's right) still participates with Win in adventure tourism projects. Win is 5th from left.

Winston (Panama Jones) Rice was born feet first in Fort Leavenworth Kansas in 1946. His mother and father were native Oklahomans from Clarita, Oklahoma in Coal County. His father was a career Air Force officer and pilot who retired with 23 years of service. So, like father, like son, Win enlisted in the Army in 1964 at the age 17.

A private in 1964 earned $78 per month, but if you were airborne (a paratrooper) you could earn an additional $55 per month. So Win told all his friends and neighbors he was off to seek fun, travel, and adventure as a paratrooper. OOPS, the cat was out of the bag, so now he had to follow through. After his military training which included infantry training, jump school and Parachute Rigger School, he was stationed in Evreux, France in 1965.

In France, Win participated in several joint military operations involving training and air delivery support. He was one of the last Americans to leave France to Germany in January 1967 when French president Charles De Gaulle decided American forces should leave.

By the time he was discharged in 1967 he was a sergeant and a paratrooper with nearly 75 jumps to his credit. In fact, he made sergeant before his 20th birthday and was discharged before he was 21. He had also gotten his high school diploma and nearly a year of college during his off time. After a year of civilian life and no excitement, Win re-enlisted in the Army as a corporal, and in less than 3 months had gotten his sergeant stripes back. He was assigned to an airborne unit in Panama in December of 1969.

Shortly after his arrival in Panama, a devastating earthquake struck in the regions of Ancash and La Libertad Peru May 31, 1970. Win served as the Non-commissioned Officer in charge of a group of Parachute Riggers sent to Peru on a humanitarian mission. Their mission was to rig loads of supplies consisting of food, shelter, and medical supplies for airdrop into the remote areas of the Andes Mountains. The small team of riggers worked on average 18 hour shifts throughout the mission.

During his military career, Win served three tours of duty in Panama as a paratrooper and participated in extreme adventures on his off time. Win has to his credit over 600 parachute jumps, many of them in Panama. In fact, on December 22, 1972 he was involved in setting world record parachute jumps (jumps #166 and 167 in Wins logbook), Dec 22, 1973) in which nine skydivers jumped over Albrook Air Force Base on Panama’s Pacific coast and formed a 9-way formation and Win swooped into the formation ninth. Then, they re-packed their parachutes and formed another 9-way formation at France Field on the Atlantic coast two hours later with Win swooping in ninth again. That's two 9-way formations, back-to-back, coast-to-coast in less than 2 hours... try that anywhere else in the world. Win Received his Star Crest Recipient and Star Crest Soloist ratings on the same jump.

While a paratrooper, Win achieved a Master FAA Parachute Rigger license at the age of 23. At the time the requirement was to have five years of experience as a rigger to even apply for the rating. Win was the youngest person ever to achieve this rating, and was the only licensed Master FAA Rigger in Central and South America. Win also worked with the Panamanian Army as a parachute rigger and made many training parachute jumps with them. As a result, he was awarded the Panama master parachutist wings.

Other adventures in Panama included scuba diving, treks across the isthmus, fishing, searching for artifacts, and exploring here and there in many nooks and crannies of Panama. This is where he first met the Embera Indians in the Darien region of Panama and became intrigued with their culture. He would later return to Panama after the ousting of Manuel Noriega to establish an adventure tourism company and include the Embera Indians in his tour itineraries.

After being injured in a parachute jump, Win was reclassified and taken off jump status. A career change to Information Specialist and Combat Photographer was the choice and proved valuable during the Panama Canal treaty in which the Panama Canal was handed over to Panama. Win served as bilingual escort for several notable dignitaries and news media reporters. He was also an associate editor of the Southern Command Newspaper in Panama.

In 1978, Win was transferred to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana to complete career development courses for his new profession. Win applied for duty in Alaska, where his parents and a sister and family were living. He was stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska near Anchorage and was editor of an Army newspaper until his military career was completed. Army life was just not the same in this career field so Win took an early medical retirement and moved to the Kenai Peninsula.

Win wanted a change of lifestyle so he began as an apprentice in a small cabinet shop learning the cabinet making trade. Before long he was working full time and enjoying that high Alaskan pay. Here he met Linda and her two children. Later they were married, bought an old homestead complete with cabin and began an adventure living in the wilds of Alaska. During the next five years, they lived in the cabin and built a cabinet shop where they constructed everything from kitchen cabinets to custom furniture of all sorts.

Not a day went by that Panama was not on Win's mind. Many a long cold winter night was spent telling stories to wide-eyed kids and a wife about a previous lifetime in Panama. After several winters and a severe case of cabin fever, they begin to plan a strategy of returning to the lower 48 and developing a tour company with tours to both Alaska and to Panama. The biggest problems were; no money, no tourism experience and ... Manuel Noriega.

In 1987, Win, Linda, and three children moved to Win's home town of Clarita, Oklahoma, a community of less than 60 people. They opened a small cabinet shop and began building cabinets and furniture … and to wait for the fall of Manuel Noriega.

Win and Linda soon began to plan and put ideas together to return to Panama and develop some sort of tourism business. The handwriting was on the wall for Manuel Noriega and Christmas on 1989, Americans liberated Panama. Win and Linda continued to plan and in June of 1992 they visited Panama to see how practical their plan would be. After a 15 day trip, they returned to Oklahoma and set the plan into action.

The first year they attracted only three tourists. So needless to say, they didn't quit their day job in the cabinet shop. Additional planning and strategizing continued. Win took advantage of the GI bill and got a bit more education in the tourism trade, computer and internet technology. This was really before internet advertising was popular, so selecting the right media was critical. However, in short time, and after additional computer training from their kids, things begin to develop. A domain name was purchased and a website developed and business begin to grow. The domain name selected was www.panamacanal.com. Win and Linda had beat the Panama Canal to their own name.

As the business grew over the years, it became necessary to establish an office in Panama to receive the tourists they were sending. Win and long-time friends worked together in developing tourism programs to historic locations in Panama as well as to several rainforests and cloud forests. The most exciting and rewarding project was working with the Embera Indians on the Chagres River helping them develop and new lifestyle through tourism. The new company in Panama was named Panama Jones (Win’s nick name) and was established in 1997.

Win and Linda’s company, Panama Jones, worked with Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures in 2001 filming six episodes in which win appeared in three. Panama Jones will be working with Jack Hanna again filming five new episodes in Panama for Jack Hanna’s news series, Jack Hanna’s into the wild in February 2013.

Win and Linda continue to coordinate tours to Panama form their U.S. office in Clarita, Oklahoma. Win is retired now and has LOTS OF EXCITEMENT trying to keep up with 9 grandchildren and three great grandchildren 2 donkies, a dogs, three cats, a rabbit, and eight chickens. In addition to all that, he is busy restoring a town. He still makes trips to Panama to hang around with old friends and assist Panama Jones coordinators. And once in a while he straps on the old backpack personally and takes on the role of guide.

Related Links

Trekking across the isthmus

Backwoodsman Magazine - www.backwoodsmanmag.com, click on PAST ARTICLES, then click on November/December 2011 The Most Famous Trails No One Has Ever Heard Of.

While assigned to the 3rd Battalian 7th Special forces Group in Fort Gulick, Panama, Win (top row left) served as instructor to a group of some 30 paratroopers from Guatamala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Shown here with the three American instructors are three Mexican Marines, and eight Paratroopers from El Salvador. Third from right was Cabo Mejia who was only 16 years old. final exam for this course was to pack both main and reserve parachutes and junp with them. Failure was not an option.

Parachuting was not only a full time job for Win, but also a weekend sport. Win was one of the foundersof the Club Panamericano Paracaidismo Deprotivo (PanAmerican Sport Parachute Club) which consisted of Panamanian and American civilian and military members. Win was the club's Master Parachute Rigger, Club Safety Officer, and Instructor.

Norman Crawford and Win Rice (facing camera) exit a C130 aircraft at 12,500 feet over the Pacific Ocean at Venado DZ near Howard Airforce Base, Panama on a sport parachute jump. This was jump #154 in Win's log book in which Win experienced an unusual deployment hesitation which took some doing to clear. It finally cleared when he went for his reserve at 1,800 feet.

The photo above is a clipping from a Peruvian newspaper. The photo was take on an airstrip near Lima, Peru where Win (left) and a team of Riggers prepared loads of food, shelter, and medical supplies to be air-dropped into the remote areas of the Andes Mountains. Win Accompanied many of the loads working with the Air force Load Masters. Over 80,000 people were killed in the earthquake which only lasted about 45 seconds.

Win (front row far right) participated with fellow Army Riggers in joint aeriel delivery techniques training with Greek Special Forces members. The training operation was held in Lavorno, Italy in 1966. Win was 19 years old at the time.