I remember going to Tree Tops OP. Sits right on the border, the village of Santa Cruz on the Guatemalan side is literally a stone throw away. The long bumpy ride on those olive green government issued Bedford trucks from Fairweather Camp outside Punta Gorda to Halacte, actually past Halacte, a Mayan village close to the border. I remember this forest green plywood building with a apex zinc roof. A veranda, bunk beds lied up inside, a dining table, rifle rack with chain and lock where you instantly locked your rifle on arrival. It also had a small radio room and the building was lined with sand bags to give it that military feel. Electricity was obtained through solar panels that charged batteries hooked to an inverter that provided power to the radio and a central light bulb in the main building. The lawn was neatly kept with a beaten down barbed wire fence that had seen better days before the British Army handed it over. There were about three trenches around the building, nothing special, just some holes in the ground with a few sand bags in front, nothing that would stop a .50Cal round or fragmentation. There was a flagpole with the Belize flag flying which was ceremoniously lowered at sunset and raised at sunrise. There were two options for taking a bath. You filled a bucket of water from a shallow well at the edge of the perimeter by some trees or you went down (never alone) to a nearby creek where you could interact with the locals who never gave a fuck where the border was and entered and exited freely into Belizean territory.
There was also a kitchen where Bush Dog, a fellow private from the village Santa Familia, in the Cayo District, prepared some of the best meals at the that Observation Post. Rations at OPs involved canned foods, rice, beans, flour, a few spices and that's about it. We always got veggies and fruits from the locals and even alcohol sometimes.
Our normal rotation was 7 days doing a standing patrol consisting of 1 section (8 soldiers) plus one police officer. Two persons would sit in front and monitor the border area for suspicious activity. We were o an hill and there were hills around providing easy concealment for an ambush. You rotated six hours during daylight and 3 hours at night which could be annoying when u get the middle shift or "stag" as its called.
One night on a stag Myvette, from Corozal, and I were on a stag when we heard some commotion coming from the nearby bushes. We heard something stop right in front of us and growl. When we spotted a light we noticed a jaguaroundi snarl at us and run away. It dropped a freshly killed chicken it had stolen from across the border and we did not allow it to go to waste. I can assure you we never had canned food for lunch the following day.
Life at tree Tops OP was fairly laid back and you were usually sent there just before going on stand down or to relax after after a brutal patrol Like Tres Puentes. The one time I went there was quite relaxing. Spent a lot of time drawing and writing poetry most of which I lost at Price Barracks in Ladyville.
Come to think of it I never really liked Tree Tops since it lacked the action and feel of a military operation. I'm sure several soldiers loved it for the same reason. What a bunch of pussies.
Photo: Me posing in one of the trenches at Tree Tops, photo snapped by Bush Dog using my camera.
