As focus shifts to the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. Army has approved service-wide wear of the Jungle Tab upon a soldier’s completion of the Jungle Operations Training Course, an Army spokesperson confirmed Monday.
The skill tab will join the likes of the Sapper Tab, Ranger Tab and Special Forces Tab as “an official skill tab,” spokesperson Christopher Surridge said, adding that the Army is in the midst of codifying official policy and procedures for the tab’s wear and approval in the upcoming iterations of the service’s regulations.
“We will officially publish and distribute formal implementation guidance to all commands upon publishing these regulations,” he said.
The update was first reported by Task & Purpose after a memorandum circulated on social media. Last week, U.S. Army Pacific Command on X said the Army had approved the tab and asked followers to tag or submit photos of themselves wearing it.
The move builds on an effort to revive jungle warfare expertise and experience, as the Army earlier this year tapped the newly-redesignated Army Security Cooperation Group-South to oversee the Combined Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama. Candidates at the Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón school complete the grueling course in what the Army calls “Green Hell,” where suffocating heat and humidity pair with heavy foliage to make basic soldiering tasks even harder.
The first phase of the course — which is conducted jointly with Panamanian forces — covers “jungle survival fundamentals,” according to the Army, including learning to use machetes, kindling fires, purifying water and constructing basic shelters. In the second phase, students learn small-unit tactics, ambushes, waterborne operations and how to move in dense terrain.
The course culminates in phase three, where students are sent on simulated missions and evaluated on teamwork and leadership.
The Army formerly operated a jungle warfare training course for decades before it was shut down in 1999.
Its rebirth comes as the Army has made sweeping changes to its force structure as it prepares for conflict with peer and near-peer competitors, shifting the advisory force created by the Global War on Terror to a new mission and overhauling command structure under the Western Hemisphere Command, created last year.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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