As of 0800 today the Patriot State remained moored at Fort Rodman, Panama. The weather remains humid and overcast. A temperature of 86 degrees and a north wind blowing at 4 knots.

Captain's Log:

The Patriot State docked at Fort Rodman at eight-thirty...seven-thirty EST. As you can imagine, our cadets were eager for 'liberty', however, only our five Panamanian cadets were allowed to go home. Their parents greeted the ship as we pulled into Rodman, and were quite happy to welcome home their sons. During our port visit in Fort Rodman all of our Panamian cadets have been granted special liberty by Commandant of Cadet's, Joseph Domingos, so that they can spend the time with their family. Our other 432 cadets are not as lucky ...they will not be granted liberty until Monday morning at 0830.

On our way to Fort Rodman we experienced a wonderful surprise when we were greeted by a welcoming committee made up of the parents of our Panamanian cadets, and others. You can imagine our surprise as we were greeted by cheering, blowing horns, and wonderful signs welcoming us to Panama. We were all quite taken by this tremendous gesture.

There was one somber note when we arrived at Fort Rodman. One of our most beloved and dedicated faculty members, Commander Robert Strautman, had to be taken off the ship and brought to a local hospital suffering from a heart ailment. As Bob was taken down the gang way our Corp of Cadet's manned the rail , saluted, and gave Bob a wonderful and heartfelt send off. It was a clear indication of how much respect and admiration the corp has for Commander Strautman...a man who has devoted his life to MMA.