A military academy, based first in Panama and now at Fort Benning (in Columbus, Georgia), where the United States trains officers for Latin American armies. It was meant to combat Soviet/Cuban influence in the Western Hemisphere; in practice, it trained the thugs who provided the muscle that kept despots in power; today, the motivations are, arguably, more noble - recent regimes have taken steps to arrest some SOA grads on human rights charges. Famous alumni include Manuel Noriega.