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The California Air National Guard will send men and airplanes to Central America again this month, despite efforts to block such missions in the state Legislature and the courts. The state adjutant general’s office said the 146th Tactical Airlift Wing of the guard, based at Van Nuys Airport, will send two C-130 airplanes and 28 crewmen to Central America on Dec. 19 to do the same jobs the unit, and other Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units from around the country, have been doing since 1978 under a program named “Volant Oak.” Opponents of the guard’s involvement in Central America took action in the courts and the Legislature, but these efforts were effectively blocked by the Montgomery Amendment, a federal law which went into effect Oct. 15, providing that “a governor may not withhold approval of overseas training for a National Guard unit because of any objections he or she may have to the location, type, purpose or schedule of the training.”

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