Marine Chief Opens Fire on Pendleton Civil Airport Notion

The Marine Corps unleashed its heavy artillery Wednesday when its commandant, Gen. Alfred M. Gray, flew to San Diego to announce that he will fight efforts by local governments to build an airport at Camp Pendleton or the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

“The Camp Pendleton situation and the (MCRD) situation are the same when it comes to the airport issue,” said Gray, a blunt and crusty veteran of two wars who worked his way up from the enlisted ranks. “I wish we had a better alternative, but we don’t.”

The Airport Site Coalition, an Orange County group, and the San Diego Assn. of Governments began separate studies of possible airport sites to expand or supplement John Wayne Airport and San Diego’s Lindbergh Field.

The Orange County group decided on three possible sites for a new regional airport for both counties, including the sprawling, 125,000-acre Camp Pendleton base.

Among the options studied by the San Diego group were expanding Lindbergh to the adjacent MCRD or moving the airport altogether to Miramar Naval Air Station.

However, Gray said both Marine bases have shrunk considerably over the years and argued that putting an airport at either site would have a serious effect on field training programs.

He noted that there are also proposals to build a highway through Camp Pendleton. These suggestions “pose great risks to the training we do at Camp Pendleton,” he said.

“The buck stops here and the issue stops here. . . . There is no more acreage available. . . . From my vantage point, the MCRD is not an an option. It’s a vital military installation. It shares top billing with our key facility at Miramar.”

Gray also shot down suggestions that the Marines move the MCRD to Camp Pendleton and consolidate training programs, making the San Diego site available for airport use. Marine officials have estimated that it would cost $1 billion to build a new training facility at Camp Pendleton.

Gray called the notion a “very big, stupid ‘if.’ There is no viable alternative to what we do here. . . . We cannot duplicate what we have here, and if we could for any reason, we could not afford it.”

He also said there is not enough water available for both bases at Camp Pendleton. The camp provides its own water from underground wells.

Marine officials have pointed repeatedly to a 1988 study by a Pentagon panel on base closings that ruled out shutting the MCRD because it meets a clear military need. The MCRD trains about 55% of all Marine recruits.

Gray also brought a message from Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett, who opposes the Miramar plan.

According to Gray, Garrett said: “Miramar and MCRD are equally important for the Department of the Navy.”