Southland Sees Signs Locally of Nationwide Military Alert

Residents surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro were warned Friday about increasing aircraft noise this weekend, the latest sign that the nationwide military alert in response to Iraqi aggression is being felt on the home front.

Despite outward signs of increased troop activity, military officials refused to confirm or deny reports Friday that about 4,000 Marines from the 7th Marine Amphibious Brigade were shipping out from Twentynine Palms in Southern California to the Middle East.

“We don’t discuss troop movements, and we don’t discuss deployments,” said Major Kathy Wood, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Friday morning, the California Highway Patrol received a flurry of calls reporting a military convoy of troops headed from the El Toro base south on Interstate 5. Later Friday, El Toro base officials warned neighbors about increased jet noise, and military families across the region said they were expecting their loved ones to ship out soon.

Especially alarming to many families was the idea that U.S. troops might face chemical warfare.

“We’ve been trained to treat the soldiers and we have masks, but I believe what they (Iraq) have is a blistering agent that comes in a gas form, and it’s kind of like Medfly spray,” said a Navy medic stationed at El Toro. “It blisters inside your lungs if you breathe it and on your face and mouth and skin if you come in contact with it. . . .

“I think I’d rather be shot,” she added.

A helicopter mechanic stationed at Tustin Marine Corps Air Station said he was asked to update his will and other personnel records, and that he expects to be sent to the Middle East. The mechanic said he had been through poison gas training in February.

The Pentagon on Friday confirmed that troops from other areas of the country had begun to arrive in Saudi Arabia, but remained closemouthed about deployments from Southern California.

However, wire services quoting unnamed Bush Administration sources said that about 4,000 Marines from the 7th Marine Amphibious Brigade are on their way to the Middle East.

At the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, a 932-square-mile desert training facility in San Bernardino County, Staff Sgt. Dwaine Roberts said he could neither confirm nor deny reports of troop movements.

However, about two dozen relatives of Marines had checked into the Best Western Garden hotel in Twentynine Palms by Friday night, said the hotel manager, Paul Parker.

“So far, all they’re saying is they probably will leave so they want to see them before they go,” Parker said. “Nobody’s been told for sure that they’re leaving out of this base.”

If called into action, the 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade would include air and ground forces from Camp Pendleton, El Toro, Tustin and Yuma, Ariz..

Staff writers Jim Newton and David Reyes and correspondent Len Hall contributed to this report.