200 Marine Reservists in Southland Called to Duty

More than 200 Southern California Marine Corps reservists were among the 824 called up nationwide Tuesday for duty in the Persian Gulf--the first combat reserve troops to be summoned since the Vietnam War.

From San Diego to Pasadena, 214 men from six front-line reserve units--tanks, reconnaissance and security, air defense, interrogation, translation and counterintelligence--are being notified of call-ups.

Soon they will be taken first to Camp Pendleton to join the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and then to Saudi Arabia, where more than 34,000 noncombat reservists are on duty with Operation Desert Shield, which began after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August.

“This is the first call-up of reserve combat units,” said Lt. Col. Stephen Chambers, commanding officer for three of the four activated San Diego County reserve units.

“Now you’re getting grunts and tankers and artillerymen. We’re front-line fighters. These are combat units, trigger-pullers, the guys who do the fighting,” he said. “There’s nobody in the rear here.”

The call-ups are for 90 days, with possible extensions of up to 360 days more.

None of his reservists were taken aback by the order, he declared. “Ever since the first Marines stepped ashore in Saudi Arabia, we’ve just been waiting for our turn,” said Chambers, a regular active-duty Marine.

Not all of the reservists in each unit are being summoned to active duty. For example, of the 300 men in Pasadena’s Battery A, 4th Light Anti-Air Defense Battalion, just 55 will be ordered to report to the Pasadena reserve center.

Of the 11 members of Los Angeles’ 31st Interrogator, Translator Team, two will be called to active duty. The commander of that group, a police officer in civilian life, said he will talk to his superior, “see what they want, and then find the best two fits for it.”

At reservist centers across the region, phones have been ringing with inquiries.

“There’s a lot of excitement and curiosity about this,” said Maj. Jim Stalnaker, the site commander at Pasadena’s Marine Corps Training Center. “But we really don’t know anything more than what has been announced in Washington.”

Times staff writers Tom Gorman and Kenneth Reich contributed to this story.