ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : War Clouds Gather Over El Toro

It is possible to live in some parts of the country without much everyday awareness of things military--but not in Orange County. As the country has debated issues of war and peace during the Persian Gulf crisis, lives of many neighbors and friends necessarily have been affected.

It is difficult to pinpoint any particular time when the prospect of war in the gulf has most hit home in Orange County. But, somehow, Tuesday of this week was a day when clouds of war and their implications for ordinary residents seemed especially visible on the horizon. About 100 reservists--businessmen, postal workers, short-order cooks, school district employees and other representatives of mainstream civilian life--reported to El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for duty.

They signed wills, granted powers of attorney and prepared for the prospect of front-line action with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. This was the largest single mobilization of Orange County reservists in the crisis. They stood to learn firsthand what their squadron leader meant when he called them “the pointy edge of the aviation spear.” If the shooting started, they would man the helicopters shuttling troops to and from the front lines and would fly rescue, supply and medical missions.

In the post-war world, Orange County has such a special role in the military preparedness of the nation. At almost any given time there has been the prospect that units would be shipped out of here to some far-flung trouble spot or other. But the dispatching of Medium Helicopter Squadron 764, first to Cherry Point, N.C., and then, very likely, on to Saudi Arabia, will be a place to mark a footnote in post-Vietnam military strategy. It signaled a possible test ahead for the all-volunteer-forces concept, where the military plans to rely heavily on reserves to supplement regular forces.

Those who now may go to the front are neighbors, perhaps just seen in the mall. Their mobilization before the holidays has brought the crisis home in a striking way.