Marines From El Toro Involved in Air Missions

Marine Corps KC-130s from the El Toro air station flew missions in the Persian Gulf region Thursday, refueling warplanes and fighter jets in midair that were headed for strategic targets in Iraq and occupied Kuwait, according to the wife of one of the crew members.

Other Marine aircraft reportedly were part of massive air strikes launched from aircraft carriers in the gulf and airfields in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

“It shook me up when I found out,” said 33-year-old Melanie Alvarado of Tustin, whose husband, Master Sgt. Billy Alvarado, is part of the El Toro-based Marine Aerial Refueling and Transport Squadron, VMGR--352. Alvarado has been in the Persian Gulf since August.

She was informed in a telephone call Thursday from the wife of an officer in the squadron that “everyone arrived back safely,” she said.

The refueling and transport squadron has about half a dozen KC-130s in the Persian Gulf area. The Vietnam-vintage, propeller-driven aircraft is considered one of the most reliable transports ever built. Besides being used as a flying gas station, the four-engine plane can move Marines and equipment to the front lines.

The Marines have about 12 KC-130s in the Middle East, six of them from El Toro.

A military source in Washington said it was hard to tell at this point whether the Marine aircraft involved had been stationed at West Coast bases.

Asked whether aircraft and crew members from El Toro and Tustin were involved in the attack, Capt. Betsy Sweatt, a Marine spokeswoman from El Toro, said: “I can neither deny nor confirm those reports. We just don’t have that information.”