AFTERMATH OF WAR : 1,775 Troops Set to Come Home This Weekend : Military: 1,450 Marines based at Camp Pendleton, 210 Seabees and 115 Navy commandos are expected to return from the war zone, but military officials caution that plans could change at last minute.

The first Marines and sailors to return home from the Persian Gulf War will arrive in San Diego County beginning Saturday, military officials announced Thursday.

In addition, military officials said four aircraft carriers--possibly including the San Diego-based Ranger--will leave the Persian Gulf over the next three weeks.

The vanguard of troops returning this weekend will include 1,450 Marines based at Camp Pendleton, 210 Seabees from the North Island Naval Air Station and 115 Navy commandos from the Naval Amphibious Base at Coronado.

Details of their arrivals were sketchy Thursday, but the Marines are expected to fly from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to an unspecified Air Force base in California, then ride buses to Camp Pendleton.

But so far, the military has been reluctant to confirm exact information about the arrival or when Marines will be reunited with their families, cautioning that there could be last-minute disappointments.

“These things are always subject to change, not only the numbers coming back but even the units themselves,” said Cpl. Lyle Gilbert of Camp Pendleton’s public affairs office.

“We don’t have anything firmed up, they may land at a couple of places, Norton or maybe March (Air Force bases). I’m not sure which, maybe neither,” he said.

The Pentagon released a list of units with 14,000 military personnel who were ordered home over the coming week. Representing the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force, they are the first returnees among the 500,000 American troops deployed for Operation Desert Storm.

The Marine units and the number of troops that were scheduled to leave bases in Saudi Arabia bound for Camp Pendleton are the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 900; Surveillance, Reconnaissance Intelligence Group 7, 150; Marine Air Group 70, 150; Brigade Service Support Group 7, Detachment Alpha, 200; and Brigade Service Support Group 7, Detachment Bravo, 50.

Heading home to the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado is the Naval Special Warfare Training Group 1, with 115 SEALs, the Navy’s commandos. Meanwhile, the Naval Beach Group 1, with 210 Seabees, is bound for the North Island Naval Air Station.

The SEALs and Seabees are expected sometime this weekend, but no exact day has been given. The military advises families to check arrival times with local bases.

The cities of San Diego and Oceanside are planning elaborate victory celebrations, but haven’t been certain when servicemen and service women would be coming home.

Consequently, nothing has been organized for this weekend, according to spokesmen for San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Oceanside Mayor Larry Bagley.

But, while city events are pending, a North County group composed of military and civilian families is hurriedly preparing a greeting--a teaser of things to come--for the first Marines back.

“If the guys are going to be back Saturday, we’ll be out there with bows and ribbons,” said Linda Seymour of Operation Homefront.

It was unclear Thursday whether Camp Pendleton was planning any special ceremony or tribute, but, if nothing else, the Marines will return to a base that’s a little more relaxed than when they left.

After months on heightened security--including heavily restricted access, barriers at the gates and guards carrying loaded M-16 rifles--the base has returned to a lower security status.

Once again, civilian bicyclists can use trails through the base, and there will be fewer identification checks, but the base still hasn’t resumed self-guided vehicle tours of the sprawling facility.

“Pretty soon we’ll be back to normal again, we don’t know when,” Gilbert said.

It hasn’t been revealed what awaits the Marines upon arrival, although Chief Warrant Officer Randy Gaddo, a spokesman at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, said, “my assumption would be they’re going to give them maximum time off,” although that’s up to base commanders.

Plans are under way for additional troops, airmen and sailors to return.

Under a newly devised proposal affecting all branches of the armed forces, four aircraft carriers will leave the Persian Gulf over the next three weeks, Navy officials said Thursday. Although it’s not yet decided which carriers will depart, officials said they hoped that the ones that served the longest in the war zone will be the first to leave.

Six carriers, including the Ranger from San Diego, are patrolling Gulf waters. But the carriers Saratoga and Kennedy, which departed from their East Coast home ports, have been deployed the longest, followed by the Japan-based Midway and the Ranger, which sailed from San Diego on Dec. 8.

Under the proposal, those four carriers would be the first to pull out over the next three weeks, and the return voyage of the Ranger should take about six weeks.

The Washington-based Nimitz sailed from Southern California on March 5 as a replacement for the carriers now in the Gulf. The Nimitz was accompanied by three San Diego-based ships: the Aegis guided missile cruiser Chancellorsville; guided missile frigate Rentz and the frigate Stein.

Forces will be reduced so that Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf, “has the levels of force he needs as we phase out our presence so he can deal with any contingencies,” said a Navy official in Washington who asked for anonymity.

“What if all Saddam Hussein’s planes come flying back again?”