A Chance to Rethink El Toro’s Fate

The El Toro base closure issue just might not be dead yet.

The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission is in the final round of the current series of biennial assessments (starting in 1989) of military bases for consolidation or closure. Under the rules, once a set of recommendations has been blessed by the President and Congress, only a subsequent commission has the right to challenge findings of a predecessor. This means that BRAC-95 can recommend reversal of the BRAC-93 proposal to close the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. That is a powerful option which surely should not be allowed to pass unnoticed.

Most of the public debate focuses on disposition of the base, not on the impact upon individual Marines, the combat readiness of their units and the disruptions and obscene costs which that unnecessary and expensive move portends--considerations which seem to have been trampled in the stampede to divvy up the base for other uses. The vultures are orbiting with claws extended!

As many Orange County residents know, El Toro remained a basic World War II temporary air base until after the Korean War (1950-53), during which it served us well as a source of squadrons bound for that conflict. It did that again for Vietnam and for each national emergency and humanitarian relief mission since--including full deployment of the powerful 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing to help liberate Kuwait in 1990-91.

The high-tech jet age for Marine Aviation really took off in the ‘50s with quantum leaps in technology. In order to keep pace and maintain combat readiness, the hallmark of the corps, this demanded that it attract, train and retain bright, motivated young men and women to match the escalating skill requirements. One major factor in that all-important retention is decent living conditions for military members and their families.

With the future of El Toro once seemingly assured, a long succession of base commanders fought funding battles for acceptable housing. It has taken nearly the entire 52-year life span of the base to finally bring both bachelor and family quarters up to acceptable standards.

Now, just as things began to “fit,” BRAC-93 said: “You Marines have done a great job with this base, but we’ve decided to sell it! So, you’ll have to give up your 3,000 sets of family quarters for the 500 at Miramar and your bachelor digs for much less down there.”

Add to that happy thought the need for enormous investment in new or relocated operating facilities and overcoming other deficiencies at Miramar and the total cost of this strange evolution comes to well over $1 billion.

The real argument against this ill-advised base swap is not just about quarters and family support. The clear, overriding reason to reconsider is readiness, readiness, readiness!

As a weapon that must stay cocked around the clock, the Marine Corps is our primary “kick the door down” emergency reaction and entry force, providing about 20% of combat ready U.S. forces for less than 6% of the defense budget. Thus, it has almost zero margin to give up anything and should be spared from disruptive bureaucratic tinkering.

The loss of Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station (due to close in 1997) will be a major contribution to the base cuts and it should stop right there for West Coast Marine Aviation.

To those Marines and the members of our Army, Navy and Air Force special capability elements who answer frequent international 911 calls and who are already operating at unprecedented peacetime deployment tempos, it seems only reasonable that we should offer something more than flak jackets for their personal protection. Like, peace of mind on where they can leave their families and belongings as they go off to do whatever we ask of them.

That is exactly what El Toro has been doing for more than 40% of the combat power of Marine Corps Aviation. On a smaller scale, so has Miramar for its share of carrier aviation. Why must we tamper with this--all at such cost in turbulence for the troops and dollars to taxpayers?

The standard rebuttal to reversing a prior BRAC decision seems to be that it would open Pandora’s box for all base-impacted communities to seek reconsideration, which would generate an unmanageable precedent and violate the neutral objectivity of the BRAC process.

Our politicians, from county supervisors to U.S. senators, appear to be full of that “neutral” spirit. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if just one of them ignored outside special interests and stood up to declare the obvious: That the cumulative investment and proven past performance of MCAS El Toro more than meet BRAC’s own driving criterion of “future military value.” Perhaps BRAC-95 will recognize this.

Have any BRAC findings ever been overturned and should our Marines and “select” sister service special mission units all be treated as a special case? The answer to both is a resounding yes !

One early assumption of the Base Realignment and Closure process was that some share of costs involved in shuffling units would be offset by sale of the properties. That is an illusion which is dissolving into the realities of pre-turnover cleanup costs and the inability of most communities to raise funds anywhere close to matching the real assessed value of these capital-intensive installations. That must be part of the reason that they are sometimes unloaded for $1. So much for that aspect of the base closure economic dividend rationale.

Long-term savings must be considered, but in truth some of the relocation and shutdown costs will likely come out of the same pot which has been raided repeatedly for disaster relief and “pop-up” contingencies--namely, the already lean Defense Operations and Maintenance accounts.

Since BRAC-95 alone has the power to “un-ring” the El Toro bell, it should vigorously rethink El Toro before multiple prices begin to be paid. If they want to save bucks, big time, then move the Tustin helicopters to El Toro permanently instead of Miramar and allow this time-proven facility to continue serving the national interest--both at home and abroad.

As for those concerned over property values in South County, we should remember this: Unless you’ve lived here for more than 52 years, the base was here first. Moreover, it puts something close to $500 million annually into the county economic stream and appears to have coexisted without imposing undue drag on development.

Our El Toro Marines contribute backup emergency and disaster services and, along with their family members, participate in virtually every sector of commercial, professional, educational and volunteer activity in the county--the total value of which cannot be measured. In contrast, perhaps even God cannot foretell what the “reuse” carnival raffle might bring!

It would seem reasonable to expect that Orange County would actually take pride in hosting such a historic and valuable resource. As for that vain hope, it’s been more like: “In your dreams Marines, you’re outta here!” This renowned “God, family and flag” county should be embarrassed over its numb silence on losing such a dynamic asset!