A Fighter’s Farewell

He walked into the hangar as Capt. Stephen Beal. He walked out two hours later a civilian.

With the chime of a ship’s bell and the formal reading of his final orders, 48-year-old Beal retired from his post as commanding officer of the Point Mugu Naval Air Station on Thursday, symbolically passing the torch to his successor in a ceremony based on 200 years of naval tradition.

They turned to each other, saluted--and with that, Capt. Jim Rainwater became the new commanding officer of Point Mugu naval base.

“This job certainly had its challenges. It tested my mettle,” Beal, a 26-year veteran, said after the ceremony. “I think I developed a lot of character and determination.”

Transferred to Point Mugu in 1995 from its sister base, White Sands in New Mexico, Beal has presided over the station through a rocky period that saw the 12,000-person facility blasted by El Nino flooding and threats of potential closure.

But in recent years, Point Mugu has managed to transform itself from a shrinking, cash-strapped base to a rapidly growing military operation, by cutting costs and seeking out additional work to keep it vital.

Beal played a major part in that transition, said county Supervisor Frank Schillo, a member of the Ventura County Regional Defense Partnership, which has lobbied to keep the base open. Beal was instrumental in bringing 16 E-2C radar planes to Point Mugu, which has been credited with protecting the base from closure. That transfer brought about 2,000 personnel and a $60-million payroll to the base.

“He actually went out and did the marketing,” Schillo said. “He talked to different commands. He was very aggressive.”

Schillo hopes to continue the county government’s close relationship with the base through Rainwater, although the future of the base no longer looks so hazy.

“We’re looking to subtly get business to consolidate at the Navy base,” he said. “That’s a lot different from the crisis” the base faced in 1995 when it appeared on a federal base-closure list.

During Beal’s tenure, the Navy has attempted to cut costs--in part by merging the administrative duties of Point Mugu and the Seabee base at Port Hueneme, which is a still-evolving process. In addition, Beal pushed to increase cooperation between the private sector and the base in sharing research and resources.

Beal, considered amiable and a good talker, has pushed to build a Visitor Environmental Learning Center so the public can tour the base’s wetlands and saltwater ponds. The center is still in the planning stages.

Beal, a former Navy helicopter pilot, said he and his wife Sharon expect to stay in Ventura County for the time being, though he notes the horizon is wide and there is much to choose from. The first thing, though, will likely be jetting off to see a new grandchild in Kentucky, whose birth is imminent.

His replacement most recently served at the head of the test and evaluation department at the Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland.

Rainwater, a Redondo Beach native and graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, enlisted in 1977 and has spent much of his career as a fighter pilot. A graduate of the elite “Top Gun” school, he has logged more than 4,200 flight hours and has completed 300 carrier landings.

His career has come full circle. As a boy, Rainwater said, he visited a Point Mugu air show and decided then that he wanted to be a Navy pilot. This will be his second tour at Point Mugu; in the mid-1980s he tested F-14 Tomcats and F-4 Phantoms at the air station.

But at this point, after only a week on base, he admits to being a bit overwhelmed by all the information being thrown at him.

“I’ve been fire-hosed,” he said.