Navy Bombing Drills Rattle the Populace

Windows rattled and pets scattered as Navy jets dropped live bombs for a training exercise that was moved to Eglin Air Force Base, near Crestview in northwest Florida, because of protests against training drills on Vieques Island in Puerto Rico. Planes from the aircraft carrier George Washington dropped 62 tons of bombs on an Eglin test range Friday, the first and most intense day of live bombing during war games that continue through this week. The bombing runs will ease during the rest of the exercise while the focus shifts to aerial combat. For about 60 years, the Navy had used Vieques as a military training ground. But after an errant bomb killed a civilian security guard and injured four others last April, protesters demanded the bombing range be shut down.