Even Oxnard Airport Could Be a Target, Guardsmen Say

Two weeks ago, James Barkley was driving a truck, Cregg Hill was teaching drafting at Fillmore High School and Richard Hobbins was working in retail merchandising.

But on Friday, the three were taking their stand in the nation’s fight against terrorism as part of the California National Guard deployment to Oxnard Airport.

With his M-16 slung loosely behind his back, Hobbins watched passengers making their way through the metal detector, while Barkley and Hill surveyed the tiny terminal for unattended bags, suspicious people or anything else the Federal Aviation Administration considers a threat.

In this new era of daily anxiety and jittery nerves, even sleepy Oxnard Airport--tucked between a strawberry field, a mini-mall and a sprawling park--could be the next launch pad for a terrorist campaign, say the three men.

Friday, more than five weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, troops began patrols of the 5th Street airport’s terminal. Five United Express shuttle flights take off daily there.

Barkley, a Ventura resident and staff sergeant with the National Guard’s 144th Field Artillery Unit in Ventura, said their presence may not make the airport 100% safe from terrorists, but then again, what would?

“It will sure make them think twice,” he said. “Who would have ever thought anyone would hijack a plane and fly it into a building?”

Airport officials said the military presence is welcome.

“I hope they’re never needed, but we’re glad they’re here,” airport Manager Christopher Hastert said. “You can’t be lax at a small airport because the planes here go on to Los Angeles International Airport.”

Hastert said airport security officers also will continue to patrol the parking lot and the terminal. Friday, a portable booth was set up in the parking lot and a security officer was checking the trunks of each car that arrived.

The mission of the National Guard troops, who are stationed at airports throughout California, is simple, said Hill, a lieutenant and the unit commander for the Oxnard Airport contingent.

“We’re watching for people who are trying to sneak themselves or a piece of luggage through the security area,” the Ventura resident said. “We’re looking for items that could be used to take over an airplane.”

Hill said soldiers from his unit, decked out in fatigues and flak jackets with canteens swinging from their belts, will arrive each day in time to monitor passengers on the first flight of the day. They will stay until the last shuttle takes off at 5:23 p.m.

Passengers coming off the shuttle from LAX shortly after noon Friday traded greetings with the guards as they entered the terminal.

George Golden, a fund-raiser from Ventura who catches the shuttle three times a week after landing at LAX from San Jose, said the sight of armed soldiers in the terminal will calm nervous travelers.

Whether they could stop a determined terrorist is another question, he said.

“It’s surface security, but any serious terrorist wouldn’t pay any attention to it,” Golden said. “But I think it’s great. It gives people a sense of security.”