Close-Knit City, Base Fear the Ax

Inside a windowless building, soldiers crouch in simulated combat, firing M-16s and launching grenades at a distant enemy. Outside, Blackhawk helicopters await deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Weekend warriors train to battle urban terrorists. Air Force One sometimes lands on the airfield, which is bigger than John Wayne Airport. And an emergency command post is prepped for any nightmare, stocked with disaster plans for the area from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

This isn’t some far-flung desert outpost but, rather, the Joint Forces Training Base in suburban Los Alamitos. It is a little-known hub of both military and community activity, where the military co-exists with little leaguers, Olympic hopefuls and scientists fighting an agricultural war by incubating and releasing sterile medflies.

It is one of dozens of military bases in California and around the country that may end up on a Pentagon list of recommended closures on May 16.

“Nobody’s safe,” said Army Col. Greg Peck, Los Alamitos base commander. “Everybody’s looked at.”

That is enough to give pause to residents and city officials, who earlier this year lobbied for the facility before a California committee studying the bases. Base boosters say that, over the years, it has become woven into their day-to-day lives.

Communities surrounding other bases may make similar arguments, given the military’s role in stoking local economies. But in Los Alamitos, the relationship transcends business.

On the Fourth of July, for example, the base stages a fireworks show, with flyovers and parachutists. For 25 years, it has hosted an annual 10K run.

“It’s one of those things that’s been in our community for so long, it’s like the trees that are there and you take them for granted,” said Councilwoman Marilynn M. Poe, a lifelong Los Alamitos resident. “Until they’re cut down. Then you miss it.”

Los Alamitos is easy to miss -- a 4.3-square mile blip on the edge of Orange and Los Angeles counties, between the San Diego and San Gabriel River freeways.

For those who don’t live there, it’s a city that’s easy to forget. Nearly half of the small town is covered by the base. The area’s best-known feature -- the Los Alamitos Race Course -- is actually in Cypress.

But the town’s schools give Los Alamitos bragging rights -- several have been rated as California Distinguished Schools and National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence. Homes within the Los Alamitos Unified School District can fetch $50,000 more than those in neighboring districts, said real estate agent Marty Eisenberg.

In March, the median home price was $734,000, according to DataQuick, a La Jolla-based real estate research firm.

Mark Wagner, the city’s recreation and community services director, likes to think people also move to Los Alamitos -- and stay there -- because of local programs, many of which are located at the base.

In the early 1940s, the base built an Olympic-size pool to train pilots in ocean survival skills, Wagner said. In 1996, it was renovated; in 1998, it became the national training center for the United States water polo team. Local swim classes are also offered.

“To have Olympians training and living in our city is something we take a great deal of pride in,” Wagner said.

On any given day, the base is home to 850 personnel. On some weekends, the base swells with 3,500 military reservists and National Guard members. Beyond the military presence, a handful of state agencies fill out the base’s tenants, including the California Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Medfly Project, along with the private Columbia College and Carlson Wagonlit Travel Agency.

“We are a military base, yet we still remain strong in our community,” Peck said. “We are very unique in that.”

Still, the Pentagon will weigh the base on its military merits, Peck said. And in its favor, he said, the Los Alamitos base is in the largest metropolitan area in the United States.

“It’s real estate. It’s location, location, location,” Peck said, noting that the airfield is next to the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and two major airports.

It is the only major airfield in Southern California, he said, with the ability to store hundreds of military aircraft with two runways -- the shortest is longer than John Wayne Airport’s -- and more than 1 million square feet of parking space.

As a training site, the base is also known for its simulators. An Abrams tank and Bradley fighting vehicle simulator pair is one of only four of its kind in the United States, said retired Sgt. Maj. Dave Garcia, the base’s training officer.

“We have the ability to simulate every weapon that the U.S. Army has,” Peck said. “We feel strongly about the base -- about having the best capabilities.”