United States Military Bases California

Federal officials are working to acquire $100 million worth of private land in the Mojave Desert to expedite the controversial expansion of the U.S. Army's tank training center at Ft. Irwin and at the same time rescue thousands of acres of wilderness from threatened development. The deal follows other efforts by U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to broker land swaps to protect natural resources in Yellowstone National Park and Northern California's Headwaters Forest.

In its biggest strategic review since the Cold War's close, the Pentagon called Monday for new rounds of military base closing and elimination of 225,000 active duty, reserve and civilian support jobs to free funds for new weapons and troop readiness. Despite expected fierce opposition from Congress, the long-awaited report said that only with new base cuts will the U.S.

Wanting money to pay for new weapons, the Pentagon is ready to push for another round of military base closings, a proposal likely to spark fierce resistance from California and other states still trying to cope with shutdowns initiated two years ago. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, venturing where Pentagon officials recently have feared to tread, has declared that the Defense Department still has too much overhead for the size of its forces.

In this remote High Desert city, the county fair slogan is "shake and bake." It isn't just the recurring earthquakes or the convection-oven temperatures that give the phrase its punch. Ridgecrest residents are trembling and sweating these days, facing a future more independent from the naval base that has been the city's meal ticket since post-World War II days. Like other Navy towns burned by a dwindling federal defense budget, Ridgecrest is in the throes of separation anxiety.

The Navy officially closed its Long Beach installation Monday in quiet resignation, with little ceremony or circumstance. The galley, where 1,000 sailors once ate together, served its final dinner--Salisbury steak and potatoes--to just a few of them Monday. At the barracks, sailors packed belongings and locked doors as they left. In front of the waterfront headquarters, the flagpole stood with no colors. "It's real hard for a lot of people," said Cmdr. Lionel L.

The 1995 round of military base closures, which pummeled California by targeting major installations in Long Beach and Sacramento, became official Friday when the House overwhelmingly rejected a last-ditch effort by some Californians and Texans to spare their bases by scrapping the entire list. Almost half of California's congressional delegation, 24 members, voted to throw out the recommendations of the base closure commission.

The soon-to-be-closed Long Beach Naval Shipyard may be open longer than expected. A tentative agreement between shipyard and Navy officials resulted in the shipyard's planned closing date being extended from January, 1997, to September, 1997, giving its 2,900 employees extra time to find new jobs. Navy officials had originally wanted to close the shipyard in early 1998, but recently began making plans to move up the closing date by 14 months.

It is the Air Force's premier showcase for hotshot test pilots--a desert air base where members of the "Right Stuff" fraternity immortalized by writer Tom Wolfe push the envelope in America's fastest, most exotic aircraft--and try not to get killed in the process. Indeed, Edwards Air Force Base is named for a pilot, Glenn Edwards, who died there while testing a tail-less aircraft called the Flying Wing. Since the late 1940s, about 55 military and civilian test pilots have perished at the base.

On the Long Beach docks, rumors almost always come true. Six weeks after rumblings of the naval shipyard's imminent demise proved to be accurate, the latest rumors are that most workers will lose their jobs 14 months sooner than expected. A budget memo circulating through the Pentagon suggests that the shipyard, recommended for closure by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, will be shut down in January, 1997.

As he wrestled this week with the proposal to scale back or close 106 military installations, President Clinton demonstrated a decision-making style that has become an election-season vulnerability for him and an embarrassment to many Democratic allies.