United States Military Bases San Diego County

A federal commission's decision Saturday to close the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County helps make San Diego the apparent winner--at least for now--in the high-stakes economic war over which California military bases are sacrificed to dwindling Pentagon budgets. Although the commission also voted to close the San Diego Naval Training Station, San Diego still emerges from the base closure process with 15,000 new military jobs.

A federal judge Tuesday rejected a bid by 12 Indian tribes to stop the city from transferring the former Naval Training Center, which covers 430 acres of prime real estate, to a development firm that wants to build hotels, homes and offices. The tribes claimed the property, arguing that it was part of their ancestral territory before the Mexican colonization of California. But Judge Thomas Hogan, whose court is in Washington, D.C.

Navy investigators were baffled as to how intruders managed to enter the administration building at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station and steal a 1,200-pound safe containing secret documents. They said, however, that the theft will not jeopardize military security or operations. Although the safe contained several classified documents and confidential memos, most of the material was en route to becoming "unclassified," according to Cmdr. Doug Schamp, a spokesman for the Navy in San Diego.

In an eleventh-hour attempt to convince the Marine Corps not to transfer its helicopters to San Diego, politicians from San Diego and Riverside counties met Tuesday with President Clinton's chief of staff to argue that it would be cheaper to send the super-noisy craft to a base in Riverside.

WHAT: Home base to 1st Marine Amphibious Force, 1st Marine Division, other supporting units. BASE POPULATION: 45,000, including 32,000 active-duty Marines and 12,000 dependents (prewar levels). WHERE: Northern San Diego County, bordered by San Clemente on the north and Oceanside on the south. AREA: 125,000 acres PERSONNEL IN MIDEAST: 30,000

The Marine Corps unleashed its heavy artillery Wednesday when its commandant, Gen. Alfred M. Gray, flew to San Diego to announce that he will fight efforts by local governments to build an airport at Camp Pendleton or the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. "The Camp Pendleton situation and the (MCRD) situation are the same when it comes to the airport issue," said Gray, a blunt and crusty veteran of two wars who worked his way up from the enlisted ranks.

A federal judge Tuesday rejected a bid by 12 Indian tribes to stop the city from transferring the former Naval Training Center, which covers 430 acres of prime real estate, to a development firm that wants to build hotels, homes and offices. The tribes claimed the property, arguing that it was part of their ancestral territory before the Mexican colonization of California. But Judge Thomas Hogan, whose court is in Washington, D.C.

The Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base is being mobilized as it hasn't been since the Vietnam War, with troops packing their weapons, radio gear and most essential personal belongings and being shipped out on hours' notice to uncertain destinations, according to civilians and military personnel on the base. For the families they are leaving behind, there is little doubt that the Marines are eventually headed for the Mideast and are perhaps destined for desert warfare against Iraq.

In an eleventh-hour attempt to convince the Marine Corps not to transfer its helicopters to San Diego, politicians from San Diego and Riverside counties met Tuesday with President Clinton's chief of staff to argue that it would be cheaper to send the super-noisy craft to a base in Riverside.

Breaking another Cold War barrier, the Americans opened the gates of two military installations in California on Wednesday to the Soviet Union's top military official, a jovial man who chatted with Marines, joked with generals and admiringly watched the firepower paraded before him. "We are on a good will tour," Defense Minister Dimitri Yazov said, beaming. "We have come to show the American people that we have sincere and friendly feelings toward the Americans." High-ranking U.S.

Let's see if we can unravel the Southern California custody battle over a bunch of big, powerful, noisy Marine Corps helicopters called Super Stallion and Sea Knight. Orange County had them but was ordered to give them up. San Diego County is getting them but isn't sure it wants them. Riverside County would love them but can't have them, even if their presence would also help San Bernardino County.

A federal commission's decision Saturday to close the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County helps make San Diego the apparent winner--at least for now--in the high-stakes economic war over which California military bases are sacrificed to dwindling Pentagon budgets. Although the commission also voted to close the San Diego Naval Training Station, San Diego still emerges from the base closure process with 15,000 new military jobs.

It's homecoming day for Operation Desert Storm. The first 5,000 U.S. troops are due to roar in today to military bases across the country, where admirers have been hastily draping bunting, tuning tubas and practicing toasts for the biggest round of military welcome-back celebrations since World War II. And the initial observances represent only the first installment of a ceremonial embrace that is likely to extend past July 4.

WHAT: Home base to 1st Marine Amphibious Force, 1st Marine Division, other supporting units. BASE POPULATION: 45,000, including 32,000 active-duty Marines and 12,000 dependents (prewar levels). WHERE: Northern San Diego County, bordered by San Clemente on the north and Oceanside on the south. AREA: 125,000 acres PERSONNEL IN MIDEAST: 30,000

Sailors once chose anchors. Marines opted for bulldogs. And both branches of the armed forces fancied bosomy women. Today, however, the Grim Reaper has made a comeback in tattoo parlors around San Diego County. So have patriotic tattoos. One sailor, who just returned from the Persian Gulf, created an Operation Desert Shield design--a map of Iraq with a target around it. Another sailor, before shipping out, went with his father to get matching religious emblems.

The Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base is being mobilized as it hasn't been since the Vietnam War, with troops packing their weapons, radio gear and most essential personal belongings and being shipped out on hours' notice to uncertain destinations, according to civilians and military personnel on the base. For the families they are leaving behind, there is little doubt that the Marines are eventually headed for the Mideast and are perhaps destined for desert warfare against Iraq.

It's homecoming day for Operation Desert Storm. The first 5,000 U.S. troops are due to roar in today to military bases across the country, where admirers have been hastily draping bunting, tuning tubas and practicing toasts for the biggest round of military welcome-back celebrations since World War II. And the initial observances represent only the first installment of a ceremonial embrace that is likely to extend past July 4.

Let's see if we can unravel the Southern California custody battle over a bunch of big, powerful, noisy Marine Corps helicopters called Super Stallion and Sea Knight. Orange County had them but was ordered to give them up. San Diego County is getting them but isn't sure it wants them. Riverside County would love them but can't have them, even if their presence would also help San Bernardino County.

Breaking another Cold War barrier, the Americans opened the gates of two military installations in California on Wednesday to the Soviet Union's top military official, a jovial man who chatted with Marines, joked with generals and admiringly watched the firepower paraded before him. "We are on a good will tour," Defense Minister Dimitri Yazov said, beaming. "We have come to show the American people that we have sincere and friendly feelings toward the Americans." High-ranking U.S.

The Marine Corps unleashed its heavy artillery Wednesday when its commandant, Gen. Alfred M. Gray, flew to San Diego to announce that he will fight efforts by local governments to build an airport at Camp Pendleton or the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. "The Camp Pendleton situation and the (MCRD) situation are the same when it comes to the airport issue," said Gray, a blunt and crusty veteran of two wars who worked his way up from the enlisted ranks.