Keeping SEALs battle-ready

[HARDCORE]

Navy wants more BLM land set aside in Campo

By Anne Krueger
STAFF WRITER

March 5, 2004

CAMPO ? Dozens of Navy SEALs converge on a remote hillside in East County to practice target shooting and hostage rescues, skills they may need in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

The wind is chilly and biting. The sound of their gunfire pierces an otherwise quiet afternoon.

Special-operations forces who undertake dangerous combat missions have used this remote site of nearly 1,100 acres in the backcountry since 1986. But now Navy officials want to ensure that ever-increasing development does not encroach on training.

The Navy is seeking to set aside an additional 4,486 acres of federal Bureau of Land Management property as a buffer between the training center and surrounding communities.

Protecting the land will ensure that the center ? the only one of its kind ? can continue to prepare Navy SEALs for the conditions they will face in the Middle East, said Capt. Dave Landon, commanding officer of the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado.

"Our concern is to keep this in its natural state," Landon said.

More than 1,000 people train each month at the remote facility in Campo, including some nonmilitary personnel who use the range. Navy officials say it offers advantages ? a climate and terrain much like Middle East trouble spots, an hour's drive from San Diego ? to the SEALs who train there.

"It's not exactly like (Iraq), but it's close enough to meet our basic needs," said Doug Hucker, who has been range master of the Naval Weapons Training Facility at La Posta since 1997.

Landon noted that the site allows SEALs based in Coronado to get their training near home, which he said is important because divorce rates among military personnel are soaring.

"They can drive up in the morning, do what they need to do and get home with their family that night," he said.

The Navy began using 1,079 acres off La Posta Road in 1964 for a microwave relay station. The property was reconfigured as a training center when the station was shut down in 1986.

The site has a firing range, an administration building and a dormitory. The Navy plans to put in additional firing ranges and a building shell where personnel can practice urban rescues, Landon said.

The Navy has long had an understanding with the BLM regarding the land it now seeks to preserve, Landon said. But now it wants to formalize that agreement to ensure that the land remains pristine.

The proposal has met little resistance from area residents, and the Campo planning group gave its support.

"Generally, there's not a big uproar," said Larry Johnson, chairman of the planning group.

Linda Boyd, a waitress at the nearby La Posta Diner on Old Highway 80, lives near the training center. She said she's glad it's there.

"They're good neighbors," Boyd said. "They're not taking from the land. They don't want to clear anything out."

Landon said getting government approval for the land proposal could take up to 10 months. He said $300,000 has been budgeted to complete the necessary environmental reviews.

Keeping the site in reserve is important, so the SEALs can practice their skills on acres of undisturbed land dotted with chaparral, Hucker said.

"We want this place to stay exactly as it is," he said. "That is our training environment."
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The Navy Seals Mountain Training Camp is just a little over a mile from my front door.