O.C. Marines Join Scramble for Deployment

OCEANSIDE —  Sgt. Tyler Johnson, 28, didn’t know where Somalia was until he was called to a briefing last week and shown a map.

On Thursday, however, he and thousands of other Marines and sailors stationed at Camp Pendleton and El Toro were expecting to spend Christmas in that strife-torn African country. They will join 1,800 other Pendleton-based Marines aboard ships in the Red Sea who are being sent to the Somali coast, perhaps within days.

With the first departures imminent, many Marines spent Thursday trying to prepare. In the city of Oceanside, just outside Camp Pendleton’s main gates, Marines were getting haircuts, doing last-minute laundry and buying gear for the trip.

“I’ve been doing errands for my husband all week,” said Carol Currid, whose husband, David, is an Army major stationed at the base. On Thursday afternoon, she and her three children were in a military supply store to buy him a portable shower.

Currid said Christmas this year “is going to be kind of lonely. . . . I think it is a difficult time of year for this to come up so suddenly.”

Johnson, whose wife gave birth to a baby boy just days ago, said the news that he would be shipping out to Somalia was certainly a surprise.

“Who would think the Marine Corps would go over there?” he said.

U.S. officials said Thursday that about 62,200 troops--including the 50,000-strong 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton--had been ordered to stand by for possible deployment. Final decisions on the size of the force are not expected to be made until after the United Nations clarifies its mission and the first Marines reach the area.

But shopkeepers in Oceanside said they have been hearing talk for days about when the military would ship out, none of which Pendleton officials would confirm.

Cut-Rite barbershop owner Bill Gray said two young Marines came for haircuts Wednesday evening and said they were shipping out for Somalia in just a few hours.

“They asked for ‘high and tight,’ which are really close haircuts,” he said.

Navy hospitalman David Jimenez, 24, who was waiting his turn at Cut-Rite, said he had “been on leave and they called me back.” Jimenez will leave behind a 1-year-old daughter and a 7-day-old son.

At ABC Laundry, owner Donna Holmes said a Marine told her that 120 troops from Camp Pendleton had been airlifted Wednesday night from the El Toro Air Station.

And at Jughead’s, a popular after-hours bar for the military, manager Rosemary Hamilton said, “We heard from a salesman who delivers beer on base that they are leaving Monday.” Customers at the bar Wednesday night “said they were all on 10-day alert,” she added.

Master Sgt. John Farrell, spokesman for Camp Pendleton, said “scuttlebutt aboard base is running rampant.” He said orders warning of deployment have been issued to large portions of Camp Pendleton and the Marine bases in Tustin and El Toro as well as those in Yuma, Ariz., and Twentynine Palms.

At the Armed Forces YMCA, Executive Director Glen Bryson said his group would offer baby-sitting for military families attending meetings about this latest mission.

“I know they will be briefing active-duty personnel and families this weekend,” he said.

It’s not as if the Marines aren’t used to being away over the holidays, Johnson noted. During Christmas of 1990, he and many of his military buddies were in Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield.

Johnson said he is happy that this time the Marines are being sent not to fight but to bring humanitarian aid.

“I’d rather be helping mankind than fighting. I hope we do some good over there,” he said.

Lance Cpl. James Giaudrone, a base cook, and Pfc. Luis Castillo, a storeroom clerk, said they have strong religious feelings about the need to participate.

“If we go, it is by the grace of God,” Giaudrone said. “We are both Christians, and we feel compassion for the people. We will help people out in need and give them a Christmas present.”

But Lance Cpl. Thomas Diskin said he was worried that the Marines would be under fire and unable to defend themselves.

“I don’t want to be facing fire from an unknown enemy and have my hands tied behind my back until some U.N. guy lets me defend myself,” Diskin said.

In Oceanside, meanwhile, business owners were looking at the prospect of Christmas without their best customers.

“I think it stinks, and it is stinky for business too,” said Hamilton of Jughead’s.

Holmes of ABC Laundry said she and other retailers will take their own defensive action.

“It will be basically the same as we did during Desert Storm,” she said. “You don’t purchase as much inventory and cut back on employees.”

Holmes added, however, that she believes the situation in Somalia warrants the sacrifice. “I hate to see this happen, but it is something that has to happen,” she said.

Times staff writer David A. Avila contributed to this report.