Neighbors resist Marines' Presidio invasion by Gerald D. Adams San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 30, 1998 Protests over 3-day test of war gadgets San Franciscans may get a front-row seat to a D-Day-style invasion when up to 700 U.S. troops on a war exercise storm the shores of the Presidio's Baker Beach - but the Marines may have to win a battle with neighbors first. Dubbed Operation Urban Warrior, the proposed beach-style assault in March, complete with gunfire, would launch three days of communications exercises in what would be the first major military activity at the Presidio since the 6th Army left four years ago. After their arrival via Hovercraft at Baker Beach, the Marines would conduct operations in and around three areas: the Wherry housing complex near the posh Seacliff neighborhood, Fort Winfield Scott; and the long-empty U.S. Public Health Service hospital near 15th Avenue and Lake Street. "It's an exercise - don't call it war games," Lt. Col. Gary Schenkel, spokesman for the Marine Corps Fighting Laboratory at Quantico, Va., said Tuesday. Schenkel said the exercise had received tentative approvals from Golden Gate National Recreation Area Superintendent Brian O'Neill, Presidio General Manager B.J. Griffin, Presidio Trust Executive Director James Meadows and Mayor Brown. But not from neighborhood groups. "We're going to protest it," said Ron Miguel, president of the Planning Association for the neighboring Richmond District. "It doesn't make sense when that area is in the process of vital rehabilitation to start doing an exercise like this." Schenkel said environmental assessment of the exercise would begin Monday, at which time details are to be distributed to local libraries and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command at San Bruno. "We'll be relatively unobtrusive." He said he also intended to begin briefing neighborhood groups. "Compared to a rock concert or a Fourth of July fireworks display, we'll be relatively unobtrusive," Schenkel said. Despite Meadows' indication of "sign-offs" from himself, Mayor Brown and Presidio and GGNRA officials, final approvals for Operation Urban Warrior have yet to be secured. "It's premature to say it's a go," said Greg Shine, chief of the Special Park Uses Group at the Presidio. "The proposal is winding its way through different specialists to look at and make recommendations. We can probably expect a decision in January." In the planning stages for the past year, the landing would begin March 15 when the first Marine contingent of 125 would land via Hovercraft at 9 a.m. Subsequent landings would bring 700 Marines from three offshore Navy ships, the USS Bonhomme Richard, the USS Pearl Harbor and the USS Coronado. Asked whether the Marines would use firearms, Schenkel said that standard M-16 rifles and M-240 machine guns would be shooting blank ammunition. "They would be making some racket but only sporadically, and only between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.," he said. After landing, troops would proceed inland by way of Gibson Road toward the Wherry housing project, to Fort Winfield Scott and to the old Public Health Hospital. They would be allowed inside a few of the 466 Wherry dwellings. "We've designated eight or 10 units where they can enter but (on condition they) not damage the premises," Meadows said. "They're not going to go trampling natural areas." Keenly aware of local concerns about harming environmentally sensitive areas, Schenkel said no heavy military equipment would be permitted to lumber across beach sand dunes, nor would the Marines permit soldiers to enter forested areas. Ships open for tours In a related event akin to that of the October Fleet Week celebration, the Navy ships would dock and open for public tours for an additional three days, March 19-21, at Piers 45, 35 and 30-32, Schenkel said. The purpose of Operation Urban Warrior, Schenkel said, is to experiment with newly developed electronic equipment in an urban setting so that field commanders "can know where our people are" during battles in populated areas. Developed at Caltech and in Silicon Valley, the equipment would consist of navigational aids including a palm-size computer, an Ericsson radio and a global positioning system, or GPS. Schenkel said similar operations recently had been conducted with public approval in Chicago, New York City, Charleston, S.C., and Jacksonville, Fla. "We're generating local business," he said. The Marine Corps, Schenkel pointed out, has a multimillion-dollar contract with an unnamed Silicon Valley firm that manufactured the electronics equipment for the exercise. He also said the Marines would pay overtime and assessment fees to park, police and environmental workers during the operation and estimated the ship tours would attract more than 300,000 visitors. Preceding the proposed Presidio operation, the same Marine detachment will conduct a similar but more sophisticated exercise at Monterey. There, on March 13-15, a chemical-biological instant-response force will rehearse decontaminating areas subjected to a poison-gas attack by terrorists. "We're testing technology and capabilities," said Marine Corps information office Lt. Col. Jenny Holbert. "If we fail, it's not so bad. Better in peacetime than in war."
