EDWARDS AFB WELCOMES MARINE SQUADRONS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

Three hundred Marines and Marine reservists ceremoniously reported for duty Saturday at their assault helicopter squadrons' new home at Edwards Air Force Base.

Clad in camouflage battle dress uniforms and stepping to a tune called ``French Foreign Legion,'' the Marines marched into a cavernous hangar to be welcomed by Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Reynolds, commander of Edwards' Flight Test Center.

``This is a great day for the Flight Test Center, a great day for Edwards Air Force Base,'' Reynolds told the Marines as they stood at attention in front of two sea-gray helicopters. ``It has been a phenomenal example of teamwork, the type of teamwork I think we will continue to see in the years ahead.''

Uprooted by continuing defense cutbacks, the Marines serve with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764 and Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 769 - cumulatively known as Marine Aircraft Group 46 Detachment Bravo - which had to find a new home with the closure this spring of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County.

The squadrons, with 12 Vietnam-era twin-rotor CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters and 10 CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, moved into one of Edwards' original hangars and half-dozen adjoining buildings beside Edwards' main runway.

Defense cutbacks and base closures mean the sharing of bases by units from different services is becoming more common, said Marine Maj. Gen. Kevin Kuklok, commander of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, of which the helicopter squadrons are a part.

``It's not unusual. It is in fact a direction the secretary of defense wants us to follow,'' Kuklok said.

The move actually puts the squadrons closer to training areas at the Marine Corps' Air-Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms and the Army's National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Kuklok said. Edwards also has much better flying weather most of the time than Orange County, he said.

``Within 45 minutes (flying time) we probably have got everything we need for training,'' said Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Frederick, commander of Marine Aircraft Group 46 Detachment Bravo.

The squadrons contain about 180 active-duty personnel, who will live on the base or are buying or renting homes in Rosamond or elsewhere in the Antelope Valley, and about 120 reservists.

HMH-764's reservists mainly live in Orange County, where the unit had been based since 1958, but most of HMM-769's reservists live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the unit was based for 38 years until Alameda Naval Air Station closed in 1996.

The reservists will train at Edwards one weekend a month, and for 15 days during the summer.

About 40 percent of the active-duty Marines have bought or rented homes or apartments off the base, said Marine Maj. Tim Blunck.

Antelope Valley leaders concerned that Edwards Air Force Base might be targeted by another round of base closures like the one that shut down El Toro think the arrival of the Marines increases the base's chances of survival.

But Reynolds wouldn't comment on the idea.

``I'd rather not speculate on that,'' the general said. ``Both Gen. Kuklok and I support the base closure and realignment process.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Marines belonging to Aircraft Group 46 Detachment Bravo salute the colors at Edwards AFB on Saturday. They had to find a new home with the closure this spring of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County.

(2) Marines and reservists ceremoniously report for duty at Edwards AFB on Saturday.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News