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thedrifter
11-26-07, 07:40 AM
MCAS takes winter visitors, year-rounders on base tour

BY PETER ZRIOKA, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
November 25, 2007 - 10:04PM

Yuma's year-rounders and winter visitors alike are aware Yuma is home to the Marine Corps Air Station.

But they may not know all that goes on at what is the busiest air station in the Department of the Navy.

But the annual Winter Visitor Tours offers them an introduction.

The first tour of the season earlier this month drew about 100 guests to MCAS to look at everything that happens on base.

The tours, which are open to year-round residents as well as winter visitors, begin with buses picking up visitors as they arrive at one of the Avenue 3E gates to MCAS. The buses then shuttle the visitors around to see aircraft and various displays at the station.

"I think the tour is a great community relations event for the city of Yuma as well as the air station. It allows the visitors to see what the air station does and what we have to offer the community," said Staff Sgt. Patrick Johnson, station flight clearance chief.

In the bus tour, visitors receive a brief history of the air station and see key locations such as the Marine Attack Squadron hangars, headquarters building and the consolidated club facility before being dropped at the base operations building where a static display is set up on the flightline.

"It's a good way for people to come and see what Marines do and interact with us on a personal level," said Master Sgt. Donald Hendricks, station airfield operations chief who, along with Johnson, organizes the static display.

In the tour earlier this month, an AV-8B Harrier jet, an UH-N1 Search and Rescue helicopter and a Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 F-5 Tiger jet and multiple weapons systems were displayed for the visitors to view. Marines who work with the equipment were available to answer any questions.

"It was a good time, answering questions about the Huey people were interested in," said Lance Cpl. Patrick Hendricks, SAR UH-1N mechanic. "It's not something I get to do every day, so I enjoyed it."

After the static display, the visitors in resumed the bus tour of the air station, receiving information on VMFT-401, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1, Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 and facts about the wildlife preservation on the ranges.

Visitors in this month's tour also witnessed a military working dog demonstration as Marines ran the dogs through an obstacle course and demonstrated the canine's ability to take down suspects, as well as their obedience and discipline.

"The tour is a great opportunity for people to see not only what we do with our four-legged companions for the air station and the community, but also what the Marine Corps does for Yuma," said Sgt. Ben Macdonell, kennel master, who conducted the demonstration.

The guests in this month's tour came from both coasts of the United States, as well as Canada and many places in between. One of them was Jim Kressler, from Erie, Pa.

"Every day that we've been in Yuma, we see the airplanes fly overhead and we get our own little air show. So we wanted to come to the base," he said. "It was a great experience."


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Lance Cpl. Peter Zrioka is a writer for The Desert Warrior, the newspaper of the Marine Corps Air Station, from which this story is reprinted.

Ellie