Historic Camp Talega due for a facelift - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Historic Camp Talega due for a facelift

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The construction boom at Camp Pendleton may mark the end of an era at one of its historic training camps.

Base officials want to reconstruct Camp Talega, a collection of 1940s-style prefabricated Quonset huts, with modern barracks, a mess hall, armory, offices, classrooms and warehouses to support additional training and boost camp amenities.

It is expected to cost about $225 million to rebuild the expeditionary support camp, located in the base’s northernmost reaches, about 25 miles from Camp Pendleton’s main gate.

Officials must now seek Marine Corps and congressional support for the funding necessary to rebuild the camp. The reconstructed camp will “compete for MilCon funding” starting in 2012, base officials said.

If the money is approved, Talega will join other camps at the Southern California training base receiving a massive makeover, thanks to the more than $2 billion in defense, military construction and federal stimulus funding. Other base projects include various barracks, a new hospital and revamped clubs.

Camp Talega, officially known as Area 64, is tucked in a canyon along an intermittent creek at the northern end of Cristianitos Road.

It was once home to 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Since Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of mobilized reservists have settled briefly at Camp Talega for processing. The camp has also served the Reserve Support Unit, later renamed Mobilization Support Battalion and Deployment Processing Command-West.

Over the years, the Quonset huts have served as temporary overflow barracks space for 1st Marine Division units. Members of 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, were shut out of their barracks at Camp San Mateo several miles away in late 2005 and early 2006 because of a combination of deployed units returning home and construction of modern barracks.

On April 29, 1975, Talega and the surrounding area went from a military garrison to a refugee camp when thousands of Vietnamese, including women and children, arrived in the U.S. as part of a massive resettlement program following the end of the Vietnam War. The camp processed more than 50,000 refugees before the center closed later that year.

Many leathernecks might recall Camp Talega from the big screen. The Quonset hut complex served as a background for scenes in the 1986 movie, “Heartbreak Ridge,” which starred actor Clint Eastwood as the crusty Gunny Tom Highway.