Marines to Survive Cuts, General Says

El Toro and Tustin Marine Corps air stations will not be significantly affected by multibillion-dollar military budget cuts this year and next, a Marine official said Friday.

“There will be some belt-tightening. I would say a notch or two,” said Maj. Gen. Donald E. P. Miller, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at the El Toro and Tustin bases. “At one point, we thought that there might be a real possibility that we would have to cut back on flight hours.”

Congress approved a $292-billion defense budget for fiscal 1988, $20 billion less than President Reagan requested. The Department of Defense is facing a $33-billion reduction in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. l.

The proposed cuts will be shared by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

Miller, who is the senior officer at El Toro and Tustin, said his bosses decided that reducing pilot training was not an efficient way to save dollars or lives.

He said the Marines could save fuel and maintenance costs by reducing flight hours, but the savings would be lost if a $20-million fighter jet or helicopter crashed because of the pilot’s inexperience.

“It would be like shooting yourself in the foot and then standing there in a pool of blood,” Miller said. “Pilots and crews have to remain proficient, and that means they have to fly.”

Miller said the Marines will reduce such things as sending “large contingents” to conferences in Washington and across the country.

“This is a soft area,” Miller said of such travel. “We are saying that Ma Bell has had the telephone for many years. Face-to-face confrontation is great, but before all the travel we used to write letters and use the telephone.

“It’s like going to the supermarket and saying, ‘What will I buy today? Will it be hamburger or a fillet?’ ” Miller explained. “I think we have some hard decisions ahead in fiscal 1989 and 1990. They’re not going to be solved overnight.”