10 Civilians Breach Seabee Security : National defense: The pro-military group’s members entered a Port Hueneme Seabee facility and conducted a three-hour class, officials disclose.

In a startling breach of military security, 10 civilians clad in Army uniforms and wearing authentic-looking ID cards gained entry to the U.S. Seabee base here last weekend and conducted a class in infantry tactics, base officials said Wednesday.

The nine men and one woman, members of a group calling itself U.S. Army Auxiliary Forces, quietly studied military procedures for three hours Saturday in a base classroom before officials of the Naval Construction Battalion center arrested them on grounds that their leader had illegally arranged their entrance to the base.

As a result of the incident, Seabee officials have further increased base security, which already was on heightened alert because of the war in the Persian Gulf, said base spokeswoman Connie L. Taylor.

Some of those arrested described themselves as patriotic military veterans who had joined the group with the intent of being ready to augment U.S. military forces on the home front during the fighting in the Persian Gulf.

Former Army Sgt. Robert J. Crowe, 24, of Santa Paula, said he had gained entry to the base once before last weekend by using a pass provided by the group’s leader, Keven R. Empey, 34, of Oxnard, and that other members had done the same on several occasions.

Crowe, a six-year Army veteran who was serving as one of the military instructors for the group, said he has lost his construction job because of the arrest, which may also hurt his application to become a California Highway Patrol officer.

“I’m a patriotic, red-blooded American boy,” Crowe said Wednesday as two of his three young daughters played around him. “I thought I was doing something for my country.”

The 2,400 Seabees at Port Hueneme, the major Seabee base in the United States, include engineers, tradesmen and construction workers who build bridges, roads and airstrips for the Navy and Marines. Two 600-member units of Seabees from here have been stationed in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the U.S. military buildup.

Taylor, the base spokeswoman, said the group members gained entrance “because they were very good impostors. . . . The base is concerned with two things with this organization: One is they impersonated officers wearing uniforms, and the second is they had phony military IDs.”

She declined comment when asked if terrorists could have done the same thing, saying the question required speculation.

Taylor would not give details on the changes in security, which is maintained around the clock at the military base by privately contracted, unarmed guards from Excel Security Service of Oxnard.

Many of those arrested said Wednesday they are former soldiers who were surprised and embarrassed to learn they were being arrested for improperly gaining entrance to the base.

Crowe and two others said they feel they “were suckered” by Empey. They said that the group leader told them the Pentagon had approved formation of the auxiliary to augment local National Guard troops and help the military on the home front during Operation Desert Storm.

But Pentagon spokeswoman Maj. Nancy Burt said the U.S. Army Auxiliary Forces is not recognized by the military and has no authorization to augment U.S. military forces.

Empey refused to comment Wednesday except to say, “We basically tried to do something good and we jumped the gun. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

Taylor said that Empey had received permission to hold classes for the group by telephoning the Naval Construction Training Center and writing a letter “that looked like legitimate Army correspondence” giving a list of students.

The cards the group used “mimicked 1952 reservist identification cards for the military,” Taylor said.

The military has decided to drop charges of trespassing on military property that were lodged against Empey and the nine others because their entry was approved by officials in advance, Taylor said.

But charges will be pressed against all 10 for illegally wearing uniforms of U.S. armed forces and unauthorized use of false military identification, Taylor said. The charge of impersonating an officer carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison, and use of false military identification can be punished by as much as five years in prison, said Carol Levitsky, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Group members said they were encouraged to join the U.S. Army Auxiliary Forces by leaflets in local military service centers such as the American Legion and by an article on Empey in a local newspaper.

They said Empey had promised them he was reorganizing the group, disbanded after World War II, to augment military personnel sent to the Persian Gulf by providing security or temporary help at National Guard armories, notifying next of kin about casualties and even working on burial details.