If the Marines can rebuild a runway for tourists, the Marines can build a fence on the Southern border.
U.S. Marines and Navy Seabees are rebuilding the mountaintop runway on storied Santa Catalina Island, a tourist destination off the Southern California coast.
About 100 Marines and sailors began working on the island this month under an agreement with the I Marine Expeditionary Force at California’s Camp Pendleton and the Catalina Island Conservancy. The work on Catalina’s Airport in the Sky is paid for by $5 million donated to the nonprofit land trust.
However, the group isn’t paying the Marines and sailors for the work, which the military considers valuable training.
The conservancy had been patching the runway at a cost of about $250,000 a year until the state Department of Transportation’s aeronautics division said it needed a long-term repair plan. The trust then partnered with the Defense Department’s Innovative Readiness Training Program, which looks to match up the needs of communities with military training opportunities.