THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 30, 1994 TAG: 9408300408
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
The pets will come first, on a plane by themselves, then the parents and children, as the Navy in Norfolk prepares to welcome about 2,000 Americans in an evacuation that begins Wednesday from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Daily airlifts of about 300 per day will continue for the next week as the dependents - 1,857 mainly women and children at last count - plus approximately 300 family pets, seek new homes back in the United States.
About 400, roughly 20 percent of those returning, are expected to remain in Hampton Roads.
Forced to leave their government homes at the sprawling base to make room for thousands of Cuban and Haitian refugees, plus additional U.S. military units that are needed to cope with the migrants, the Americans now find themselves temporarily homeless as well.
But while they are on Norfolk's Navy soil, they are to receive royal treatment, say officials.
``We know they've had some long days down there,'' said Capt. Lee Duckworth, commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Air Station. ``We understand and expect them to be tired, but happy to be coming back to Navy members in Norfolk.
Hundreds of sailors, Marines and civilians have volunteered to staff a welcome center at the naval air station to greet the families as they step off chartered airliners.
Hundreds more will staff a hospitality support center at the Norfolk Naval Station base theater complex.
There, sailors and civilians who have volunteered to be baggage handlers, baby sitters and bus drivers will be available 24 hours a day. Others from the Navy's finance centers, the Red Cross, Family Service Center, legal departments, medical staffs, airlines and school districts also will be available.
They rehearsed their plans Monday afternoon, using some volunteer mothers and children to see what needed improving.
By bringing the family pets in an hour or so before the families arrive, the animals will have been calmed down by then, checked over by military veterinarians and reunited quickly with their owners.
The one thing the families won't see are long lines, the Navy promised.
``The word to all of our people is, there will be no lines,'' said Capt. Chris Weaver, commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Station.
``We are going to assist these people to get them administratively back in the U.S., so we need to get them into a (Defense Department) tracking system so that people at the highest levels will know exactly where they are and what types of services they are getting,'' said Weaver.
Plane tickets to wherever the families need to go within the United States will be available, along with rental cars, hotel rooms and any other transportation. The government will pick up the tab.
Of primary concern is where the displaced children will attend school, which opens next week throughout most of the country.
Representatives from Norfolk and Virginia Beach school systems will be waiting to see if they can help.
``We're going to welcome them and accommodate them to the best of our ability,'' said Jim Pughsley, deputy school superintendent at Virginia Beach.
Most of the arrivals are leaving their spouses behind at Guantanamo Bay. They have been told to take only necessary belongings. Their spouses will have to pack up household goods later for shipment to whatever new duty station is being sought.
Eighteen officials from the Bureau of Naval Personnel flew into Guantanamo late last week to assist sailors and their families in finding new assignments.
The Pentagon is prepared to temporarily house up to 60,000 migrants from Haiti and Cuba at the 45-square-mile base in Cuba, an area about the size of the city of Norfolk. There are about 10,000 Cubans there now, along with 14,500 Haitians living in separate camps.
While handling only the Haitian refugees, the military added 2,000 troops to the base to augment approximately 2,000 active-duty personnel already assigned there. Now that the Cubans appear to be arriving in huge numbers, more personnel are expected to be assigned.
The dependents are being moved because living conditions at the base are deteriorating. The narrow roads are choked with trucks hauling in tents, equipment and food for the migrants. There are adequate supplies of food, water and other necessities for the residents, but the influx of new troops has created long lines at the base's stores and laundry facilities.
KEYWORDS: CUBA REFUGEES by CNB