CAMP PENDLETON-BASED MEN DIE ON ANTI-DRUG MISSION

Crash Kills 4 Marine Reservists

They died doing what they loved -- flying.

Four Camp Pendleton-based Marine reservists, all from North County, were
killed Wednesday night when their two helicopters collided in flight during
an anti-drug operation with the Border Patrol in Texas. The reservists were
flying unarmed AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters. The two-seat, twin-engine
helicopters were on a reconnaissance mission out of Laredo, Texas, near the
Mexican border.

Killed were squadron commander Lt. Col. Robert J. Theilmann, 47, of
Oceanside; Maj. John M. Walsh, 36, of Encinitas; Maj. Steven G. Palombo,
36, of Carlsbad; and Capt. David C. Cross, 34, of Carlsbad. "These Marines
were helping to detect the flow of contraband into the U.S. and maintain
the security of our border," said Lt. Gen. Dennis M. McCarthy, commander of
Marine Forces Reserve.

The fliers belonged to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775, which
was operating as part of a Pentagon task force that assists the Border
Patrol with aircraft and intelligence analysis.

The helicopters went down just before 9:30 p.m. in Falcon State Park near
Zapata. The cause is under investigation, the Marines said. "We heard a
loud boom and all of a sudden the engines in (the) helicopters quit," said
resident Larry Shoal, who saw the crash. "So I went outside and looked, and
there was a ball of fire." He saw another fireball close by. "There was
nobody that could have survived that," the 67-year-old said Thursday
morning. "There was no way to help them."

The Marines were using infrared equipment and night vision goggles,
officials said. The controversial goggles have been blamed for contributing
to other military aviation accidents.

Family members described the fliers as proud Marines. Barbara Theilmann
said when her husband wasn't flying in the reserves, he trained Marines on
a Cobra flight simulator. She said he served as the CEO for their son's
heating and air conditioning company. She said they were to celebrate their
20th wedding anniversary in August. "He was my best friend and he liked
doing what he did," Theilmann said. "He loved to fly."

David Cross' father said his son joined the reserves this fall after
serving on active duty since 1992. A single man with a longtime girlfriend,
he had qualified as a multi-engine pilot and had hoped to work for an airline.

As a reservist, "he was very fervent about trying to help the military and
do that work," said his father, David Cross, of Reston, Va. Cross said his
son wanted to be a Marine so badly that while in college he enlisted and
became an infantryman. Then after graduating, he got his commission as an
officer.

Palombo leaves a wife, Hiroko, and a son, Cameron, age 2. Palombo, born in
the Detroit area, had a love of flying since childhood when he had model
planes in his room, said his sister, Debbie Zingales of Orange County.

He loved the reserve assignments because he could fly the helicopters, she
said. "He lived his dream and flew Cobras for the Marine Corps," Zingales
said. While living in California, he had taken an interest in surfing and
scuba diving, she said.

Walsh was single. His family could not be reached for comment. Col. William
Liston, commander of Marine Air Group 46, which includes the Cobra
squadron, said Thursday the four pilots were experienced. But he said if
they were wearing night vision goggles, as he assumes they were, flying
becomes much harder.

"You have to use 100 percent of your attention," Liston said. "A
distraction for even a couple of seconds could get you away from keeping
your head in the game."

Liston also lost a good friend in Theilmann -- the two attended flight
school together and Theilmann was an honor guard at his wedding, the
commander said.

A detachment of six helicopters and 53 Marines from the squadron was
deployed to Texas last Friday to participate in the anti-drug task force.
It was supposed to be a two-week mission. The detachment's work now has
been suspended and the unit will return to Camp Pendleton this weekend.
Called Joint Task Force Six, the command has 160 military personnel from
all the services.

Reservists, who can use the assignment to help fulfill their annual
training requirement, make up half of the task force, said Armando
Carrasco, task force spokesman.

"The missions .... provide law enforcement agencies with unprecedented
support (for) their counter-drug activities and provide the military
personnel with tremendous training opportunities that are directly related
to their warfighter skills," he said.

On missions like the one Wednesday night, military aircraft act as the
Border Patrol's "eyes in the sky" in the search for illegal activity in the
desert, Carrasco said. A Border Patrol spokesman in Texas wouldn't comment
on the operation.

The anti-drug unit was the target of criticism in 1997 when a Camp
Pendleton Marine patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas shot and killed
a teen-age goatherd. The Marine, whom a grand jury declined to indict, said
he thought the teen fired at him.

The task force abandoned foot patrols but retained its air reconnaissance
role. This accident follows a bad year for Marine air crashes. In fiscal
year 2002, 13 Marines died in aviation accidents. These are the first four
deaths in the current fiscal year that began Oct. 1, according to Naval
Safety Center data.

Most of the 13 fatalities involved San Diego-based Marines, including: --
Two Camp Pendleton Marines died and two were injured in February 2002 when
their UH-1N Huey helicopter crashed in the Chocolate Mountains of Imperial
County. An investigation found a tail-section part had been improperly
installed. -- Two Miramar Marine Corps Air Station helicopter crewmen were
lost in January 2002 when their CH-53E crashed in Afghanistan during a
supply mission. Five crew members were injured. Investigators determined
that a stalled engine, probably hampered by desert sand, was the cause. --
A seven-person crew from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station died in January
2002 when their KC-130 tanker plane crashed into a mountain in Pakistan.
The cause was ruled as crew error.

The Super Cobra and earlier models have been the Marines' helicopter
gunship since the late 1960s. Upgraded several times with newer engines,
rotors, electronics and weapons, the Cobra is likely to be in the Marine
Corps inventory for another 15 years.

It is used for land or sea-based operations for such missions as fire
support, anti-armor and reconnaissance.

Eighteen Marine Corps Cobras have crashed and been destroyed since October
1990, killing 24 Marines, according to Marine Corps Safety Division statistics.