Lake Forest Adopts Military Unit from Camp Pendleton

By Martin Henderson

There was a light agenda on the City Council of Lake Forest on Tuesday, but there was one item that will be one of the most important and visible to the city going forward. 

In a decision that can only be called a no-brainer, the council voted in unanimity to adopt the United States Marines 1st Law Enforcement Battalion from Camp Pendleton. 

Such relationships exist elsewhere in South Orange County. In Rancho Santa Margarita for its Patriot Day celebration on Sunday, its adopted 2nd Battalion 5th Marines Regiment provided a display of military vehicles and equipment, and soldiers interacted with the community in a physical competition called the CrossFit Challenge. 

In other words, Lake Forest's annual Fourth of July Parade just got a major bump.

Mayor Scott Voigts, calling on the tradition of the city previously being called El Toro and home to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which was active from 1943-99, said it was "a great honor for us as a city to lend our support, as a community, to the 1st Law Enforcement Battalion."

According to Lt. Col. Jan Durham, the battalion is home to 650 Marines, both male and female, and was activated in Summer 2012.

"We’ve been very active in support of our nation’s defense," Durham said. "Before we activated until this time, we had Marines deployed to Afghanistan, Yemen, other hot spots in the world on security missions. We have Marines training in Brazil with partners down there. We have other tasks that will take us to other parts in the world in the future.

"We’ve been busy and for good or bad, it looks like we will remain busy for the foreseeable future."