North County Times April 29, 2011
REGION: Hollywood, military clients use remote Eagle Rock facility
By Chris Nichols
Deep into San Diego County's most rugged, high-altitude terrain, Hollywood and the military have found a quiet place to do business.
For nearly two years, the Eagle Rock Training Center has offered film crews jaw-dropping mountain vistas and Navy and Marine special forces an unfettered locale to hone new skills.
Naval special forces from Coronado trained at the remote facility last week, a Navy spokeswoman said Friday. Marine special forces have trained at Eagle Rock in the past, a Marine spokesman confirmed.
The privately run center is tucked far from the public's view on the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation ---- home to 25,000 acres of sovereign tribal land in the county's northeast corner, between Warner Springs and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
Numerous "No Trespassing" signs are posted at the reservation's entrance. The jagged top of Hot Springs Mountain ---- the county's highest peak at 6,526 feet ---- looms nearby.
Although not everyone's concerned, Eagle Rock's hidden and some say secretive nature has caused a few residents in nearby Warner Springs to worry about what's happening up the road.
Some in the small town say activities at Eagle Rock could spark a wildfire in the tinder-dry backcountry community. Others fear military trucks could overload its narrow, rural roads.
Still others are wary of the center's ties to a former executive of Blackwater, a private security company forever linked to the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians.
Finally, some in town say they're not opposed to Eagle Rock: They simply want to know more about it.
Addressing concerns
Eagle Rock's organizers, Brian Bonfiglio and Sean Roach, addressed many concerns last week in interviews with the North County Times. They said they've cleared brush from the center's firing range, require fire watches during operations and ban incendiary bullets and explosives at the site.
Both emphasized that they do not conduct "mercenary" training, which residents said they feared.
They provide a location for the military "to train their own" and nothing more, said Bonfiglio, a former Blackwater vice president.
They repeatedly said Eagle Rock should not be associated with Blackwater, since renamed Xe Services.
While that negative association may not disappear so easily, local officials said Eagle Rock's public safety record is strong.
A Warner Springs battalion chief verified that Eagle Rock has taken fire precautions.
And the reservation's police chief and a local sheriff's lieutenant said they couldn't recall any public safety emergencies at the center.
Eagle Rock's organizers said they are broadening the center's focus beyond firearm, survival and driver's training, and soon will offer corporate team-building and paint ball.
Roach, an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, also described Eagle Rock as a "film center," and Bonfiglio noted that "Hollywood used the land more than the military," citing the Discovery Channel as one of their clients.
Roach also said the History Channel was a client. He provided a video of drivers testing off-road Porches, apparently at Eagle Rock.
A large focus of the center's continued military training will include language and cultural immersion practices, aided by the construction of what Roach described as a replica of a "Third World village."
Roach, who said he has taken over the company from founder Bonfiglio, declined a request to tour the facility.
Told of the statements from Eagle Rock officials, some residents in Warner Springs said they will remain skeptical of the center until more detailed information is available ---- something the company is not required to divulge.
"People get fearful when they don't know what's going on," said Kathryn Fletcher, president of the Los Tules Property Owners Association in Warner Springs, which backs up to the reservation.
Taking precautions
The rolling hills and cattle pastures along Highway 79 near Warner Springs are still a deep green from heavy spring rains.
They'll turn dry and golden brown in weeks, as they always do.
Even so, according to the region's top fire official, Eagle Rock does not present an added fire hazard on top of what exists in the backcountry.
"They're taking the necessary precautions," said Battalion Chief Randy Scales, who heads the Warner Springs fire station for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "They've been doing a pretty good job with the (firing) ranges. They have a good fuel break. ... I don't necessarily see fire being a big thing coming off that training center unless they're doing something I haven't been informed of."
CalFire has one state and one county fire engine at its Warner Springs station, about six miles from Eagle Rock, Scales said. Both are continuously staffed, he said.
There's another full-time state engine at Sunshine Summit, about 10 miles away, the chief said.
Eagle Rock's organizers said the Los Coyotes tribe has a fire truck and fire extinguishers are or would be present during training.
Messages left for Los Coyotes tribal spokesman Shane Chapparosa were not returned.
Eagle Rock's organizers said only that the tribe saw "a business opportunity" in allowing the center to use its land. No contract between the two groups was available.
Officials with San Diego County said they have no authority to compel the tribe to improve county roads used to access the reservation and Eagle Rock.
State compacts with tribes cover only the impacts created by casinos on reservations, but don't require mitigation for other uses such as a training center, a county spokesman said.
Robert Eben, the regional superintendent for U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, did not return a message seeking comment.
Several Warner Springs residents said they're worried about military and construction trucks overloading Camino San Ygnacio, a narrow, two-lane county road that winds through the Los Tules neighborhood and serves as the main access to the reservation.
County Supervisor Bill Horn, who represents Warner Springs, said neither Eagle Rock nor the tribe was obligated to show any analysis of how they've impacted traffic or fire hazards in the area.
But, he said, the training center was one more reason to bolster the backcountry's fire protection.
While some area residents, such as James Lewis of Warner Springs, said the area's fire danger was high enough without a military training center, others said it's not a big issue.
"That doesn't bother me," said Steve Clark, a ranch manager in nearby Ranchita. "(CalFire) can get (air) tankers here in 15 minutes."
Changing focus
In a marketing video for Eagle Rock, dramatic music accompanies images of rolling Humvees, rappelling troops and high-powered firearms.
In the 3-year-old video, Bonfiglio says his business will become "that center of excellence, that state-of-the art training facility that will help save U.S. service members and law enforcement officers' lives."
Bonfiglio said in interviews this week that his idea flopped; there just wasn't the demand he envisioned.
Prior to the Navy special forces training this week, the only military unit that had ever used the center, Bonfiglio said, was a group of Camp Pendleton-based Marines in June 2009.
He said because the military has many of its own specialized training centers across the region ---- including the Navy Survival Camp just miles away at Sunshine Summit ---- prevented Eagle Rock from taking off.
"There's no money in bullets," Bonfiglio said. "It'd be like opening a high-end clothing store in downtown Barstow. There isn't business for that. I gave it a shot. It didn't work out. That's why I abandoned it."
Bonfiglio said he continues to help Roach establish his business, but no longer owns Eagle Rock.
Asked why the Navy's special forces decided to train at Eagle Rock instead of Sunshine Summit this week, a Navy spokeswoman said in a statement: "The (Navy Special Warfare Command) survival course requires a lot of space and longer distances to create the training dynamic required. Eagle Rock provides the right location and terrain for our forces to conduct land navigation and outdoor survival skills."
'The whole thing makes sense'
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a leading source on news about the military, called Eagle Rock unusual but innovative, noting that he was only vaguely familiar with the center.
While private groups aid in some aspects of military training, Pike said, they don't typically establish their own centers to do so.
Still, he said, there is demand for large, remote training centers where U.S. special forces, and those from around the globe, can train in anonymity.
Pike added that Eagle Rock's focus on language and cultural training is particularly important.
Today's troops are required to "win the hearts and minds" of those they encounter, not just shoot at them, he said.
Such training might involve actors hired to role-play as villagers who approach troops while speaking a foreign language, forcing the trainees to adapt on the spot.
"It's one thing to learn to speak Pashto in a classroom with earphones on," Pike said, referencing the language spoken in much of Afghanistan. "It's another thing to learn it (at Eagle Rock) for three hours drinking tea."
"The whole thing makes sense," he added. "If I had a passion for anonymity, that'd be the place to do it."
© Copyright 2011, North County Times - The Californian
