[carl in alaska]

While those are the home bases for all the choppers, I would expect the Marines to have facilities on the west coast where they keep the choppers when the President or VP visits the west coast for an extended trip. For example, if the President was going to visit Southern California one week, then go back to Washington and return to Northern California the next week, then if he needed a chopper on both trips the Marines would store one at Pendleton in between trips. No doubt HMX-1 personnel would guard the chopper 24/7 because those birds are their unit's responsibility. I would bet that HMX-1 and the Secret Service have a smart and flexible plan for where they store the choppers if they will be needed in one area for more than one day.

But yes, I thought about this isue some more, and it would be too much of a security risk to base the helicopters at more than two or three bases in the U.S. They need extremely good security at those bases and that is difficult to achieve at more than a couple of locations.

(It's driving Al Gore literally crazy that people don't call him "Mr. President" and he doesn't get to ride in Marine 1 twice a month.)

[defenderSD]

Besides security, I think there's another reason why the choppers are based at only two locations and flow around the country in a C-5A: HMX-1 wants to minimize the number of hours flown by these helos to minimize mechanical wear and tear. These choppers carry the President, VP, and other dignataries so the top priority for HMX-1 is safety rather than operating costs. While the choppers have the range to fly from Washinton to Atlanta with one refueling stop at Camp Lejune, that trips puts a lot of miles on the birds. So while it probably costs more to fly the choppers around in a C-5A, we do it anyway to minimize flight time and keep the choppers in top mechanical condition.

Rudder, I think the main reason they need 24 choppers is because HMX-1 flies around other people besides the President: the VP, First Lady, key Senators, and visiting foreign leaders who need tight security. And as already stated, they need several choppers as spares to swap in while other birds are in the maintenance shop. I think also that Lockheed will be making enough choppers to last for 10-20 years and some of them won't be delivered until the program is several years underway.

I would agree that there are some hangers near the west coast where HMX-1 can store the choppers on an extended trip. And you bet HMX-1 guards them 24/7 with no exceptions and not a single 1-minute coffee break (not one, another Marine brings in the coffee).

[A.A. Cunningham]

I would expect the Marines to have facilities on the west coast where they keep the choppers when the President or VP visits the west coast for an extended trip. For example, if the President was going to visit Southern California one week, then go back to Washington and return to Northern California the next week, then if he needed a chopper on both trips the Marines would store one at Pendleton in between trips.

Negative. You have a distorted hypothesis of how HMX-1 deployments are executed.