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For several weeks in September of 1981, members and aircraft of the 126th Med Co were asked to participate as part of the law enforcement operation responsible for protecting the not-yet-functional Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant from a large number of demonstrators converging there to protest its opening.  Our task was providing MEDEVAC coverage for the more than 2,000 police officers, National Guardsmen, and the protesters themselves.  In addition to being at odds with the plant's very existence, at issue was the recent discovery of an obscure offshore earthquake fault which opponents maintained might someday be responsible for an event that would devastate the plant.

Located in a naturally isolated setting west of Avila Beach (the shoreline runs essentially east-west in that region) on the central California coast, the plant was accessible by a single road, running several miles along steep cliffs to the ocean.  Since protesters had massed at the road's entrance, a logical move was to use helicopters to provide essential services.  In the photo, note the two "specks," one above the plant and a second to the left of it just above the water; if you look closely, you'll see they're actually CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the then-49th Aviation Company from Stockton.

The plant itself was even further isolated by the sheer cliffs extending down to the water's edge, making it physically impossible for anyone to reach the grounds by working their way along the shoreline.  Though no paths existed all the way in from Avila Beach, some passageways appeared accessible to protesters.   They'd work their way along the waterline at low-tide but wind up trapped on the rocks, once they'd reached an impasse and rising waters blocked their retreat.  We rescued a number as well as evacuating others who had injured themselves. The arrow in the photo points to a Chinook parked on the cleared parking lot we used as a helipad.  Here is a closer view that Diablo Canyon helicopter "veterans" should recognize: 

  The ocean-front approach to the plant was also attractive to protesters.  A 200-foot Coast Guard cutter aided by smaller vessels waiting just inside the plant's breakwater provided protection from inflatable boats equipped with powerful outboard motors.  Several tried but none made it all the way in.  

Police and Guardsmen were temporarily housed throughout the plant's office buildings, sleeping on cots and trying to ignore the telephones which always seemed to be ringing in the middle of the night.  Another downside was the fact that only two restrooms served the entire complex, making getting a shower kind of difficult.  Pictured here is the daily briefing attended by those going "on-shift;"  in the foreground is the National Guard truck waiting with bag lunches to distribute to those heading out. 

The otherwise idyllic atmosphere of this adventure was somewhat offset by the prevailing wind which constantly swept across the surface of a tiny island just offshore and into the plant.  Thousands of sea lions have occupied this perfectly situated patch of rock for many centuries and, for just as long, have been depositing their "food by-products."  That brownish deposit on the island's summit, along with those fringelike fingers trickling downward from its edge is the very substance you might imagine it to be.  There is no odor quite like it and many participants in the Great Diablo Canyon Adventure would probably agree that we might well have better served the protesters by letting them have the place.