He hasn't seen a customer all day, much less given one of his trademark military buzz cuts. His four colleagues stayed at home rather than face the rows of empty chairs again.

"Business is dead," says this barber in Oceanside, a California seaside city.

Parts of the city has taken on the air of a ghost town since most of the 33,000 marines stationed here were deployed to the Gulf.

"I've been here eight years and have never seen it like this," said Richard, who declined to give his last name. "Since the Marines began shipping out to the Middle East earlier this year, we've been hurting real bad."

Richard's business -- like the dozens of barber shops here that usually give "high and tight" haircuts to hundreds of Marines a day -- has all but dried up since the United States began preparing for its invasion of Iraq.

Much of Oceanside's business community depends heavily on trade from the nearby Camp Pendleton US Marine Corps base, whose troop numbers are equivalent to around 20 percent of the town's 170,000-strong population.

Military surplus stores, laundries, barber's shops, money-lending businesses and spit-and-saw-dust bars are far better represented in this beachside resort that in other cities of its size.

But since all but a maximum of 8,000 of the soldiers stationed here left to join the war effort, many military-dependent business are battling to stay open.

"We can't wait for the boys to come home," said Deby Alexander, whose husband's family owns Dorothy's Military Shop, a combination army surplus outfit, laundry and tailor's shop.

"Not only because we want them back safe as soon as possible, but also because their absence has a harsh effect on our bottom line.

"Business has dropped off by around 80 percent simply because the Marines are overseas. We'll keep going because we are here to serve them, so we'll suck it up and wait anxiously for them to come home."

In nearby stores, bar tenders wait listlessly in the warm spring weather for customers to come in for a cold one, as the loan agencies specializing in advances of military salaries appear mostly deserted.

Restaurateurs and hoteliers reported sudden dips in their guest numbers starting in January, with occasional spikes as troops come in from other parts of the country for training.

"It's really unpredictable, with some months being just about OK, and then months like March producing the worst occupancy levels in our history," said Sheldon Joyner General Manager of the Best Western Oceanside hotel.

Chamber of Commerce head David Nydegger conceded that the city -- like military towns across the United States -- was hit by the Marine exodus. But he stressed the blow was not nearly as severe as in the first Gulf war in 1991.

"Barbers, restaurants, real estate and businesses that are aimed very much at Marine trade are suffering, there's no doubt about it," he said. "But the town as a whole is coming through this very well."

Oceanside's population had grown from 130,000 in the last 12 years, Nydegger said, while the Marine population had remained constant. As a result the impact of their departure is spread more evenly among the civilian population.

"Sure, some families are using military clauses to break leases and return to their home towns now that their husbands are away, and sure some business owners are smarting, but we are more diversified than we used to be and better able to cope with this," Nydegger said.

Patriotism appeared to be fuelling the owners of city's hard-hit businesses.

"We're really proud of our boys and the tough job they are doing," said a waitress at Mary's restaurant which is festooned with yellow ribbons and patriotic messages to US troops.

"So, we're not going to complain too much about what we are going through right now."

SPACE.WIRE