Photo By Tech. Sgt. Brian Cox | Master William Umphress and Staff Sgt. Rebecca Hepke of the 132nd Fighter Wing, Des...... read more read more
By Pfc. Cassandra Monroe
Iowa Army National Guard
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The first wave of Iowa National Guard Soldiers and Airmen arrived at Gage Eckington Elementary School, Saturday, and immediately began preparing lodging and a kitchen facilities for the more than 1,000 Iowa service members who will call the school home during their inauguration support mission.
A large part of these preparations include downloading several buses worth of equipment and setting up a "field" kitchen facility to provide hot meals to the service members, which is being provided by Airmen from Des Moines' 132nd Fighter Wing.
"To complete this mission, nine volunteers were needed," said Senior Master Sgt. William Umphress, a Food Service superintendent, assigned to the 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa Air National Guard. "Instead, we ended up getting 13 volunteers." This type of response is one reason the Iowa National Guard is able to respond so effectively to these types of short notice missions.
The kitchen, which includes a tray ration heater and a three-compartment sink, were designed for rapid deployments and can provide two hot meals for 530 people daily.
The tray ration heaters were designed to boil water in a quick amount of time and the three-compartment sink helps organize sanitization efforts, said Umphress. This is the first time the food service personnel from the 132nd Fighter Wing have used this kitchen equipment.
Since the troops will be spending a lot of time at this school, they were initially apprehensive about the conditions they might find. However, while the school was closed in June 2008 due to a merger within the district, the building did not appear abandoned.
"We came here knowing that it was an abandoned school, but the conditions are great," said Army First Sgt. Rick Singer, an infantryman from LaMars, Iowa, assigned to Delta Company, 1-168th Infantry, 2/34th Brigade Combat Team, Iowa Army National Guard. Singer, a law enforcement liaison for the Joint Task Force-District of Columbia, will be working with D.C. metro law enforcement personnel.
"There is plumbing, and the heat and electricity work. We're pretty happy with the way it turned out," he said.
The National Guard Bureau, Washington, D.C., requested approximately 1,000 Soldiers and Airmen from the Iowa National Guard to assist federal, state, and local agencies with support missions for the presidential inauguration. The request was made as a result of increased operational requirements and growing participant estimates.
Iowa activated Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard, and Airmen from the 185th Air Refueling Wing and 132nd Fighter Wing, Iowa Air National Guard.
It is anticipated that the Soldiers and Airmen will serve in support of the inauguration for approximately 10 days, which includes personnel readiness processing and travel. Duties will include transportation and attendee management, traffic control, event ingress/egress, personnel support, and transportation.
| Date Taken: | 01.18.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 01.18.2009 13:56 |
| Story ID: | 28996 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DC, US |
| Web Views: | 710 |
| Downloads: | 621 |
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