Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Group Photo of the 10th Civil Support Team in the National Mall area, Washington,...... read more read more
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For some of the 400 Washington National Guardsmen who supported the recent Presidential Inauguration, the mission was familiar.
“Our unit had the great honor of supporting the 58th presidential inauguration and then we got invited back this year to support the 59th,” said Maj. Charles Parsons, commander of the 242nd Combat Communications Squadron, based out of Fairchild Air Force Base. “We used a lot of the lessons learned from January 2017 to prepare ourselves this time.”
Airmen from the 242nd specialize in providing communications capabilities using different satellites and radio systems, to include the Joint Incident Site Communications Capabilities. The JISCC is a communications bridge between first responders and other local, state and federal agencies.
“It is a really cool piece of equipment that is always changing to keep up with technology and continues to provide interoperability between other services and platforms to provide communication,” said Parsons. “The capability is quite impressive, and it all fits in the back of a trailer that can be pulled behind a truck and easily pulled out and set up anywhere within the state within eight hours.”
To support inauguration, the 242nd had a team drive the JISCC cross country and met the rest of the team in Baltimore before traveling into FedEx Field.
“We had the benefit of our team and 15 other JISCCs and six Mobile Emergency Operations Centers where we could spend time making sure all of our equipment arrived safely and without damage, and function properly prior to the inauguration,” said Parsons.
While the mission was similar to that of the 2017 inauguration, the added measures due to COVID-19 and potential civil unrest made it feel a little different.
“What was more difficult is that there was a pandemic going on and we had to take considerations for that to mitigate the risk of COVID-19, so we had to practice physical distancing as much as possible, and hygiene, and alternate schedules in order to keep our teams safe,” said Parsons. “In 2017 there was only about 5,000 Guardsmen on the ground, this time there was about 26,000 that we were trying to support with our communications support.”
The 242nd wasn’t the only unit returning to Washington D.C. for a second inauguration. Ten members of the 10th Civil Support Team also supported their Presidential Inauguration. For some this was their second time working the event.
“We had a couple people on the team that participated in the last inauguration so they were giving me some of their experiences to plan for,” said Capt. Brady Plunkett, operations officer for the 10th Civil Support Team. “Truthfully all of that kind of went out the window with everything going on.”
When the 10th Civil Support Team received the call to support the inauguration in November 2020, the unit was not planning to take a lot of equipment from lessons learned following the 2017 Inauguration. That all changed following the events of January 6, 2021 when a violent riot broke out at the U.S. Capitol.
“We originally weren’t going to be taking that much equipment, but then again with the added security and everything that went on we ended up taking six tough boxes worth of equipment,” said Plunkett. “We were immediately assigned to Task Force CBRNE and got to work right away.”
Team members assisted law enforcement and other Civil Support Teams from across the country with sweeping the area for potential chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.
“When planning for support, we were going to be sweeping around the capitol. But following the riots and the large perimeter that was put up around the city, we were assigned to the only spots civilians could come up to the gate and check in,” said Plunkett. “They monitored that whole area for radiation, dirty bombs and kept an eye out for any suspicious activity.”
Both units agree the experience is worthwhile and have learned a lot that they can use to support the next Inauguration.
“We just did our after action review,” Parsons said. “This was a great opportunity for our junior airmen to be involved with, because in four years they will be the senior airmen and will be helping mentor that next group that supports.”
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2021 13:17 |
| Story ID: | 388268 |
| Location: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 262 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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