[Scan-DC] Inauguration Info

[mdmonitor1 at verizon.net]

All,

Got this off the Milcom blog.  For those of you interested in the 
Inauguration and it's comms. Might be some comms associated with the 
rehersal

Ron
Baltimore MD


Armed Forces Inaugural Committee Moves Into High Gea
By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2008 - Exactly three weeks before Inauguration Day, 
the buzz of activity at the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee here is a 
notable exception to the traditional holiday lull that settles over the 
nation's capital between Christmas and New Year's Day.

More than 400 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen – 
active duty, reservists and National Guardsmen -- are busy preparing for 
President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Jan. 20. Another 300 will 
report for duty after New Year's, bringing AFIC to full strength with 
about 700 servicemembers.

"We're spinning up for the full dress rehearsal Jan. 11," Navy Lt. Mike 
Billips, a reservist from Atlanta serving as an AFIC spokesman, said. 
The rehearsal will kick off in the dark at about 3 a.m., when 
participants go through two full iterations of the swearing-in ceremony 
at the Capitol, then parade down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White 
House.

"The curtain goes up on Jan. 20, and everything has to be locked down 
perfect before then," Billips said. "So it's a lot of rehearsal, a lot 
of coordination and a lot of training for the people who are coming in."

The incoming servicemembers will get intensive training for the 
ceremonial support they'll provide at the inauguration ceremony and 10 
official inaugural balls, Billips said. Some will be in the midst of the 
fanfare, serving as honor guards, marching bands, musical units, salute 
batteries, drivers, ushers and escorts for distinguished visitors. 
Others will work behind the scenes, helping to ensure the events go off 
seamlessly.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Finney, a telecommunications technician 
from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, assigned to AFIC's 
information technology directorate, called being a part of the 
inauguration a rare opportunity. "I am excited to be a part of our 
nation's history," he said.

"I am honored to be a part of a committee of this caliber," Army Spc. 
Kevyn Coleman agreed. "This is definitely an assignment to talk about 
years from now. In my personal opinion, I don't think that I have ever 
had a better assignment."

The 2009 inauguration will be the 56th in which the military has played 
a role in welcoming the incoming commander in chief. During the first, 
in April 1789, U.S. Army, local militia units and Revolutionary War 
veterans escorted George Washington to his inaugural ceremony at New 
York City's Federal Hall.