Army Prepared for Inaugural Trouble

Army Prepared for Inaugural Trouble
January 16, 2009
Army News Service|by C. Todd Lopez

WASHINGTON - As the nation prepares to welcome a new president, the Army stands ready to assist civilian law enforcement and first responders inside the National Capital Region.

While military participation in the Jan. 20 inauguration is largely ceremonial -- a full 2/3 of military members involved in inauguration-related activities will be involved in the parade or other ceremonial events -- another 2,500 military members are on standby to provide support if things go wrong.

Soldiers from the Army's 911th U.S. Army Technical Rescue Engineer Company out of Fort Belvoir, Va., for instance, are poised to help first responders rescue those trapped in collapsed building should such an incident occur during inaugural activities.

"If a building were to fall down, we'd go in to shore it up and basically stabilize the building," said Sgt. Robert Huffman, 911th EC. "If the air is bad we're going to go in on air, if not just with respirators -- whatever we need to do to extricate the people. It's very similar to what firemen do."

Huffman, who's been in the Army going on four years now, says the 911th EC uses tools like concrete saws, wood chainsaws, torches, exothermic torches, breathing apparatus, shoring equipment and trenching equipment to conduct their rescues.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-news/army-prepared-for-inaugural-trouble.html?col=1186032369115

This will be a peaceful gathering in celebration. Unless there are plants whose job will be to create a false disruption.