More than 400 soldiers and airmen from the Delaware National Guard are in Washington D.C. through Saturday.
They have an important role to play in this year’s presidential inauguration: relating to traffic control and securing the outside perimeter of the event.
Master Sergeant Mark Del Vecchio is the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge for the Delaware National Guard group heading to Washington D.C.
Trump’s inauguration on Friday will be Del Vecchio’s second: he helped out with President Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Del Vecchio says there’s a dramatic rise in National Guard involvement this time around.
“From my previous experience you were talking maybe 1 or 2 thousands, and now you’re in the multi-thousands – well over – with about 7,000 soldiers," he said. "So it’s a significant growth of our involvement.”
Over 7,500 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from across the country are partnering this year with the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police to handle a range of supports from traffic control to crowd management.
