Robins airmen helping with inauguration

Some Robins Air Force Base airmen will be helping out with the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on Friday.

A 10-member team from the 116th Air Control Wing’s Force Support Squadron will be in Washington to help feed National Guard troops working during the event, according to a news release.

Working out of five disaster-relief mobile stations, the airmen will serve up to 1,000 meals in less than 90 minutes to Guardsmen from around the country.

"This is my second inauguration, but it's the first for most of my team,” Master Sgt. Patrick McMahon, 116th services superintendent, said in the release. “I'm excited for them to have this opportunity to experience something of this magnitude."

More than 7,500 National Guard soldiers and airmen from 44 states, three territories and the District of Columbia make up the specially created Joint Task Force-District of Columbia that will be working to support the ceremony. The troops will assist the Secret Service, Capitol police and D.C. Metropolitan Police forces on a range of roles to include traffic control, crowd management, logistics and communication.

In 2013, J-STARS airmen deployed to perform the same function for the second-term inauguration of President Barack Obama.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Robins airmen helping with inauguration."