PHOENIX – About 20 members of the Arizona Air National Guard’s 161st Air
Refueling Wing and 162nd Wing departed Sunday in support of
the 58th Presidential Inauguration, which will occur January 20.
The team of airmen specializing in food service will travel to the nation’s
capital as part of Joint Task Force-District of Columbia where they will
cook and serve meals for a portion of the 7,500 Guardsmen, from 40 states
and territories that will converge in Washington, D.C., to support the
inauguration.
The airmen will prepare and serve meals from mobile military kitchens
designed to nourish troops in a field environment. The Single Pallet
Expeditionary Kitchen (SPEK) is transportable on a single aircraft pallet
system and can be set up and operational in three hours or less by five
airmen.
The Arizona National Guardsmen supporting the event will have the
opportunity to hone their skills and better prepare themselves to respond at
a moment’s notice to any domestic situation where their specialized skills
may be needed.
Joint Task Force-District of Columbia was created to provide National Guard
support at the request of local civilian authorities. The National Guard is
home to a wide variety of capabilities, which can seamlessly integrate with
interagency partners to enhance inauguration support capabilities.
Since 2011, the Arizona National Guard has supported nearly 250 domestic
missions with nearly 3,500 individual domestic mobilizations.
