An Iowa State student is one of the members of the Iowa National Guard that were called up to help with the inauguration in Washington, D.C. next week. Twenty-nine year old Justin Niichel of Osage is in Washington preparing for duty.”Pretty excited, it’s kind of a once in a lifetime thing, you know usually are deployments are to less savory places,” Niichel said.
Niichel is a staff sergeant with an infantry company, but isn’t exactly sure what his job will be during the inauguration festivities. He says they haven’t heard a whole lot yet, but guesses it will be traffic control and security. Niichel and some one-thousand other Iowa guardmembers will be out in the elements in Washington helping with what’s expected to be a large crowd.
Niichel says they will be outside alot, and while it won’t be warm, it will be warmer than it is here in Iowa. Niichel is a pre-business major who has taken time out from classwork before to serve with the guard. He was deployed to Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula in 2003 and 2004 and served for two years in Iraq from 2005 to 2007. Niiichel and fellow I.S.U. classmate Sunjo Chang of Westfield will miss the first week and a half of classes in the spring semester while serving at the inauguration.