MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) – One hour ahead of schedule, hundreds of South Carolina National Guard soldiers returned to Palmetto State after being sent to Washington, DC, for presidential inauguration.
“We are very proud of our service,” Brigadier of the US Army. General Jeff Jones said. “Very proud to be present during an important event in the history of our country and very grateful to the families and employers who assisted and supported us.”
John Shytle is one of about 650 men and women in the state’s National Guard drafted before President Joe Biden took office. They returned at 7:30 am on Monday.
“It was interesting. It was a closed opening,” said Shytle. “I was in another possession when I was active and was on a different side of the game.”
Before the inauguration, he received a call to leave his wife, Megan, nine children, including their newborn son, Jethro, just hours after his birth.
“We literally gave birth to him about an hour later, he was telling me that she would be gone in a few days,” said Megan Shytle. “He’s gone before, lost one on a mission in Iraq and our last baby was at the Police Academy, so it’s normal.”
Although Shytle was previously posted abroad, his wife says that the most recent missions during the summer protests and during the inauguration created a different kind of anxiety for the family at home.
“When he sends supervisors, nothing happens here. The threat is elsewhere, ”said Megan Shytle. “In the last few times, the threat has been here, you don’t know what will happen and it will happen if something can happen in our own city and it is gone.”
The task force’s primary role was to assist local law enforcement with any infrastructure needed for the inauguration and security checkpoints.
“It’s still the American process, and the American process was still going on,” said Shytle.
After reports that some National Guard soldiers had to camp in a parking lot, Jones said his troops were not treated that way, but had to sleep outside a hotel for one night.
“We have not gone through this, and I cannot speak on behalf of our chain of command there, that they have been treated very well,” said Jones. “They were assigned to hotels. There was a time, due to the inauguration, when they needed to sleep in the vicinity because the bridges were closed and we wanted to ensure that the soldiers did not lose their duties ”.
Jones also wishes to thank the national leaders of South Carolina, who came by to thank the troops during their deployment.
“One way or another, if they brought food, if they stopped to talk to them, if they visited our operations center, our South Carolina Congressional delegation was there with us,” said Jones.
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