Merge Officer Helps the Inauguration Parade Flow Smoothly

Paul Villegas, director of the Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement Program and a major in the Army Reserve, got the chance of a lifetime when he was selected to be part of the Armed Forces Inauguration Committee. He joined a selective service detachment of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, and Coast Guard personnel that provided security and coordination for Inauguration Day events on and around the National Mall.

Villegas was assigned to the ceremony division and appointed merge officer for the parade. He was in charge of seeing that the more than 100 floats, military units, and marching bands came together and merged onto Pennsylvania Avenue in the proper order and at the right time. Included in those participants were Miss America, Mickey Rooney, and the Tuskegee Airmen.

It was a long inauguration day for Villegas. He got up at 3 am, was at his post on Madison Avenue by 5 am, and didn’t return home until well into the evening. The pleasure, however, of being in Washington, D.C., on the historic day was great. “It was the experience of a lifetime,” said Villegas. “I witnessed how excited people are with new administration. I had fun managing the parade and being part of that history; I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“The last element of the parade was NASA. I couldn’t feel my body, but I could feel my smile. We did a good job. That satisfaction at the end of the parade was a highlight of my time in Washington.”

Villegas apparently missed seeing the new president by only minutes. Barack Obama visited the parade division to thank everyone while Villegas was out looking over the parade venue. Villegas was in a very secure part of the mall, and he and his colleagues watched the inauguration on the JumboTron.

Although he didn’t get to meet the president, Villegas said that just being in the capitol was an exciting experience. “Everything is dictated by what the president is doing. For example, Bush went on a bike ride on Sunday, which he did every Sunday. We had a rehearsal, and parade elements couldn’t move during that time. We saw the helicopters that left from the White House. Not something you see every day in Chico.”

Villegas received a specially minted coin for his part in the inauguration. One side commemorates the 56th presidential inauguration and has the date 1789. The other side has all of the branches of the Armed Forces Inauguration Committee surrounding the White House. He looked at it and told himself, “You were part of the team that put this together for our new commander-in-chief.”

Villegas was just notified that he will be promoted to lieutenant colonel next December.

—Kathleen McPartland, Public Affairs and Publications