Army Staff Sergeant Tom Butler, of the 2120th Engineer Company located in Broken Arrow, had the privilege of being part of the 60th Inauguration last month and was honored to be there.

“I’ve been in the Oklahoma Army National Guard for 15 years after I got in at the ripe old age of 40,” Butler said. “I was part of 100 members of the Oklahoma Army National Guard who were chosen to be a part of Operation Potomac Lightning, a joint task force which also included the Secret Service, U.S. Marshals and the Capital Police. We joined 8,000 other members of the National Guard from 40 other states and territories.

“Our main mission was to provide security for the 2025 Presidential Inaugural events. We all felt it was quite an honor to do so. The events pretty much started on January 18 and concluded on Jan. 21. The Oklahoma Guard pulled security on the 19th at the Trump Victory Rally and on the 20th on Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House gates to about 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, which was about four blocks. Personally, my favorite duty was right outside the White House gate the morning of the Inauguration. We were pulled off duty about five minutes before both Presidential motorcades rolled through the gate to go to the Capitol, but we got to see them go down Pennsylvania Ave. That was pretty cool to witness.

“Other highlights of the trip were just getting to see all the sites in DC (National Mall, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cemetery, White House, etc.)

“Senator Markwayne Mullin and Governor Stitt both came to visit with us at our barracks. On the last night in DC, Senator Lankford gave us a personal tour of the Capitol Building. We even took our group pic on the same Inaugural stage that President Trump gave his address on the day before, which was also the same stage that Checotah’s own Carrie Underwood sang “America the Beautiful” a cappella when the music wouldn’t play.

The opportunity to take part in these events was a huge blessing to me and I’m very thankful I got to be a part of it.”

Butler also teaches Geography at Checotah Middle School and Checotah High School. He is also a high school football and baseball coach for the Wildcats.