All of Vice President-elect Joe Biden's children will be at his inaugural ceremony Tuesday, including son Beau, who began temporary duty at the Pentagon on Thursday.
The younger Biden, a captain in the Delaware National Guard's 261st Signal Brigade currently serving in Iraq, will use personal leave time to attend the inauguration.
Details about Beau Biden's temporary duty were not available Thursday. In addition to being a judge advocate -- or military attorney -- in the National Guard, the 39-year-old also is Delaware's attorney general.
When his temporary duty is complete, Biden will return to his unit in Iraq, where it has been assigned since late last year.
Suspicion that Beau Biden would be in Washington, D.C., for next week's ceremony began during Sunday's inaugural rehearsal when an announcer called out his name. Vice President-elect Biden's spokeswoman, Annie Tomasini, said that had been a mistake and that Biden would remain in Iraq for the ceremony.
However, Joe Biden on Thursday said he saw his eldest son briefly Wednesday, adding that Beau Biden will be on the podium when he takes the oath of office Tuesday. Biden said he believes his son, who will be visiting the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington along with other unspecified duties, will return to Iraq on Thursday.
The younger Biden had been debating about how to use his allotted leave as he weighed whether to return and see his father's inauguration along with that of President-elect Barack Obama, Joe Biden said.
If he hadn't been able to return, his father was hoping to speak to him via a video linkup with troops in Iraq at one of the inaugural events.
"I'm excited about it," Joe Biden said from his office in the U.S. Capitol about two hours after giving his resignation speech as Delaware's senator. "I wish he were home, and not at the Pentagon all day. But he's here."
Some family members of guardsmen still stationed in Iraq said they were glad Biden will see his father's swearing-in next week.
"I'm sure it is to a certain extent favoritism," said Sally S. Celatka, whose daughter Erica Celatka is a specialist with the 261st. But, "I'm glad he is coming home for that, because that's his dad and family is important."
Lt. Col. Len Gratteri, a Delaware National Guard spokesman, deferred comment to Multi-National Forces -- Iraq headquarters in Iraq. Officers there did not return messages Thursday. Gratteri said it was not uncommon for guardsmen to be stationed in one place and then detailed to another.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090116/NEWS02/901160346So glad they worked it out for them.:)
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