A local party chair served in a number of roles during his time in the military, but a surprise highlight of his career came more than a decade ago when he was assigned to protect then-Vice President Joe Biden during conflict negotiations in Iraq.
Kevin Service, Johnson County Democratic Party chairman, thinks about that time in his life often, but it was especially heavy on his mind Wednesday as Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
“I think of it often. It was a good experience with a good guy. I’m hoping his term here is a good one and good for the people,” Service said.
Back in 2009, then-Vice President Biden was in charge of leading conflict negotiations in Iraq, where he made several visits in 2009 and 2010.
Service, 52 at the time, was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq with the U.S. Army National Guard, serving as a military police officer.
He was the oldest and most experienced in his unit in force protection, so he was selected to coordinate with the U.S. Secret Service on movement security when Biden visited.
Service was one of many on Biden’s security detail, but he played a significant role in planning out routes for the president, helping him move from one location to another safely during the entirety of his stays.
Given his familiarity with Baghdad, he often gave better security suggestions to Secret Service agents. He recalls asking an agent one time if he was aware they were in a combat zone, not Washington, D.C., Service said.
“I said, ‘This is a combat zone, we don’t make five-minute changes to move people around like that,’” he said. “I tell people that and they go, ‘Oh no, you didn’t have that much control,’ and I say, ‘Yes, I did.’”
Service worked security for Biden during three visits, and he spent a lot time of time with the vice president.
“In my position, I was actually with him … I was with him before we made any movement. I got to talk to him. It was mostly just chit-chat and debrief on activities,” Service said.
Service also met First Lady Jill Biden on one of the trips.
“I found them very, very respectful to the military and those around them,” Service said. “I really got to like the guy.”
From the beginning of his deployment to Iraq, Service didn’t expect to be as involved with Biden’s security detail as he was. It was an honor and a privilege to be granted that level of trust, he said.
“I had to be vetted by other people, and that put me up to be a trustworthy person to be standing next to the vice president with loaded weapons. That’s trust right there,” he said.
Service was asked to stay longer in Iraq. But after he worked on security preparations for President Barack Obama’s visit in late 2010 to the country, he returned home to Indiana and his family to watch his son graduate from high school, he said.
“You think to yourself, this isn’t something a lot of people get to do, to be that close to the President, but I pulled out, like I was supposed to, and I made my son happy,” Service said.
Service retired in 2015, having served in the National Guard since 1977. In addition to the times he protected Biden and Obama in Iraq, Service worked in a number of roles during his career. He took jobs in public safety, worked at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, and completed missions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the FBI, he said.
“Somebody said I should write a book, and I said no, I’m not that type. I’ll brag a little when someone wants to hear it, but I don’t put it out there much,” Service said.
Service is looking forward to watching Biden as president for the next four to eight years. He had planned to attend the inauguration in person, but decided to stay home due to the pandemic and security concerns after the violent attack earlier this month on U.S. Capitol.
“The conditions we have in the country right now, I do think he (Biden) was the best choice,” Service said. “He can bring his past experience in and hopefully, I pray, we can get some of this stuff settled down.”
