Airmen and soldiers in the Alaska National Guard are on their way home over the next few days after assisting the District of Columbia National Guard and federal and civilian authorities with the 59th Presidential Inauguration last week.
About 70 Alaska National Guard Airmen and soldiers joined nearly 26,000 Guard members from every state, territory, and the District of Columbia to assist with the historic event, according to the Alaska National Guard, which released a statement, allaying concerns about how guardsmen were treated in D.C.
Alaska’s airmen and soldiers were not part of the group that was banished to sleep in a cold parking garage by the House and Senate Democrat leadership of Congress, which led to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Greg Abbott calling their troops back to their states.
All Alaska Guard members were assigned individual lodging in hotels, according to the Alaska National Guard press release. They were in the garages only for short periods of time, and the conditions were tolerable, according to one of them quoted by the Guard’s press office.
“During our duty periods, we have opportunities to take breaks while others swap out with us,” said Capt. Jennifer Ward, the medical readiness officer for the 176th Wing, Alaska Air National Guard. “The day before the inauguration, we were staged in a heated parking garage for about five hours, which was great because it was only 38-degrees outside.”
“It was clean, had porta potties, and we were able to rest and relax before going back out,” she said. “It’s important to take breaks in areas that are in close proximity to the zone we’ve been assigned so that we can respond quickly if needed, but so far that hasn’t been necessary.”
Alaska’s airmen and soldiers assisted with security, logistics, and transportation operations around the Capitol, National Mall, and White House. They conducted up to 24-hour operations and implemented rest-work cycles in staging areas for safety reasons.
Alaska guardsmen also staged at FedExField, a football stadium in Landover, Maryland, five miles east of Washington, D.C.; and in the Library of Congress.
“The library is spacious, beautiful and historic,” said Maj. Nathan Pooler, the troop commander for Alaska guardsmen in D.C. “It takes a long time to load up and be transported back to the hotel, so it’s not feasible to leave the area during our breaks,” he said.
Military involvement in the Presidential Inauguration dates back 232 years to when members of the U.S. Army, local militias (the modern-day National Guard), and Revolutionary War veterans escorted George Washington to New York City—the seat of government for his inauguration ceremony. The National Guard and other military units have continued this tradition of inaugural support ever since.
Photo credit: U.S. Airmen and Soldiers with the Alaska National Guard climb the stairs inside the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Mike Risinger)
The whole event was staged by he far left and the Guard never was needed and should not have had to deploy….
Exactly. I would like to know the names of the military officers responsible for ordering the deployments so I can file requests with the Congressional delegation to object to future promotions. This was all for show. How many incidents and arrests occurred in conjunction with the Inauguration? Zero.
Since several units have been pulled out at the direction of state governors or adjutants general, they were under state, not federal, orders, so the governors must have voluntarily called them to state active duty and dispatched them to DC. There was probably some deal by which FEMA or DHS could be billed for their active duty pay.
No Republican governor should have participated in this scam voluntarily; they should have made the communists, excuse me, Democrats put them on federal orders if they wanted props for their show.
Jay,
leadership in the FBI are the Obama commies. There’s a big difference between honest cops and dirty cops. Dirty cops protect dirtball politicians such as Biden/Harris, probably your choice of leadership.
James Comey is a dirtbag cop and Trump dispatched him. Only Biden needs all the protection he can get, because he KNOWS he’s not legit.
Trump didn’t need any troops for his 2016 inauguration. It’s that simple, Jay.
Art, there is some contradictory info about this deployment and you have hit on some of it. Were the National Guards activated by the DOD or were they sent to the capitol by the governors under state control? If they were under state control, then they were actually the state militia and paid by the states. Big question: Is it legal for one state militia to be deployed to another state/area?
The FBI apparently disagrees. Are you anti law enforcement? Blue lives don’t matter to you, huh?
Yes, the same FBI that gave us James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Bill Priestap, Peter Strozk and Lisa Page. It would be a mistake to attempt to stand up the FBI as a virtuous organization.
Yeah, I just hang on everything the wholly corrupt FBI says. The FBI and the CIA are rotten to the core.
What good were the Guard units used pto protect Biden when none of the troops were given ammo? The entire thing was an enormous waste of time and expense.
They seriously had no ammo? how do you know that? im so disappointed, ive read they had heaters and stories that said they had no heat, ive read they stayed overnight and some just a few minutes. They should have had appropriate lodging period, its not like the hotels, motels etc wete all filled up for the abundance of guests attending the innauguration, they should havev made the media stay in the parking garages. I also heard somewhere that before the garages many were staying on an cafeteria floor. How does anyone actually obtain the real truth these days?
No ammo, Tammy. Biden and the Democrats were afraid that some Troops might be loyal to Trump and ruin Biden’s fake inauguration. The Troops were about 90% White men, and the overwhelming majority probably voted for Trump. Without ammo, the Salvation Army could have given Biden better protection on his inauguration day. And probably raised money for him while they were at it.
Tammy, almost no one knows but in fact none of those soldiers even the actual Army doesn’t have ammunition until they get into the war zone and guard troops almost never have it domestically outside a range for training. Save for security police at active checkpoints. If you don’t have people that you know and trust that are involved with these type of operations you’re never going to hear the truth.
Fake news Paul!
You must stay awake nights to come up with such.
were used as props
Yeah, next they get to go fight for our freedom abroad. Sure glad we got all this freedom here to defend.
The US Government defends nothing abroad but their corporate masters/sponsors interests. Every entanglement in recent history has been the result of corporate/fiscal bullying in one form or another. Iraq was a doozy. Try to come off the petrodollar and you wake-up dead, murdered by the very guys who installed you illegally many years before. You cannot make this s$!t up.
George effing Orwell did!
Joe’s Afraid ?
Look on the bright side, 70 Alaskans got a good paycheck and per diem.
Was it state pay or federal active duty pay? State pay is much, much cheaper. Per diem was close to nil–had govt quarters and meals provided. So little to no per diem.
Welcome home props.
.
I hope you won’t die in Syria before the year is out.
Aint that the truth, start the countdown.
Congrats to Governor Dunleavy and Major General Saxe, Alaska National Guard Adjutant General, for joining Texas Governor Abbott and Florida Governor Desantis in bringing our guardsmen home. No need to stay in DC and be used as pawns by the swamp creatures. Well done Gov!
… actually AK Guard should have never deployed in the first place. How our governor couldn’t see that this was a complete construct from day one is quite telling. Very disappointing. Our next Governor needs to be a military person who’s been there, done that, got the T-shirt and used to making hard choices and understands how to lead. Hint hint… are you up for it? We are waiting. Please consider it. Alaska does not need another soy boy, etc. type governor. Men like yourself are needed, now.
Social media was vetted to make sure they were free from any MAGA sentiment and then they were used as props. Disgusting. This is the left. They spit on the military and at it makes total sense; they hate everything most of us signed up to defend.
Geez, nothin’ like normalizing what just went down down there. Wow. “The troops” aren’t God’s, and this wasn’t anywhere near normal. Probably the worst “article” ever.
A few hundred rioters, some from the left, committed crimes and people were killed. Very tragic, but hardly necessitating 25,000 National Guard. Riots continue in major cities and not a peep from democrats. Send them all home now.
What a farce!
Good to see China Joe implementing the One-China Policy so quickly after installation.
What duplicity! Marshalled as a military force, the troops were deployed without the means to even protect themselves. Forced to sleep on the oil-soaked, filthy floor of a Parking Garage in sub freezing temperatures. Meanwhile, Sleepy Joe tells San Francisco ghetto residents they will be housed in hotels courtesy of the federal government.
I saw lots of pictures of Guardsmen purportedly guarding and none of them had magazines in their weapons.
…..only a few used Playboy magazines that they picked up in the parking garages, Art. Otherwise, these troops, like Biden, came to shoot blanks.
They didn’t want a massacre on their hands and end up holding the share of the blame for it in case it hit the fan. That or they were afraid the guardsmen being Patriots would have a problem with Target acquisition.
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