The Idaho National Guard will join the over 20,000 troops already in Washington DC to secure the nation's capitol.  The massive show of military force is in response to the storming of the capitol rotunda last week.  Idaho will send 300 Soldiers and Airmen to Washington, D.C. according to a news release from the Idaho National Guard. Governor Little approved the mission which will send Guardsmen to Washington DC within the next 72 hours.  The detail will include Nation Guardsmen, the U.S. Secret Service, the Capitol Police, the DC Police, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and other unnamed law enforcement organization.

This is not the first time the Idaho National Guard has been deployed to the inauguration.

“The National Guard has participated in every presidential inauguration in our nation’s history,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of Idaho. “It is an honor to be a part of the tradition of ensuring the peaceful and orderly transition of national power; an act that separates us from many other countries across the world.”

How will they get there?  Guardsmen will travel to Washington, D.C.via military airlift and contracted aircraft with standard government-issued equipment to perform a number of potential tasks to include security, communications, medical, logistics, and safety support to district and federal agencies. Nearly half of the National Guard task force will conduct security-related duties to include traffic control or by assisting visitors to proper assembly locations as well as entry and exit points.

The Idaho National Guard has planned for more than a month to send roughly a dozen personnel to the region in support of the inauguration. The increase in personnel is part of a new request to provide additional Guard support and represents roughly six percent of the Idaho National Guard force.

The Idaho National Guard has deployed out of state in support of national emergencies in the past. From Hurricane Katrina in 2005, wildland fire suppression in Oregon and Washington in 2015, to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria recovery support in 2017, the Idaho National Guard has provided hundreds of Soldiers and Airmen over the last decade in response to national emergencies.

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