Some 10,000 members of the National Guard are being mobilized for next week’s inauguration festivities.
“We want to be well-positioned to support civil authorities,” Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Milord told The Examiner on Thursday.
It’s one of the largest inaugural mobilizations in the Guard’s history, Milord said, with members from nine states and the District.
At least 2,000 are coming from Maryland and Virginia, Milord said.
Official estimates vary, but millions are expected to come to D.C. to see Barack Obama take the oath of office as the first black man to serve as U.S. president. Police, fire and rescue workers are coming from all over the country to help the District move people safely and to protect the nation’s capital.
The Guard headquarters in Southeast Washington will be run 24 hours per day through inauguration week, Milord said. Members of the Guard began arriving Thursday, Milord said.
The D.C. National Guard has been protecting the capital since the 1800s. Guardsmen were there when Andrew Jackson had to sneak out a White House window to escape ecstatic supporters. They were there when Abraham Lincoln delivered his “better angels of our nature” first inaugural address. They were there when Franklin Roosevelt told the country they had “nothing to fear but fear itself.”
The massive mobilization still has reserves behind it, Milord said.
“If we need to grow our forces … we will,” he said.
