Inside look at how 25,000 National Guardsmen are arriving in Washington, DC
Bringing in so many guardsmen has been a major logistical feat in just a matter of days has been a major logistical feat after the Secret Service requested that the number of personnel increase from15,000 to 25,000. The number of guardsmen in the city will be a military force five times larger than the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
ABC News accompanied Hokanson as he visited Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland, where as many as 40 military flights a day are bringing guardsmen from all 50 states and three territories to assist with security at the inauguration.
By the end of Saturday, 11,000 guardsmen will have arrived in the Washington, D.C., area as part of the security mission and the full 25,000 will be in place by Wednesday’s Inauguration Day.
“I’ve never seen anything in my 18 years in the military of this scope go this quickly,” said Benson. “All things considered, it’s moving along really smoothly considering the amount of time we had.”
Hokanson said coordinating the transportation of so many guardsmen has been impressive given that they had to quickly transition from their civilian jobs.
The guardsmen helping to provide security around the U.S. Capitol building and on federal land in the nation’s capitol will be armed. Others who will be assisting local D.C. police in traffic enforcement beyond that area will not be armed.
Hokanson said taking care of the thousands of National Guardsmen arriving in the city has been a team effort between the National Guard and the Pentagon’s contracting personnel.