About 80 Alaska National Guard members volunteered to provide assistance for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead said the request for states to send support came from the National Guard Bureau and District of Columbia National Guard. She said after Gov. Mike Dunleavy approved the request, guard members were able to volunteer.
There was a tight deadline “to ensure we could activate, process, equip and brief members in time to depart Sunday,” she said by text message. “We did not involuntarily mobilize any members.”
Guard members from around the country will help with crowd management and traffic control around the Capitol, National Mall and White House as well as with communications, logistical and medical support, a release from the Alaska National Guard said.
Biden will be sworn in Wednesday, two weeks after a mob stormed the Capitol as lawmakers were certifying results in Biden’s election victory over President Donald Trump.
