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MDNG Soldiers and U.S. Capitol Police Unite for Security Mission

By Sgt. Arcadia Hammack, 58th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade Public Affairs

Members of the United States Capitol Police and Soldiers with the Maryland Army National Guard’s 115th Military Police Battalion based in Salisbury, Maryland, participate in a joint-training event in Washington D.C., on Jan. 27, 2021.

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Maryland Army National Guard’s 115th Military Police Battalion provided area security and participated in joint training with the United States Capitol Police on Jan. 27-28, 2021, in Washington, D.C. This interagency collaboration comes in the final days of the security mission in support of the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

While the 115th MP Bn. was stationed in Washington, D.C., they worked day and night shifts conducting security around the U.S. Capitol perimeter, and have received familiarization training on less-lethal weapons and civil disturbance from the USCP.

The National Guard and the United States Capitol Police both have a long history of serving, and together they have been united in protecting the U.S. Capitol Complex.

 
U.S. Army Spc. Justin Evans, a member of the 115th Military Police Battalion based in Salisbury, Maryland, conducts security along the perimeter during his last shift of the Operation Capitol Grounds mission in Washington D.C., Jan. 28, 2021.

Some of the Soldiers have even been united with family members who serve in the USCP. One Guards member was been able to work alongside his father who has served in USCP for over 27 years.

“I have been working with my dad who is a Capitol Police Officer. It’s one of those things where we get to work side-by-side for once and it’s cool to see what he does for a living, while he also gets to see what I do,” said U.S. Army Spc. Charles Crouch, a combat engineer with the 253rd Engineer Company. “It has been a cool bonding experience for us and it’s something we could bring back home to our family.”

As some of the Soldiers have been working near their homes and they reflected on the changes that Washington, D.C. has undergone.

“I think it’s just been interesting to see how the city transformed since we got here,” said U.S. Army Cpl. Joseph Patterson, a Soldier in the 115th MP Bn. based in Salisbury, Maryland. “The first couple of days on ground we went from the small, waist-high barriers, to the eight-foot-tall fences with the razor wire on it.”

Soldiers with the Maryland Army National Guard’s 115th Military Police Battalion based in Salisbury, Maryland, conduct security along a perimeter fence in Washington D.C., on Jan. 27, 2021.

Patterson said that the U.S Capitol Police checkpoints, military checkpoints, and the vast number of Soldiers that were here when we were at full numbers was pretty extraordinary, and it seems like it will be something unprecedented in history.

Out of the 800 Maryland National Guards members that deployed to Washington, D.C., approximately 330 of those Soldiers were from the 115th MP Bn. Maryland was one of the first to be on the grounds following the events of Jan. 6 and they returned home Jan. 30.

“Despite what we do back home, we all came here for a mission and a purpose of a successful inauguration,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Brittany Smith, a Soldier in the 115th MP Bn. “We’re making it work and we’re making it happen, and the unity is definitely strong here.”