National Guards Ordered To Use Parking Garage As Resting Area During Inauguration

Members of the National Guard who have been banished to a parking garage are now back in the Capitol Complex. This development comes after lawmakers voiced their outrage over a decision that assigned the parking garage as the rest area for the Guardsmen while on their breaks from shifts protecting the Capitol.

According to CNN, the National Guards were told they could no longer use space within the US Capitol Complex including the cafeteria of a Senate office building as a resting area. In the days leading up to the morning of the inauguration, several areas throughout the Complex were designated as authorized rest areas for them but were asked to clear out during the inauguration.

"We honestly just feel betrayed," said one guardsman in an interview.

"After everything went seamlessly, we were deemed useless and banished to a corner of a parking garage."

One unit of 5,000 officers was forced to take their breaks in a nearby garage with no internet reception, a single electrical outlet and only two bathroom stalls, the New York Post report said.

Photos provided to the media showed the officers lying on the concrete ground resting while leaning against concrete pillars and their rucksacks inside the garage just a few feet away from parked cars.

The National Guard Bureau said the troop had been temporarily relocated because Congress is in session.

US Capitol Police did not directly address the situation but issued a statement Thursday evening.

"Recently, the Department requested that the troops' schedules be changed so they work no more than 8-hour shifts to allow for more off-campus rest time post-Inauguration," the statement said.

"The Guard is reviewing the request so that logistics and schedules can be adjusted."

25,000 National Guard troops were called up from all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia because of heightened security concerns around the presidential inauguration. Most of them will be sent home within 5-10 days however some agencies have requested ongoing support which the Bureau said will be provided with 7,000 guardsmen to stay through until the end of the month.

A spokesman for the US National Guard told reporters that troops will likely be moved to the Capitol Visitors Center after the outrage over the garage situation.