Nat’l Guard troops in DC fed contaminated, uncooked food Nine Line News Team March 3, 2021 Nine Line News 334 “Somebody” thinks we need to have thousands of National Guard troops protecting the Capitol in Washington DC, but they don’t seem to know how to take care of the troops doing the protecting. You might recall thousands of Guardsmen were forced to sleep on the floor of a parking lot, and in a park outside after they were kicked out of the Capitol Building during the inauguration. Some 5,000 guard soldiers and airmen supporting civilian law enforcement remain in DC. In February, Soldiers from the Michigan National Guard began raising concerns about the quality of the food they’d been given. In one message to a Michigan lawmaker, a soldier last month reported that meat served with lunch and dinner was almost always undercooked and sat in its packaging for hours before reaching the troops, per the Detroit News. “Multiple soldiers have been getting sick and vomiting after eating, and most of the food is being thrown away,” according to the message. “Morale is very bad; many have served overseas and cannot believe the quality of food they are being fed here.” All 14 members of the Michigan House delegation signed a letter Tuesday asking the National Guard to void the food service contract of the company providing the meals and find another vendor. Failing that, service members should be paid a per diem for meals for their remaining time in Washington. “What I was told is, if they had 10 meals, they were throwing four or five of them away — they couldn’t even eat them,” said U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Holland, MI. Over the weekend, service members reported finding metal shavings in their food, and at least 74 meals were tossed out and later replaced by MREs, according to the office of Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield. A National Guard spokesman on Wednesday acknowledged about 50 members have been treated for “gastrointestinal complaints” but said none were hospitalized. “Since January 6, there have been no National Guard members hospitalized because of illness from food. Out of the 26,000 who were deployed and the 5,200 who remain, approximately 50 have been treated for gastrointestinal complaints,” said Lt. Col. Robert N. Carver. “Six of them were treated as outpatients at military treatment facilities; others were handled at aid station set up as part of the Task Force. The National Guard continues to closely monitor the quality and safety of meals provided to its personnel.” The 26,000 Guard members from numerous states reported to Washington after the January 6 protests. It’s not known if the food problems affected Guard members from states other than Michigan. The Michigan guard’s deployment is set to end March 12. When hopefully they’ll get a decent meal, and won’t have to sleep in a parking garage.
