There are plenty of military bases right outside of DC that can provide sleep quarters and meals for our deployed military. If need be they can provide the very large tents that can house a lot of soldiers. Surely Andrews AFB, along with the other military bases have at bare minimum large expanses of lawns. The military can fly them in on helicopter if they have do, since there cannot too many people coming into Reagan airport due to COVID.
In this unique deployment situation....they wanted only ‘guards’ and not the support structure that would normally come with them (chow hall, medical staff, tent-city, etc).
So they ended up in hotel rooms (special gov’t rates), and meals contracted out via local catering. So you could get a plain juice, a coffee and a large breakfast roll for $8.50 (that’s standard pricing in the DC/Arlington region).
I’d readily admit this is a marginally-planned deployment and reminds me of a number of 1980s NG deployments where they trucked guys in and pretended that they were accomplishing something important (for the cameras).
Andrews, Bolling-Anacostia, Ft. Myer, Ft. Belvoir, and a little north is Ft. Meade. Or they could put up mess trucks and trailers at the DC Armory or the old RFK parking lot, both of which are within 1 and 2 miles of Capitol Hill.
The Navy Yard and 8th & I Marine Barracks don’t have the open space and/or parking areas for mess trucks and tents.
Best meal that I ever had was at the DFAC at Bolling AFB in DC.