National Guard patrolling in DC (still...)

While on my way to a restaurant in the quiet upscale Woodley Park neighborhood of DC with friends we saw National Guard troops 'patrolling.' 

There are areas in the city that could seriously use well-trained community policing resources to aid in reducing violence and doing other good works, but I have never once seen any of these out-of-state military troops in those areas - Congress Heights, Simple City, Clay Terrace, etc. This is all about a certain leader's ego, providing no benefit for challenged communities - or for the soldiers deployed in this way for months as showpiece occupiers with nothing whatsoever to do.