PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Roughly 200 service members with the Oregon National Guard are on the coast preparing for their deployment to Portland this weekend.

As of Thursday, the troops are spending a few days at Camp Rilea near Warrenton, training before heading to Portland. According to Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, they're training on crowd control.

In town, some people said they did not even know the guard was there, but one woman said she had formerly served in the Air National Guard in California.

"In my experience, I'm not aware of any conflict in the U.S. that the guard usually gets called to,” Anna Wilkins said. “And I find what is going on in Portland a bit strange. And I certainly wouldn't want to be in the guard right now or be deployed."

Wilkins said she does not understand the

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