Protests regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline have gone on for weeks now and just last week the National Guard was called in to aid area law enforcement.

We took a trip to Cannon Ball, North Dakota on Monday and we saw first hand what the National Guard is doing.

And the very short answer is they aren't really doing much of anything. Admittedly, there is not much to do. Though there have been issues of law enforcement releasing dogs on protesters, and arrests have been made, protests for the most part have been peaceful.

Many people are arguing what role the National Guard needs to play. At a news conference last week, Governor Jack Dalrymple said that 'The Guard' would be providing additional security at traffic checkpoints.

As you can see in the video above, when we took our journey, that is indeed what they are doing.

Some news sites out there may consider the deployment of the National Guard a way to deny access to the protest camp.

This particular checkpoint was located about a mile or so south of the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery on Highway 1806.

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