"This culture of mistrust and failed leadership in the Guard ends now," Gov. Parnell said.
It's about damn time. There are a few victims -- both of rape and retaliation -- who wonder why it didn't end when the governor first learned of it almost five years ago.
November 2010, the governor was made aware of the culture of victimization by the Adjutant General Thomas Katkus of the Alaska National Guard. Military officers had risked their careers to tell the governor personally that female soldiers had been sexually assaulted by other Guard members and that those assaults were not only not investigated, they were covered up by senior officers.
At that time Parnell's response was to ask the fox what was happening at the hen house. The fox, Maj. Gen. Katkus, said everything was just fine. Nothing to see, move along.
Less than two weeks later, on Nov. 30, 2010, several Guardsmen sent a complaint to the governor asking him to "accept the resignation of Katkus because of 'multiple acts of moral turpitude' he had allowed to run rampant, including drug trafficking, sexual assaults/rape, illegal use of aircraft."
Crickets. Records requests show there was no contact of then Attorney General Dan Sullivan about the information brought to the governor. There was no investigation even though the commissioner's website states, "(Dan Sullivan's) primary focus as Attorney General was to end Alaska's epidemic levels of sexual assault and domestic violence."
There were female members of the Guard on suicide watch because of the lack of response.
In October 2013, Sean Cockerham wrote an ADN story naming the same sources who had contacted the governor years earlier as well as listing two victims -- by name.
Still the governor didn't have enough "specific information" to act. Neither woman was contacted by the governor's office even though one of them had gone to his office twice. She got no help. What she did get was the governor's liaison asked asked why she, the victim, didn't like Katkus and what she thought of the governor.
After my column on this issue in April, I was contacted by multiple victims of ultimately the governor's failure to lead, and act in a timely way, to protect members of the Guard. Investigations were underway by the Guard and I encouraged them to participate.
At the same time the governor doubled down with his support of Katkus -- a man he had four years worth of evidence indicating utter lack of confidence from the troops.
Parnell continued to deflect, and refused to take action on what he knew to be happening, stating, "Even without detail specific enough to pinpoint a victim willing to report, nor a perpetrator, we made sure through the Adjutant General that Guard members had a safe route to report sexual misconduct, and that their allegations would be taken seriously and investigated to conclusion, including any appropriate penalties."
And who was the general who would ensure the safety and proper treatment of victims and the prosecution of perpetrators? Katkus, of course.
Translate, the fox is now the head cook at the hen house. What? You don't want to order?
"General Katkus has been very forthright ... General Katkus has been very proactive," Parnell told APRN in April.
The National Guard Bureau assessment has been released, and Katkus has been forced to resign.
Parnell stated, "I take the findings very seriously because I care deeply about our Guard members and their ability to get help and justice."
Really? This seems new. Remarkably new.
Case in point, on Dec. 6, 2013, Parnell's deputy commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, McHugh Pierre, summoned Lt. Col. Jane Wawersik, the sexual assault investigator, to his office on JBER. He wanted to know if she had been giving information to state Sen. Fred Dyson. Wawersik told him she had not.
Sen. Dyson had pressed the governor to act multiple times.
On Dec. 9, Pierre called two of the chaplains to his office. After asking which lawmakers they had talked to, Pierre asked them to sign a letter stating that they would not talk to legislators. Both declined, saying they would first have to consult an attorney. They were not allowed to take a copy of Pierre's letter with them.
Does Pierre still have a job? His intimidation of those working to protect victims is counter to shiny new statements that Parnell will "accept nothing less than a command structure that leads Guard members to operational success in the field, and provides an even-handed, fair, and just internal structure."
Because of my coverage of this story, I have had the opportunity to talk with nearly 100 Guard members. Their years of bravery and endurance under a corrupt commander and complicit governor deserve our respect and apologies. It is only their love for service and this state -- and the hope that justice would somehow prevail -- that has kept them fighting for us.
Some of the recommendations from the report include "shifting the culture around sexual assault from one of acceptance to one of accountability" and "protecting victims of discrimination and sexual assault from being re-victimized."
It is the commander in chief, Parnell, who was for four years part of the acceptance, and not the accountability.
Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com