“Whether it’s sexual assault or whatever it is, it tears at the moral fiber of the unit,” he said. “I think that’s the frustration you’re hearing from a lot of these people. We’re hearing the same stuff. It feels very political to me, and most of us aren’t political. We’re willing to die for our country. Some of us have gone over and put our ass on the line for it. I love this state, and that’s the reason I’m in the Alaska National Guard.”

The crowd of Guardsmen responded with applause at the Soldier’s sentiments.

“We’re in a really ugly time right now,” responded Parnell, “and you’re right. It feels political because it is political. This is about working with you to make it right, right now, and forever more in the Guard. And yes, anybody that took advantage of another person, particularly with the sexual assaults, they ought to be punished. They ought to be in jail. That’s where they ought to go, and my hope is that ultimately that will happen with the crimes that were committed.”

Another issue brought up was the desire to have the state implement a state uniform code of military justice for the National Guard. Soldiers in the Active Duty Army fall within the jurisdiction of the UCMJ under Title 10 of the United States Code. National Guardsmen, however, fall under Title 32 orders, and are only subject to state codes of military justice. Because of this, criminal matters are handled by local authorities.

When speaking about the state UCMJ, one Guard member said that he feels as though having the ability to punish people in the same manner as Active Duty would help deal with these types of problems.

“I think the OCI report makes clear that we need to update and perhaps adopt our own UCMJ,” said Parnell. “The review is ongoing, and the legislature has to make changes so they will talk out those potential changes between January and May, but that could also be a rewrite that takes two years to do; that’s a very substantial rewrite of the statutes. It could be as quick as this spring.”

The last Soldier to voice his concerns to Parnell was a noncommissioned officer responsible for training new recruits in the National Guard. With him were several newly enlisted Soldiers, some of them not having been to Basic Training yet.

“Today as you look in front of you, are a bunch of young men and women,” he said, “and some of them are still wearing civilian clothes, because today is their first day in the Army National Guard. They just raised their right hand to swear to protect their nation and the state of Alaska and obey their orders. I want them to hear from you some inspiration and confidence that the Guard is a great place to be, the Alaska Guard is a safe place to work and that you’re going to do everything you can to put great leadership in their ranks, because they are the future of the Alaska National Guard, and they are the future leadership.”

“Thank you for coming with this head on,” replied Parnell. “If you look around you, you’ll see good men and women who are patriotic and who love our country and just want to give and selflessly serve, that’s who our Guardsmen are, that’s who they’ve been for many years. The fact that you raised your right hand, that means something to me, it means a lot to me and it means a lot to these people. By all means, come into the Guard and work with them to raise the level of professionalism and confidence that already exists. I think you made the right decision.”

Afterwards, Parnell thanked the Guard members for taking the time to chat with him candidly.

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