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Parnell fires more National Guard leaders; Walker says ‘too little, too late’ | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11

Alaska’s governor has removed three leaders of the Alaska National Guard, effective immediately. A release from Gov. Sean Parnell’s office states that these transitions in the Guard’s senior leadership were made Monday at the governor’s direction. The removal of the three officials comes at a time when Parnell is in the process of selecting a…

Alaska’s governor has removed three leaders of the Alaska National Guard, effective immediately.

A release from Gov. Sean Parnell’s office states that these transitions in the Guard’s senior leadership were made Monday at the governor’s direction. The removal of the three officials comes at a time when Parnell is in the process of selecting a permanent adjutant general of the Guard.

“Today, I directed acting Adjutant General Mike Bridges to immediately remove three members of the Alaska National Guard leadership, as I have lost confidence in them,” Parnell said in an official statement. “This is only the latest step in our effort to restore trust in Guard leadership.”

via Parnell fires more National Guard leaders; Walker says ‘too little, too late’ | KTVA Anchorage CBS 11.

National Guard leadership is at the whim of the governor. But this is something of a bloodbath.

We’ve mentioned the issue of inflated numbers of general officers in the services. And nowhere is there a better example than in the Guard. Every state has an adjudant general, appointed by the state governor, who holds the rank of Major General (two stars). Here we see the Alaska Guard with the acting Adjudant General as a Brigadier General being directed to relieve two other BGs. All that in a state that has a total Air and Army Guard membership of roughly 4500 people. That’s roughly the size of a Brigade Combat Team, which is a Colonel’s command.

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  1. Jeff Gauch

    Well we can’t have the Alaska AG be a lower rank than the others just because he commands a smaller unit. The other AG’s might not let him play in their stupid FOGO games.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Buck Buchanan

    Ahhh, now you are messing with Title 32 Militia laws. The TAG positions are regonized in US Code. But remember these are nto combatant generals usually. The are head of the state militia…of which the ARNG & ANG are just a part.

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  3. Quartermaster

    I don’t know if the rank of an state AG is dictated by the Feds or not. It appears traditional, anyway, that the AG be a Major General, with the two subordinate AGs be Brigadiers. When I was in the TNARNG, we had 2 brigades, 1 Armor, 1 Engineer, and an ACR as the major units, with a number of independent smaller units. Almost every town of any consequence in the state had an Armory with a Company size unit in it.

    New Hampshire and Vermont had NG establishments a small fraction of Tennessee’s, yet had the AG structure as Tennessee. I don’t see a point in it, frankly, when the largest unit you have is a command for a LTC, and yet have three GOs over it all.

    Wing command is usually a Colonel Command as well.

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  4. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    50+ (states & territories) and each nearly it own fiefdom, used to drive the AC guys understandably nuts! What is odd however in an already odd structure is this putsch the size of which I have never heard of in modern times (1968-2009).

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  5. Quartermaster

    The AG and the Assistants, are all political appointees. The AG while I was in the TNARNG had been a LTC before he was appointed. Pretty good jump, that. This is the first I’ve heard of anything like this happening and it is shocking given the political nature of the positions.

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  6. xbradtc

    A couple of years ago, Illinois appointed a chaplain as the AG. http://xbradtc.com/2013/01/04/chaplain-named-as-adjutant-general/

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  7. David Navarre

    Is it that they are thinking long-term mobilization? That each NG brigade would swell to a Division and they’d need all the higher ranking officers?

    Or is it like some reenactors, who insist on being Colonels and Generals despite not having any Privates to command?

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  8. Quartermaster

    I don’t if either is the case. In any event, if a ARNG unit were activated, it’s not likely they would keep their senior officers anyway. The state’s AG would not be activated anyway.

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