Parnell knew, refused to act

To the editor:

Imagine your daughter has joined the Alaska National Guard. She was idealistic and believed in service. But her dreams quickly became a nightmare because the officers that recruited her began to make unwanted advances on her and finally she was raped by one of them, and it wasn't just her, this behavior was rampant, so she complained. She and other young women went to the officers with their accusations. Not only were they ignored but they were punished, retaliated against. They went to the chaplains who attempted to blow the whistle by going directly to the governor, to no avail. Nobody would do anything to put a stop to these crimes that these young women were facing.

Can you imagine the sickening feeling these women felt. As months turned to years it became clear that not a single person in the chain of command was going to lift a finger.

This is not an imaginary scenario. It happened here in Alaska and shows an absolute lack of leadership through the entire chain of command. I believe there needs to be some thorough house cleaning that includes Gov. Sean Parnell. He knew and refused to act until the stories in the press made him squirm.

Fran Mauer

Fairbanks