Back when I served in the military (on active duty) if you had a fellow enlisted person or officer that you could not stand, you could always count on them being gone before long to another assignment somewhere else in the world. Active duty military personnel (especially officers) moved around a lot and that helped keep the favoritism and cronyism to the minimum. The institutional knowledge mostly came from the civilians who worked at the military installation.

The National Guard does not have that much turnover. The same people may stick around in a National Guard unit for decades or longer. You might see fathers and sons and mothers and daughters all serving.

It’s the good ol’ boys network at its finest.

Back in the day, active duty military folks used to make fun of the “weekend warriors” from the National Guard. A couple wars changed the views that many people had of the National Guard. They were actually fighting in a war and leaving family and friends behind like active duty folks. They were not just being called up for fires and floods, but to actually fight.

As you probably realize, the good ol’ boys network does not always work out well for those who work in it and fall from grace. That seems to be what happened in Montana.

I caught the story from the Associated Press (AP) about a Montana National Guard General who was reportedly “fired last year after he rehired a woman who was suing the state over her dismissal from the troubled agency.” That troubled agency is the Disaster and Emergency Services (DES) which in Montana falls under the Department of Military Affairs – a state agency.  

The story is very damaging to the Montana’s Department of Military Affairs and the good ol’ boys network, but nobody circles the wagons like they do.

The AP tells a story of a rise to power and then the fall. It tells the story of a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, politics, bullying, sexual affairs, sex for favoritism, and lawsuits.

All they need is a spy or two and this story could become the next best-selling novel from Tom Clancy.

The story begins with Montana National Guard Brigadier General Joel Cusker who was performing duties as the interim adjutant general because at that time the current Adjutant General, John Walsh, had retired to become the running mate of Gubernatorial candidate Steve Bullock.  Bullock and Walsh are now the Governor and Lt. Governor of Montana.

The rule is that Generals are supposed to go along with the few folks in the state who are above them in the chain of command. They did not make it to the rank of General by swimming against the tide and making waves. The AP reports that Cusker’s officer evaluations were “outstanding” and that Walsh wrote that Cusker was “my go-to officer” and he was “among the top 1 percent of every soldier I have served with” on his last evaluation report in 2011.

Cusker was dismissed in April 2012. I wonder if there was a parade for him…

I’m thinking that the Montana Department of Military Affairs should put out the fires in their own agency before the summer fire season starts in Montana…

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