The Army National Guard's highest official kicked off a visit to the Last Frontier this week in Anchorage, with further stops planned across the state in the coming days.
Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy addressed a town hall meeting of guardsmen at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Sunday afternoon. According to a statement from the guard, his visit will also include stops at Fort Greely, Bethel, Napaskiak and Valdez.
Kadavy addressed concerns from guardsmen at the event, from overall cuts in the U.S. military to questions about the quality of the Alaska National Guard's cold-weather gear.
Brig. Gen. Laurie Hummel, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, said Kadavy's visit recognized the force's unique challenges in the Last Frontier.
"Lower 48 sensibilities simply don't apply here, and there's no better way to learn that than to see Alaska firsthand, visit the many different facilities and installations across the state, and most importantly, talk to Alaska Guardsmen one-on-one," Hummel said said in the guard statement.
Kadavy's visit comes after a tumultuous year for the guard, which has seen major changes in the wake of alleged sexual misconduct that became a key issue during then-Gov. Sean Parnell's 2014 re-election bid.
Gov. Bill Walker, who vowed to address the issue after defeating Parnell, subsequently appointed Hummel as adjutant general. He also commissioned retired state judge Patricia Collins to investigate the allegations, leading to a report that called for both apologies and accountability in the scandal's wake.
Speaking with the media after the event, Kadavy mentioned the availability of both leadership and funding for the state guard as potential future concerns.
"We're really in pretty good shape but I talked to them about full-time management -- it's always a concern of ours," Kadavy said. "We would like more money for training and for readiness; we're going to do our best to make sure we work our resources, make sure we put our resources where we're going to get the best bang for our buck."
Kadavy also expressed confidence in Hummel going forward.
"I know that Gen. Hummel's going to do all she can to ensure the readiness of the Alaska Army National Guard, for the Army and for the governor and state of Alaska," Kadavy said.
Ron Clarke, a special assistant to Hummel, said that Walker's administration was hoping to increase rural Alaska's involvement in the guard. He said enrollment figures in Southwest Alaska, for example, were below the high mark of 6,000 people set during World War II, when the Alaska Territorial Guard was mustered to protect the region from a possible invasion by Imperial Japan.
But he acknowledged that budgetary realities could make expanding the guard's presence in rural Alaska an uphill battle.
"As you heard today, Gen. Kadavy was talking about downsizing and restricting and higher standards and that sort of thing, so the National Guard may not be an avenue to expand rural participation in military service," Clarke said.
State officials were working on a backup plan, Clarke said, possibly involving the Alaska State Defense Force. That volunteer group, operated by the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and commanded by Brig. Gen. Roger Holl -- with Walker acting as commander in chief -- has a mission of supporting the Alaska National Guard.
Clarke said those plans, loosely based on the Territorial Guard as well as its still-functioning Canada-based counterpart the Canadian Rangers, would also aim to rebuild the Alaska National Guard's infrastructure footprint -- which has fallen from a peak of 92 active armories statewide to 17 today.
"We're trying to find a way to boost that back up again, get people involved," Clarke said.
Kadavy previously served as the Nebraska National Guard's adjutant general. He assumed his current national post in March 2015, after conducting deployments in National Guard leadership positions to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The other Alaska stops on Kadavy's itinerary will keep him in the state until Wednesday, Alaska National Guard officials said.
Alaska Dispatch News photographer Bill Roth contributed information to this story.