Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has another name to add to his “Woke Military Officers We Don’t Need” list, and she’s right here in Alaska: Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) commander, Air Force Colonel Lisa Mabbutt. The colonel started off her statement to a legislative committee in Juneau with an idiotic “land acknowledgment,” stating that JBER was built on land belonging to the Dena’ina tribe.
There’s just one problem. She’s wrong. Must Read Alaska’s Suzanne Downing has the details.
Colonel Lisa Mabbutt, the commander of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) and the 673d Air Base Wing since July of 2024, told a legislative committee in Juneau last week that the base occupies Dena’ina land.
Mabbutt was speaking to the House Military and Veterans’ Affairs Special Committee when she made a “land acknowledgment,” statement, both verbally and printed on her presentation.
Mabbutt was speaking on behalf of the US government when she essentially said that the government base occupies Native land.
Speaking as the commander of a major Army and Air Force installation in one of the most strategic locations on the planet — remember, none other than General Billy Mitchell described Alaska as the “most strategic location in the world,” and that still applies — and she starts out her testimony with a spew of woke nonsense — and she’s not even correct.
JBER is not on Native land. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act finalized an agreement about what land is “Native” in Alaska, and those lands do not include JBER’s 64,213 acres. The largest land claims settlement act in world history, it resolved land claims and economic development issues for Alaska Natives.
This, alone, would seem to make Colonel Mabbutt the target of a narrowed gaze from the Secretary of Defense and, indeed, the president, both of whom seem determined to root out woke nonsense from the DoD.
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Colonel Mabbutt wasn’t done yet.
In her presentation, Mabbutt also made a pitch for the Legislature to increase the base student allocation for school funding, one of the hottest issues in the legislative session. This could be seen as a violation of the Hatch Act, because she used her official position to try to influence funding legislation.
Could be seen? She was using her official position, appearing in uniform, to try to influence a matter for the civilian state legislature. But it gets worse:
During her presentation, she was asked by Reps. Jamie Allard and Dan Saddler about the large encampments on the base land known as Davis Park and also Arctic Valley. Mabbutt said JBER has some kind of agreement with the Municipality and indicated that the homeless occupying the base (which she believes occupies Native land) is not a security threat.
JBER is home to, among other units, the 525th Fighter Squadron, which flies the advanced and largely classified F-22 Raptor — and Colonel Mabbutt is allowing a homeless encampment to occupy part of this base? Forget the chances of the typically trash-strewn encampments attracting bears, which is a very real problem in the Anchorage area, but it places a large body of people, many of whom have mental health and substance abuse issues, on the same piece of land that is home to a squadron of America’s most advanced warbird.
What could possibly go wrong?
This officer should not be in command of a major military installation. Based on her demonstrated judgment, especially where the homeless encampment is involved, she shouldn’t be in command of a latrine detail. This is precisely the kind of woke garbage that should be eliminated from our armed forces; it contributes nothing to the armed forces’ primary purpose of finding bad buys and revoking their birth certificates.
And, of course:
Although Mabbutt does not list her pronouns on her official military biography, she lists herself as a “she/her” on her LinkedIn bio.
You don’t say.
