At 7:45 a.m. Thursday, Maj. Gen. Ernest Park arrived at the flight operations building of the 112th Medivac Co. ready to fly to a couple of Maine National Guard projects for an inspection tour.

The day before, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released a report of the investigation into allegations that Park had misused military aircraft under his command. The report found that he had acted “technically within regulations.”

“There’s 1,500 missions a year we fly with the KC-135s (of the 101st Air Refueling Wing). Do I know where they all go? Of course not,” Park said Thursday.

The four-month investigation did not hurt his morale but he was glad it was over, he said, drinking a cup of coffee while waiting for the flight crew to complete its preflight check of the helicopter.

“The investigators had a long session with me,” Park said later in the day. “I felt confident of the outcome. I think it has irritated some of the people that tried to keep this alive in the press.”

The entourage for the day included Park, his daughter, Lt. Debbie Park, a non-commissioned officer, the flight crew of four and one reporter. The day’s schedule consisted of a flight to Castine for a tour of the Soviet tall ship Druzhba and stops at areas at Maine Maritime Academy where the Guard may undertake some public improvements.

The stop in Belfast, after a short delay and a change of aircraft caused by equipment failure, entailed acting as an aerial platform for Coast Guard officers observing a mock oil spill.

Ten hours after leaving, Park and the other passengers landed back in Bangor.

Thinking back over the past four months, Park said, “If, when I took this job, I thought that there weren’t going to be any people problems, I’d still believe in the Tooth Fairy.”

The Inspector General’s Office started the investigation at about the same time that Col. Richard Wright publicly aired his allegations about Park’s misuse of aircraft in the wake of his refusal to accept a transfer, which resulted in his termination.

The report also found that Wright’s reassignment was not a reprisal for his whistle-blowing activities. Until the full report is released and he has a chance to read it, Wright refuses comment on the investigation, the report, or the future.

Of the allegations about his frequent flights, Park said, “In my position, I know shots like these come with the territory.”

Part of the problem stems from the organization itself, he said. In the Army or Air Force, personnel are rotated in and out of a command on a regular basis. In the National Guard, personnel stay in the same unit for the duration of their service, he said. The result is that bitterness, resentment, and jealousy have a chance to grow and fester.

“I think what happens in this business,” he said, “is that you end up helping a lot of the people and worrying too much about it. But at some point you get hardened to it.”

A lot of the problem stems from the perception of people who do not know the whole story, he said. And as for the rules and regulations, he said, “I’m better acquainted with them now than I was in the past.”