Following his company commands, General Cugno served as the Connecticut National Guard's Recruiting and Retention Manager for eight years.

[2] The Department of Defense Inspector General investigated MG Cugno focusing on several e-mails with sexual content with a Chief Master Sergeant Kristine Shaw in March 2004.

Shaw was a personnel administrator with the Air National Guard and did acknowledge she did work for MG Cugno beyond her normal duties, including travelling with him.

The Hartford Courant obtained a printout of one purported e-mail exchange between Kristine Shaw and Cugno, dated March 1, 2004.

The two-word message - "I promise" - appeared to have come from Cugno's military e-mail account and bore an electronic signature indicating it had been sent over his Blackberry wireless communication device.

As a result of the investigation and publicity, MG Cugno submitted a request for retirement to Connecticut's Governor, M. Jodi Rell effective May 1, 2005.