The commander of a key depot maintenance group at Hill Air Force Base in Utah has been fired, and is under investigation by the Office of Special Investigations, the base confirmed Thursday.
Col. Chris Boring was relieved of command of the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group on March 4 "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to lead and command a group," Hill spokesman Thomas Mullican said. The investigation into Boring is ongoing, he said, and declined to comment further.
It is the second time in less than a year that the 309th, which is part of Hill's Ogden Air Logistics Complex, has lost a commander due to a loss of confidence, a term that military commanders typically use to explain why they have fired a subordinate commander, without specifically naming the reason why. Mullican said the previous commander, Col. Randy Ackerman, was relieved of command last May. He would not say anything more about why Ackerman was fired.
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Boring took command of the group last June, Mullican said. He previously served as the 31st Maintenance Group Commander at Aviano Air Base in Italy.
The group will next be run by Lt. Col. Aaron Rivers, who will assume command on Monday, Mullican said. A May 2020 release from Hill said Rivers was the deputy director of the 309th.
Boring is serving now as special assistant to Ogden commander Brig. Gen. C. McCauley von Hoffman.
The 309th performs depot repair, modification and maintenance support on the F-35 Lightning II, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-22 Raptor, the C-130 Hercules, the T-38 Talon and the A-10 Thunderbolt. The group also deploys teams around the world to repair aircraft in the field that were damaged in battle or crashes, and conducts field-level depot maintenance.
The incident comes weeks after a commander of a lead training wing was removed from his post, also due to a loss of confidence in his ability to lead.
Earlier this month, Maj. Gen. Craig Wills, commander of the 19th Air Force, relieved Col. Timothy Danielson at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, "for a loss of trust and confidence" in his ability to oversee the 71st Flying Training Wing, Air Education and Training Command said in a statement.
Col. Jay Johnson, vice commander of the 71st, has assumed command of the wing temporarily after Danielson's removal.
-- Oriana Pawlyk contributed to this report.
-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.
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