Officers Lose Jobs in El Toro Air Unit That Raided Libya

The commanding officer and the maintenance officer of an El Toro Marine Corps squadron that participated in the United States’ raid on Libya have been relieved of their squadron duties for reporting that their F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes were ready for combat duty when they weren’t, a base official said Friday.

The former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Robin L. Savio, has been reassigned to duties as executive officer of a headquarters unit, while the status of Maj. Alexander Aitken, who was aviation maintenance officer and third-in-command of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, the Black Knights, has not yet been determined, said Lt. Col. Jerry M. Shelton, base spokesman.

Shelton said the improper procedures, which were discovered during a routine inspection of records, involved reports that the jets were flight-ready when they were not. The discrepancies covered the period when the squadron was aboard the aircraft carrier Coral Sea in the Mediterranean Sea.

“At no time, however, were they operating unsafe aircraft,” Shelton said. Nor did the violations have anything to do with the fatal crash of one of the squadron’s planes during a routine training mission, he said.

“Unfortunately, at this stage we can’t say for sure whether they (the violations) were done intentionally,” Shelton said. “If they were, the reasons are many, such as better fitness reports. There is competition among squadrons, even individuals. But at this point we just can’t say why” it happened.

Savio’s unit, along with a second F/A-18 squadron from El Toro, flew combat air patrols in support of Air Force planes that bombed the Libyan capital of Tripoli in April.