2 Officers Removed at Los Alamitos Base : Military: Army Reserve officials say the ouster came after a six-month investigation.

Two high-ranking officers stationed at the U.S. Armed Forces Reserve Center here have been removed from their posts after a six-month probe into allegations of misconduct, Army Reserve officials said Friday.

An investigation into the activities of Col. Floyd Buch, chief of staff of the 63rd Army Reserve Command, and Col. Dixon Tuley, former deputy chief, was opened last July after undisclosed sources accused them of abuses ranging from claiming overtime for hours not worked to misuse of Army helicopters, Army Reserve spokesman Joe Hanley said.

According to officials, Buch also was accused of forcing supervisors to change job performance ratings of subordinates. They said Tuley was accused of improperly placing himself on active duty several years ago.

Hanley said some of the sources came from within the 63rd and others were from outside the command. “The two men were removed pending a final determination by a team of Army officials,” Hanley said.

Hanley said the two men will either be discharged or reassigned. It is possible they could be court-martialed, he said.

The two officers face 33 allegations of misconduct, Hanley said. The 63rd Army Reserve Command with its 9,000 soldiers includes about 100 units in California, Arizona and Nevada. It is the largest on the West Coast.

Neither Buch, Tuley nor Maj. Gen. Steve Bisset, the 63rd commander who removed them, was available for comment Friday.

According to Army Reserve spokesman Ted Bartimus, Buch entered the Army in 1964 and was the second in command under Bisset at the time of his removal.

Tuley was commander of the 6220th U.S. Army Reserve Forces School in Bell. Bartimus, an Army Reserve spokesman at Los Alamitos, said the investigation was limited to the 63rd and did not involve other branches of the armed forces located at the site.