A second commanding officer in less than four years has been relieved of his duties at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
The decision to relieve Col. Eric Schaefer, commanding officer of the Kaneohe Bay installation since September, was made due to "loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead his command," Marine Corps Installations Pacific commander Maj. Gen. Charles Hudson said in a statement Tuesday on Okinawa.
Col. Christopher B. Snyder, deputy commander of Marine Corps Installations Pacific, is interim commanding officer until Headquarters Marine Corps names a permanent replacement.
Schaefer has been reassigned to another position.
Schaefer graduated from San Diego State University in 1991, according to his Marine Corps biography. He has flown more than 2,000 military flight hours as a pilot and is a Bronze Star recipient. Schaefer participated in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and held numerous command positions before taking command of Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
In October 2011, Col. Jeffrey R. "Woody" Woods, then the commander of the Marine Corps base, also was relieved of duty due to a "lack of confidence," just nine months after taking command of the base.
Woods was a former F/A-18 Hornet test pilot who commanded a fighter jet squadron in Iraq.
A spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Pacific at Camp H.M. Smith said at the time that he could not disclose whether Woods’ removal was prompted by a personal or performance issue, or whether Woods’ actions endangered any troops.
The circumstances of the relief were a private matter protected by the Privacy Act and therefore not releasable to the public, the spokesman said. However, the Navy sometimes releases information about the reasons for the removal of some of its top commanding officers.
On Dec. 1, meanwhile, a lieutenant colonel in charge of a Marine helicopter squadron at Kaneohe Bay was removed from the job due to a "loss of confidence" in his ability to continue in command, the Marine Corps said at the time.
Lt. Col. Jay E. Moorman had been in command of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 since May.
