A new commander is taking charge of the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on Monday as the organization shuffles leadership for the second time in less than a year.
Lt. Col. Aaron Rivers, the group’s deputy commander, is replacing Col. Chris Boring, who was fired March 4 amid an Office of Special Investigations inquiry, a Hill spokesperson confirmed. Military.com first reported the shakeup on March 25.
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Boring was ousted because the Air Force lost confidence in his ability to lead, shy of just nine months on the job. The service did not offer further details.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, I can’t provide any other comment,” said Tom Mullican, Hill’s public affairs director.
Installing an insider as the unit’s top officer marks a departure from the steps taken previously. Boring joined the 309th after serving as head of the 31st Maintenance Group commander at Italy’s Aviano Air Base.
Boring came to Hill last June to replace Col. Randy Ackerman, who was relieved of command the month prior for reasons not made public.
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Boring is now assigned as the special assistant to Brig. Gen. C. McCauley von Hoffman, who runs the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill.
“He has experience in bomber and [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] platforms, and has served in leadership positions for many aircraft we work on here at Ogden ALC,” von Hoffman said of Boring at his change-of-command ceremony last year, according to an Air Force release. “He has graduated from and instructed at the Air Force’s premiere maintenance and logistics training venue — Advanced Maintenance and Munitions Officer School.”
As part of Ogden, one of the Air Force’s main sustainment depots, the 309th is comprised of more than 2,000 employees across seven maintenance squadrons. The group handles repairs and long-term maintenance for multiple key airframes, including the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, A-10 attack plane, C-130 airlifter and T-38 training jet.
Rachel Cohen is the editor of Air Force Times. She joined the publication as its senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), Air and Space Forces Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy and elsewhere.
