May 11—The commander of the 19th Air Force in San Antonio, the service's pilot training arm, has been relieved of duty amid an investigation into an unspecified allegation of misconduct.
Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart, who took command of the 19th Air Force in August, was fired "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to lead," an Air Force spokeswoman said.
Stewart was removed by Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, head of the Air Education and Training Command. The 19th Air Force is part of the AETC. Both are headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph.
"The Air Force takes any misconduct allegation seriously and is committed to conducting a thorough investigation," Robinson said in a statement.
Robinson offered no detail as to the alleged misconduct.
AETC spokeswoman Marilyn Holliday would not say whether the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations was involved or what the nature of the allegation was.
"I can't give you any of that," Holliday said.
She stressed there had not been any finding of wrongdoing by Stewart. "I think it is important to note it is alleged, his conduct," she said.
As head of the 19th Air Force, Stewart oversaw 32,000 employees and 1,530 aircraft assigned to 17 wings across the United States.
The command is responsible for all flight training operations within the AETC, most of which are located in the southern United States. The 19th leads cadet flight orientation at the Air Force Academy and trains both entry-level and advanced fighter pilots, as well as drone pilots, combat systems officers, and air mobility and special operations combat crews.
The 19th also trains maintenance specialists and provides survival, evasion, resistance and escape instruction.
Stewart was a command pilot with more than 2,600 hours in the air, including more than 600 hours in combat. He flew nearly a dozen types of aircraft, including the F-15C, a twin-engine tactical fighter; the U-2, a high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance plane; the T-37, a twin-engine jet trainer; and the T-38C, a supersonic trainer.
Among other assignments, he served a stint as commander of the 362nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Balad Air Base in Iraq and was commanding general of the NATO Train Advise Assist Command-Air in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrhein, vice commander of the 19th Air Force, was tapped to replace Phillips.
It marked the second time in eight years that a 19th Air Force commander abruptly lost his job. In April 2015, Maj. Gen. Michael Keltz resigned as head of the command "following an inappropriate comment made in a public Air Force forum."
In 2018, the AETC relieved three commanders at Laughlin AFB because of incidents involving "dangerous behavior and a threatening environment."
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