Air Force Global Strike Command Chief Fired Over Unprofessional Relationship

A senior enlisted leader at the elite Air Force Global Strike Command has been removed from his position over an unprofessional relationship at his prior post.

Chief Master Sgt. Thomas B. Mazzone, command chief for AFGSC at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, was removed from his position Jan. 4 after a command-directed investigation determined he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship while in his previous position, service officials said in a release Friday.

"Based on the results of the investigation, the AFGSC commander, Gen. Timothy Ray, issued Chief Master Sgt. Mazzone appropriate administrative actions and removed him from the command chief position," the release said.

Before serving at Barksdale, Mazzone was the command chief of Air Force District of Washington at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, from April 2016 to December 2017, according to his official Air Force biography.

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The investigation concluded Dec. 7 and the findings sent to the leadership within the command for a decision, said Capt. Earon Brown, an AFGSC spokesman.

The decision is "just to remove him from his position," Brown told Military.com in a phone call Friday. He declined to say whether further punitive action would be taken.

Mazzone has been reassigned within the command and is awaiting retirement, Brown said. His retirement date was not provided.

"Unprofessional relationships directly undermine good order and discipline as they detract from the superior member's authority and reasonably create the appearance of favoritism, misuse of position or the abandonment of organizational goals for personal interests," the Air Force release stated.

Mazzone enlisted in the service in 1990. He spent the majority of his career "in the special operations and contingency response communities," with numerous deployments to the Middle East, according to his biography. He has experience as an aircraft loadmaster and a chief enlisted aviator, with more than 2,700 flying hours aboard the C-130E Hercules and MC-130E Combat Talon.

His firing marks the second within the command in two months.

AFGSC leadership removed Lt. Col. Paul Goossen, commander of the 69th Bomb Squadron, from his position Nov. 27 because penis drawings were discovered on B-52 Stratofortress cockpit device screens during his unit's deployment.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.