Air wing CMC officially sacked following captain's mast

The command master chief of Carrier Air Wing 2 has been officially fired less than a week after being taken out of his job temporarily as Navy officials investigated whether he continued an affair with a female chief petty officer after his command ordered him to stop.

Command Master Chief (SW/AW) Brian K. Page, 42 was reprimanded and officially relieved of his duties Tuesday by Capt. Christopher Murdoch, head of CVW-2, after being found guilty of violating Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, specifically disobedience of a lawful order, at a captain’s mast held at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.

The relief also means the command has started an official request to the Navy Personnel Command to formally detach Page “for cause,” sources tell Navy Times. That relief could also mean that Page must go through a formal grade determination review that will decide whether he gets to retire as an E-9, or if he’ll get retired at a lower grade.

Page will remain reassigned to the staff of Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific, pending the outcome of the administrative paperwork; he’s been there since initially being relieved May 28.

Command Master Chief (AW/SW/SS/DV) Steven Schultze, the top enlisted sailor at Strike Fighter Squadron 2 will remain, for now as the CMC at CVW-2, based at Lemoore.

Page admitted to the affair in January, according to the release, after the allegations came to the attention of his command. Page is married and lived at Lemoore as a geographic bachelor.

His wife filed for divorce in February, according to court records in San Diego.

Multiple sources told Navy Times the affair spanned at least three years and allegedly began when Page was the CMC at Strike Fighter Squadron 14, also at Lemoore. The female chief was then assigned to CVW-11, to which VFA-14 was assigned. She retired in December.

Page made master chief in in June 2010 while serving as a command senior chief on the frigate McClusky in San Diego.

The affair came to light after Page had been selected to serve as the CMC of the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush; it cost him that job, according to multiple Navy sources familiar with the investigation.

Though Page was initially found guilty of adultery in January after confessing to his then-boss, Capt. David Silkey, he was not disciplined or relieved. Instead, he received “oral counseling” from Murdoch over a month later.

The date of that counseling is unclear; it was unknown to Navy officials, but they agree it took place after Feb. 14, when Murdoch relieved Silkey as CAG.

Officials tell Navy Times that counseling was never noted in Page’s service record, nor was higher headquarters notified of that action. The command allowed him to put in for retirement, which was approved and slated for sometime this fall.