Semper Fly Mac!!

January 30, 2006

CAG in camouflage

The days of the “CAG” being a Navy captain ended as a Marine Corps colonel became the first commander of a naval combat air group to wear green.

Marine Col. Douglas P. Yurovich took the helm of Carrier Air Wing 9 during a Jan. 19 ceremony aboard the retired aircraft carrier Midway, berthed as a museum in San Diego.

CAW-9, which is based at Lemoore Naval Air Station, Calif., includes one Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet squadron — Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego — along with three Navy Hornet and five other aviation squadrons.

The wing provides a combat wing for the Carl Vinson carrier strike group.

Yurovich, a veteran F/A-18 Hornet pilot who first flew F-4 Phantom jets, has been deputy CAG since August 2004.

He replaces Capt. James M. Spence, a Naval Academy graduate and combat veteran, who will become assistant chief of staff for plans and policy for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.