Investigation Focuses Only on Marines’ Use of Plane : Reaction: Personnel at the El Toro base say it is ‘bizarre’ that the inquiry alone drove a colonel to suicide.

EL TORO —  An investigation into two colonels at the Marine air base here has focused almost exclusively on their questionable use of military aircraft, officials said Thursday, prompting surprise among some service personnel that this would be enough to drive one of the officers to suicide.

Military sources stressed, however, that the number of flights taken by Marine Cols. Joseph E. Underwood and the late James E. Sabow was high enough to attract the attention of the Naval Investigative Service, which probes allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

Ordinarily, officials said the indiscriminate use of planes would be handled internally on the base, without the entry of the NIS, but in this case the agency has been called into the El Toro investigation.

Earlier this month, the inquiry led to the suspension of both Underwood, formerly chief of staff at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, and Sabow, an assistant chief responsible for air operations. Underwood allegedly used a Marine C-12 Beechcraft for out-of-state golfing excursions. Sabow’s responsibility included overseeing the use of the Beechcraft.

On Tuesday, Sabow, 51, a 28-year veteran of the corps, took his own life with a shotgun, officials said. Funeral services are scheduled for today.

Personnel at the base, home of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, remained in shock Thursday over the suicide of Sabow in apparent connection to the investigation.

“I’m more than a little amazed and devastated myself,” said Col. Alex Lancaster, an assistant chief of staff for logistics at El Toro. “It’s all bizarre to my way of thinking.”

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who met with base officials Thursday on unrelated military matters, said through a spokesman that “the whole base is dumbfounded. Nobody understands it.”

Dornan press secretary Paul Morrell added that the congressman “couldn’t pick up a hint of anything but the utmost respect for these two colonels.”

Marine Maj. Walter Bansley, senior defense counsel at Camp Pendleton and Underwood’s attorney, declined Thursday to say how many trips by his client were in question or where he had gone. The military has also declined to provide access to such records.

Bansley defended Underwood’s conduct as completely above-board, saying that the colonel had taken the trips to get in flight hours and maintain his active status as a pilot.

The military has been probing allegations that Underwood used the Beechcraft to go on golfing jaunts to the East Coast, Nevada and elsewhere, but Bansley said any golfing Underwood did once at his destinations was incidental to the trip.

“Assuming this is a legitimate training mission, what he does once he gets there is certainly not unlawful,” Bansley said. “It’s like if you go out on a business trip to Kansas City and you like baseball, so you go see the Royals play while you’re there.”

Asked whether the allegations extend beyond the use of planes for golfing trips and personal reasons, Bansley said: “Absolutely not.” A military source also confirmed that, with the exception of some issues of expense reporting and management issues, the probe has focused almost exclusively on this single subject.

Underwood and Sabow were both members of the Southern California Golf Assn., a regional organization of amateurs. Association records show that Underwood’s average handicap was 7.9 and has been as low as a 6. Sabow had a 22 handicap.

Underwood recorded 20 golf scores with the association between Sept. 19 and Dec. 9, suggesting that he plays about twice a week. While association records show that six of his 20 scores were made at “away” courses, outside El Toro, they do not indicate where.

Although friends said Sabow enjoyed the sport, he played 18 holes only once or twice a month and was not considered as avid a golfer as his next-door neighbor, Underwood.

According to friends close to Underwood, the colonel has maintained that by using a base plane to get to and compete in military golf tournaments--he would have been reimbursed for expenses had he flown commercially--he was actually saving the government money.

But a military source estimated that a cross-country, round-trip flight on the Beechcraft to North Carolina, for instance, where Underwood is said to have played in an All-Marine Golf championship last year, would cost $2,000 to $2,500, with fuel, lubricants, maintenance and storage.

Details that could influence the financial viability of the trips--such as how many people were on the plane and how long it was grounded--remain unknown, however.

Beyond the financial issues, others are bothered by the appearance of ethical problems.

“It is just a real bad tone and example for the junior people in the squadron to see the boss step across the Tarmac on his way to a golf tournament,” said one veteran Navy pilot on the West Coast, who has been following the case but did not want to be identified. “It does not set up the kind of standards we ought to be upholding.”

Times staff writer Nora Zamichow in San Diego contributed to this report.