OTTAWA – Two senior Canadian Air Force officers have been formally charged for allegedly failing to stop a group of pilots from giving a colleague an inappropriate nickname last June.

Col. Colin Marks and Lt. Col. Corey Mask are accused of not performing their duties effectively and they face disciplinary action, according to the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Specifically, the military police accused the two officers of failing to enforce military policies on preventing and dealing with sexual misconduct. Both men declined to comment Monday.

Air Force spokesman Maj. Trevor Reid said Monday the two officers had been charged over the past month.

These charges are not criminal in nature and, according to Mr. Reid, their hearings will be conducted behind closed doors by other Cold Lake officers.

A third, younger officer was also charged with causing disciplinary or moral damage “for participating in the assignment of an inappropriate call sign,” Mr Reid said. The chain of command “applied separate administrative measures as a disciplinary measure” in this case.

Administrative measures, which usually involve warnings and reprimands, were also imposed on a range of other officers, ranging from second lieutenant to major, Mr Reid added.

The charges and disciplinary measures stem from an informal meeting held on June 22 at one of Canada’s two largest air bases, 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta. At these meetings, pilots assign nicknames or callsigns to new members over drinks.

However, during the June meeting, several fighter pilots proposed, discussed, and assigned an “inappropriate” callsign to another pilot, according to the Air Force.