COLUMBIA - The governor has asked his chief of staff to look into the military background of a political appointee.

Will Folks, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, said the inquiry into the military career of Jim McClain was "very serious."

"The governor has asked his chief of staff, Fred Carter, and his chief legal counsel, Henry White, to look into the matter," Folks said. "That's all I can say about it right now."

McClain was appointed in April as head of the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. The department's Web site described him as the "United States Marine Corps' director of public affairs" and as a "tactical jet aviator." The same description was used by the governor's office in announcing the appointment.

McClain told The Greenville News he was director of public affairs for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at the El Toro Air Station near Irvine, Calif., from 1989 to 1991. He also was an airborne coordinator of aircraft, McClain told the newspaper.

"I guess I should have looked a little more closely at that," McClain said of his military job description posted on the Web site. "When I said a spokesman for the Marine Corps, that is in fact true. And that's how I have described my role, as a spokesman for the Marine Corps, not the spokesman, but a spokesman."

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Giannetti, a spokesman for the public affairs unit in the Marine Corps' headquarters in Washington, said McClain attended but did not complete flight school.

"If he was anything at all it would be a tactical navigator flight student -- not aviator," Giannetti said.

McClain said he worked as a tactical airborne coordinator from 1989 until 1991. "In the course of the evolution of flight, we have people who coordinate the movement of aircraft in and out of the exercise and/or operation," he said.

McClain said he has since become a pilot.