A colleague from the C-17 Air Force Reserve community says a senior Marine General onboard the plane went to bat for the crew at the hearing and they did not have to fall on their swords for the mistake:
But in an e-mail to the Tribune on Tuesday, the head of U.S. Central Command at MacDill, Marine Gen. James Mattis, acknowledged he was on the plane. Mattis, whose responsibilities include running the war in Afghanistan, also said he sought leniency for the crew. "It was just human error," Mattis wrote. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my time, and some were real doozies (worse than landing at the wrong airstrip). The Marine Corps kept their sense of humor throughout my checkered career and allowed me to move onward and upward."
More information including details of the timeline leading up to the C-17 wrong runway landing here:
Air Force blames wrong airport landing on fatigue, human error | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune