SAN ANTONIO — A top Air Force training commander says he's retiring after leading the response to a sexual misconduct scandal involving trainers.

Gen. Edward Rice Jr. has headed the San Antonio-based Air Education and Training Command since November 2010. In a statement, he said he will retire in "several months." He didn't provide a date.

He will be succeeded by Lt. Gen. Robin Rand, now commander of the 12th Air Force at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Ariz.

Gen. Mark Welsh III, the Air Force chief of staff, told the San Antonio Express-News (http://bit.ly/1b5ZcPz) that it was Rice who worked to get to the bottom of the scandal that implicated 33 basic training instructors. Ex-Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters credited Rice with replacing the entire scandal-tainted instructor cadre.