Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, speaks to reporters at the Okinawa Harborview Hotel on Okinawa, Jan. 7, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A senior Marine Corps general in Japan has been tapped to lead the largest operational command in the force.
Lt. Gen. Roger Turner was nominated by President Donald Trump to command Marine Corps Forces Pacific and Fleet Marine Force Pacific, both based at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii, the Pentagon announced April 15.
If confirmed by the Senate, Turner will succeed Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who has led the commands since September 2024. Turner has commanded III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Japan since January 2024.
“I am deeply humbled by the nomination to command U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific and am looking forward to furthering the mission and bolstering our alliances and partnerships throughout the Indo-Pacific region,” Turner told Stars and Stripes in a statement emailed Monday by III MEF spokeswoman Capt. Sydney Murkins.
Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., has been nominated to replace Turner.
Marine Corps Forces Pacific did not immediately respond to questions, including about Glynn’s next assignment, on Friday.
The command includes more than 80,000 Marines — about two-thirds of the Corps’ active-duty component — and oversees two of its three expeditionary forces: I MEF in California and III MEF on Okinawa.
A Marine expeditionary force is the largest Marine air-ground task force and the principal warfighting organization in the service.
Under Glynn’s leadership, the command has continued implementing the Marine Corps’ Force Design overhaul, which emphasizes smaller, more mobile units capable of operating across island chains across the Indo-Pacific.
That effort includes new weapons systems such as the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS; the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS; and the Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel, which is now in use on Okinawa.
At III MEF, Turner has overseen the development of the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, including its logistics, air defense and combat elements. The unit is central to the Corps’ evolving concept of stand-in forces designed to operate in contested maritime environments.
Turner enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1984 and was commissioned in 1989, according to his official biography. A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has received multiple awards, including two Bronze Stars and two Legions of Merit.
AloJapan.com