Incoming III Marine Expeditionary Force commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, left, greets outgoing commander Lt. Gen. Roger Turner during a change of command ceremony at Camp Foster, Okinawa, on July 15, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A general with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has taken command of the Marine Corps’ only expeditionary force permanently deployed overseas amid heightened security concerns in the Pacific and an ongoing force restructuring.
Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson assumed command of III Marine Expeditionary Force from Lt. Gen. Roger Turner during a ceremony Wednesday at the Butler Officers’ Club.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass, Marine Corps Forces Pacific commander Lt. Gen. James Glynn, Okinawa Vice Gov. Tsuguyoshi Miyagi and Lt. Gen. Seiji Toriumi, commander of Japan’s Western Army, were among more than 500 attendees.
Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson, commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, speaks with reporters after assuming command at Camp Foster, Okinawa, on July 15, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
Lt. Gen. Roger B. Turner, outgoing commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, delivers remarks during a change of command ceremony at Camp Foster, Okinawa, on July 15, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
Watson most recently led Training and Education Command at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. He commanded the 1st Marine Division as a major general from 2022 to 2024, also succeeding Turner in that role.
He takes over “in an era of increasing strategic complexity” in the Pacific, Glynn said during his remarks Wednesday.
“The pace that Roger runs is rather quick — even though he’s a Clydesdale, he still runs a pretty quick pace,” Glynn said. “And Ben took it at pace with the intent to go even faster, which is critical at the time that we find all of ourselves in right now.”
III MEF, permanently deployed in the Pacific, is one of three expeditionary forces in the Marine Corps.
During his tenure, Turner oversaw development of the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, including its logistics, air defense and combat elements. Littoral regiments are central to the Corps’ evolving concept of stand-in forces designed to operate in contested maritime environments, a key tenet of the Marines’ Force Design modernization plan.
“There are sensing capabilities, there are maneuver capabilities, there are all domain capabilities — things like cyber and space and littoral movement — that were ideas four years ago that are realities now in III Marine Expeditionary Force,” Glynn said.
Lt. Gen. James F. Glynn, commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, delivers remarks during the III Marine Expeditionary Force change of command ceremony at Camp Foster, Okinawa, on July 15, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
From left, Lt. Gen. James F. Glynn, commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, Lt. Gen. Roger B. Turner, outgoing commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson, incoming commander of III MEF, pause for the chaplain’s invocation during the change of command ceremony at Camp Foster, Okinawa, on July 15, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
Turner will take command of Marine Corps Forces Pacific on Aug. 11. In his remarks Wednesday, he thanked his counterparts in the joint force and Japanese, Philippine and South Korean militaries.
“When I got here in January ’24 and we were wrestling with all the challenges that Gen. Glynn just highlighted, my recurring nightmare was that we would finish … and we would be exactly where we started,” he said. “That was really the driving force behind what we tried to do here, and the reason that we achieved this great progress was because of all of you.”
Watson, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., deployed to Iraq as G-3 Future Operations Planner with I Marine Expeditionary Force from 2006 to 2007, according to his official biography.
While commanding 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, from 2008 to 2011, he deployed with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to Afghanistan. He returned as commander of Task Force Southwest from January to November 2018.
His awards include two Defense Superior Service Medals with “C” device, the Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star with “V” device, two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and two Combat Action Ribbons.
Watson in his remarks called III MEF “the most capable and credible crisis response force that the region has.”
“Everything that we do will be focused on continuing to increase our warfighting readiness, strengthening our alliances and deter our adversaries while maintaining the trust of our neighbors, our allies, partners and the U.S. joint force,” he said.
AloJapan.com