New commander, changing focus at Marine Corps Forces Pacific

Seventy-six years ago, the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal in World War II, beginning a U.S. commitment to the Pacific that continues today, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller noted Wednesday.

“It was on those islands where, with our Navy shipmates and our Army partners, we began our legacy of service,” Neller said at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

That island-hopping campaign likely will be on the mind of Lt. Gen. Lewis Craparotta, who took over Wednesday as commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific, headquartered on Oahu.

The Marine Corps is fashioning a 21st Century version of island hopping with new strategies that include a greater distribution of forces and speedy repositioning around Pacific archipelagos in the event of a future conflict that would likely see the United States challenged at sea by long-range missiles.

Neller noted that in addition to Hawaii, there are Marines on the West Coast and in Okinawa, Japan.

“We’ve got Marines in Australia. We’ve got Marines in the Philippines. This is where Marines do their business,” Neller said. The Pacific “is our priority,” he said.

“And that’s why we send our very, very best (commanding generals) out here,” Neller added.

Craparotta takes over for Lt. Gen. David Berger, who is leaving after two years to become deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for combat development and integration.

Marine Corps Forces Pacific is the largest operational command in the Corps, and oversees 86,000 Marines and sailors. Marine aircraft and vehicles adjacent to Kaneohe Bay formed a backdrop for the command change. More than 500 Marines were in formation on the apron outside hangars 101 and 102.

Craparotta’s most recent assignment was commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force in Southern California.

“Marines have a long history in this region — peacetime and in combat,” Craparotta said. “We’ve made a name for ourselves as the combatant commander’s crisis response force — and I look forward to continuing that tradition.”

In March 7 congressional testimony, Neller said forward-deployed and stationed Marines “are now vulnerable to attacks in ways we have not considered for decades.”

With advances by China and Russia, the era of uncontested U.S. maritime superiority is fading.

Responding against peer rivals “may be contested every step of the way. We are going to have to fight to get to the fight,” Neller said in his testimony.

As part of a plan to relocate some Marines from Okinawa, the Corps wants to move 4,100 Marines to Guam, 2,700 to Hawaii, 800 to the mainland and rotate 2,500 through Australia.