About 100 hand-picked sergeants and staff sergeants from across the III Marine Expeditionary Force gathered on this Marine Corps base to talk suicide prevention.
The Marine Corps’ first-to-fight force in the Pacific made history when Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima became sergeant major of III Marine Expeditionary Force.
When U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Joy Maria Kitashima takes her post in July of 2023, she'll become the first female force-level sergeant major in the history of the Marine Corps.
Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima will become the first female Marine to fill the senior enlisted role in a Marine expeditionary force when she takes up her new responsibilities next year at Camp Courtney.