Marine Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima, the III Marine Expeditionary Force's new sergeant major, speaks during a relief-and-appointment ceremony at Camp Courtney, Okinawa, March 7, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP COURTNEY, Okinawa — The Marine Corps’ first-to-fight force in the Pacific made history Tuesday when a woman became its senior enlisted Marine.
Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima replaced Sgt. Maj. Eric Cook as sergeant major of III Marine Expeditionary Force during a relief-and-appointment ceremony at Courtney’s parade grounds.
Kitashima, a native of Bloomington, Ind., is the first female Marine to fill the role in a Marine expeditionary force.
This is Kitashima’s fourth tour on Okinawa. Speaking to several hundred Marines standing at attention on the field and in the audience, she said she was excited to be home.
“You’re the very reason I’m excited to be back in III MEF,” she said. “I will give everything I have, 100%, for as long as I serve in this capacity.”
The III MEF sergeant major is the chief enlisted adviser to force commander Lt. Gen. James Bierman.
III MEF, based at Courtney, consists of 27,000 Marines and sailors at camps and air stations on Okinawa, on main-island Japan and in Hawaii.
It’s a “force in readiness” capable of responding to a crisis or taking up major combat operations, according to the III MEF website.
Marine Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima, the III Marine Expeditionary Force's new sergeant major, speaks during a relief-and-appointment ceremony at Camp Courtney, Okinawa, March 7, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
Marine Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima salutes Lt. Gen. James Bierman, commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Courtney, Okinawa, March 7, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
Marine Sgt. Maj. Joy Kitashima, the III Marine Expeditionary Force's new sergeant major, speaks during a relief-and-appointment ceremony at Camp Courtney, Okinawa, March 7, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
About 200 Marines from III MEF commands, such as the 3rd Marine Division, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and 3rd Marine Logistics Group, stood in formation Tuesday under an unrelenting sun.
“There is nobody more ready to partner [with] to lead this MEF than you,” Bierman said of Kitashima.
Cook called his replacement the right leader for the job. A career mortarman, he took over as III MEF sergeant major in November 2021 after serving as sergeant major for the 3rd Marine Division. He heads to Marine Corps Forces Pacific at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, to become that unit’s top enlisted leader.
Kitashima enlisted in the Corps in 1996 and trained as a military police officer at Fort McClellan, Ala., and served as a military police officer at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa.
She previously served as a command sergeant major for Marine Corps Installations Pacific, at Camp Foster, Okinawa, and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
Kitashima spoke about women’s equality in the service in a Marine video filmed in August 2020 while she was with Marine Corps Installations Pacific.
“The diversity of the Marine Corps is what makes the Marine Corps what it is,” she said. “But, women’s equality, it’s got to mean something, something to our young fathers who have a young girl, a daughter, who want to be able to tell that daughter, ‘You can do anything. You can do anything you want.’ ”
