Sailors and Marines stand at attention during the Task Force 76/3 change-of-command ceremony at the Camp Courtney Chapel on Okinawa, Friday, June 9, 2023. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP COURTNEY, Okinawa — The admiral who helmed a trial of new Navy and Marine Corps warfare concepts in the Indo-Pacific region handed his task force command over to a successor last week.
Rear Adm. Derek Trinque passed responsibility for Task Force 76/3, also known as Expeditionary Strike Group 7, to Rear Adm. Christopher Stone during a ceremony at the Camp Courtney Chapel on Friday. About 100 Marines and sailors watched from wooden pews.
Trinque took command in September of the revamped strike group, which included elements of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, ahead of exercises Noble Fusion at undisclosed spots across the Indo-Pacific and Kamandag in the Philippines. Navy and Marine Corps leadership ordered the 18-month experiment to increase readiness and test “naval integration concepts” at-sea and on shore.
Task Force 76/3 is an experimental “proof of concept,” not a permanently established command, according to an October news release from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
“Task Force 76/3 is what we believe naval integration should look like for our mission and our forces in the Indo-Pacific region," Brig. Gen. Fridrik Fridriksson, deputy task force commander, said in the release. “We are going to be real and honest with ourselves, so we can provide better prepared forces for the full range of operations, from humanitarian and disaster response to high-intensity conflict.”
Trinque praised the task force’s Marines and sailors for their performance during his tenure.
“I am filled with awe of the amazing things you have done, for the incredible structure you have built,” he said at Friday’s ceremony. “You have shown that we can command American ships, aircraft, Marines ashore in expeditionary bases and forces from our allies and partners and do it from basically anywhere.”
Task Force 76/3 is responsible for “rapid mobilization in the event of crisis, conflict, or natural disaster” in the 7th Fleet, the unit website states. That area encompasses more than 48 million square miles from the Kuril Islands in the north to the Antarctic, and from the International Date Line to the India-Pakistan border.
Rear Adm. Derek Trinque, left, congratulates Rear Adm. Christopher Stone following the Task Force 76/3 change-of-command ceremony at the Camp Courtney Chapel on Okinawa, Friday, June 9, 2023. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
The task force is made up of approximately 5,500 sailors, along with aircraft, landing craft and ships stationed across the Indo-Pacific region. It is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility on Okinawa, but its ships are based mostly in Sasebo, on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. The vessels travel south to Okinawa to pick up the Marines before going out on patrol.
Stone, a 1994 U.S. Naval Academy graduate and a Texas native, arrives from the Pentagon, where he served as special assistant to Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the vice chief of naval operations.
“The team here has broken through and established something new,” he told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony. “Our opportunity is to be able to build upon that and take it to the next level.”
Stone said he intends to “clear barriers” for sailors and Marines wherever possible to “enable them to do their best.”
Trinque, who arrived on Okinawa in June 2022 and has been selected for his second star, now heads to Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where he will serve as director of Transportation Command’s strategy, policy, programs and logistics, according to a Defense Department statement in April.
Trinque’s promotion is one of about 200 held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who pledged to slow Senate votes on the Pentagon's nominations until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin changes the military's policy on abortions for service members and their families.
Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.
