Maj. Gen. Valerie Jackson takes command of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, June 5, 2025. (Nikolas Mascroft/U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A former Marine Corps historian has taken charge of U.S. Marines in South Korea in one of several leadership changes taking place this month across the peninsula.
Maj. Gen. Valerie Jackson assumed command of Marine Corps Forces Korea from Maj. Gen. William Souza during a ceremony Thursday on Barker Field on Humphreys, home to U.S. Forces Korea, according to a command news release.
Jackson described the U.S.-South Korean alliances as “grounded in strength and underscored by our commitment to each other.”
“Together, our shared vision will undoubtedly yield remarkable achievements,” she said, according to the release.
Souza, who led Marine Forces Korea for two years, supervised large-scale amphibious training with South Korean marines and naval forces, including August’s 13-day Ssangyong exercise. The drills featured about 40 amphibious assault vehicles and 40 aircraft from both countries.
Souza is headed to Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., where he will become deputy commander of Marine Corps Training and Education Command, Marine Forces Korea spokeswoman Capt. Ana Chiu said by email Friday.
USFK’s commander, Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, presided over Thursday’s command change. He called Jackson “the right leader” to oversee the roughly 100 Marines stationed on the peninsula.
“This isn’t a steady state mission, it is a forward position of deterrence in the region that is always moving,” Brunson said, according to the release. “It demands leaders who can read the terrain, anticipate threats and never wait for the ideal conditions to come about.”
Jackson’s previous roles include leading the 4th Marine Logistics Group in New Orleans and serving as deputy commander of II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to her service biography.
She was commissioned in 1994 through Boston University’s ROTC program. Early in her career, she served as a communications officer and later as a wire and radio platoon commander.
In 2006, she became the senior editor and field historian for the Marine Corps History Division, the agency tasked with preserving the Corps’ legacy.
Two years later, she joined the service’s civil affairs branch and helped establish the Marine Corps Civil-Military Operations School at Quantico. Before the school opened in 2009, Marines seeking civil affairs training had to attend Army or Navy programs.
Also on Thursday, Cmdr. Lawrence Schaffer took over leadership of Chinhae Naval Base from Cmdr. James Dipasquale, who had led the small Navy base near Busan since 2023.
Air Force Col. William McKibban, commander of the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base, is scheduled to move to another command later this month, wing spokesman Maj. Kip Sumner said by phone Friday.
McKibban, who assumed command in 2023, completed his “fini fight” — a pilot’s final flight before departing a unit — on June 2 aboard an A-10 Thunderbolt II, Sumner said.
