 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Deputy Commander of the United States Forces Korea, Lieutenant General Scott L. Cloyce, welcome to today's change of command ceremony in which Major General Ryan M. Wilford will relinquish command to Major General William E. Seusser III. Today's ceremony is being conducted by the Marines of Marine Corps Forces Korea. The commander of troops for today's ceremony is Colonel Kip A. Walburn. Please rise for the arrival of the official party and the main standing for the invocation given by Lieutenant Colonel Joshua N. Payne, United States Air Force. The invocation will now be given by Lieutenant Colonel Joshua N. Payne, United States Air Force. Major General William Seusser III. As the organizational colors pass, I pray that you have blessed General Walburn for the 42 Medal of Honor recipients and nearly 4,300 Marines who gave their last full measure of devotion to free our friends from a tyrant's quest. As General Seusser assumes the guidance of command, I pray that you would give him the strength of Samson, the wisdom of Solomon, and the patience of Job to continue reassuring the land of the morning calm that they have no better friend than his Marines. In your most holy name I pray. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. The present day parades in the Marine Corps have their basis in both history and tradition. The mass formation of troops on one long line at close interval made possible the massing of firepower from muskets of yesterday. In those early days, the line of battle was just that, a line of two or three ranks, and looked much like the parade formation you will see today. The adjutant forms the line for battle. The adjutant is Major Peter F. Izayevich. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the march on of the colors and remain standing for the national anthem of the Republic of Korea and the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. The parade adjutant now presents the assemble command to the commander of troops. Ladies and gentlemen, the deputy commander of the United States Forces Korea, Lieutenant General Scott L. Hoyce, has deferred honor to the commander of Marine Corps Forces Korea and the incumbent commander. Please rise for honor to Major General Wilford. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Now joining Major General Wilford in the reviewing area to assume command Marine Corps Forces Korea is Major General William E. Seuss of the Third. Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the ceremony's most solemn moment, the actual passing of command. The battle colors of the Marine Corps unit symbolize the authority and accountability of command. Transferring the colors during the ceremony symbolizes the relinquishing of command by Major General Wilford, and by accepting the colors Major General Seuss of the Third accepts command and confirms his total commitment to the Marines and sailors that he will command. The start of Major General Rodriguez is delivering the colors to the commanding general. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the passing of the colors. From coming up to the Marine Corps to Major General Brian N. Wilford, subject for the relinquishment of command effective 09-9-June 2023, you stand attached as the commander U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea. Signed David H. Berger, General United States Marine Corps Commodot of the Marine Corps. From Commodot of the Marine Corps to Major General William E. Seuss of the Third, subject assumption of command effective 09-9-June 2023, you are directed to report for duty as the commander United States Marine Corps Forces Korea. Signed David H. Berger, General United States Marine Corps Commodot of the Marine Corps. Honours to Major General Seusser, Commander, Marine Corps Forces Korea. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Following letters are provided from the Commodot of the Marine Corps to Major General Brian N. Wilford. Brian, congratulations on a job well done. The accomplishments of Marine Corps Forces Korea during your tenure are direct reflection of your outstanding leadership. I know firsthand how much effort you put into fostering relationships with our Korean counterparts and the new Republic of Korea administration. You are undoubtedly the right Marine at the right time to lead this command. By providing a clear direction, you have set Mark 4K on a path to meet challenges of the future. Meanwhile, you demonstrated foresight and initiative that made great strides in fostering our corps to respond to any crisis or contingencies in the region. The Marine Corps is grateful to you and Ogyong for your leadership as well as everything you do for our Marines, sailors and their families. We wish you the very best in your next assignment. Two, Major General William E. Seusser III. Wes, as you assume command of Marine Corps Forces Korea, know that you have my total trust and confidence. I know that you will bring the same outstanding leadership to Mark 4K that you demonstrated as the commanding general of fourth Marine logistics groups. Congratulations and best wishes to you and Jody as you take responsibility for the daily operations of Marine Corps Forces Korea. Semper Fidelis, signed David H. Berger, General United States Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps. Ladies and gentlemen, flowers are now being delivered to Mrs. Wilford and Mrs. Seusser for their unwavering support to their husbands. And a certificate of appreciation is being presented to Mrs. Wilford for her unwavering support and service to the Marines of Mark 4K. Ladies and gentlemen, the Deputy Commander of the United States Forces Korea, Lieutenant General Scott L. Poice. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of General E. Camera, I would like to welcome our fellow General Officers, Flag Officers, Commanders, Senior Enlisted Leaders, Distinguished Guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome Anya Hashimnika. To General An, Lieutenant General Kim, thank you for your support for the Republic of Korea Marines provide to Mark 4K every day. I'd also like to recognize the Color Guard, the Combined Band, the Salute Battery with Charlie Battery, 217th Field, Artillery, the UNC Honor Guard, USFK Staff, Rock Marine Corps, and Mark 4K teammates, and the exceptional efforts of the volunteers who put this together. If you would please join me in a round of applause for everybody and all their hard work. It is truly an honor to preside today over today's Change of Command ceremony on behalf of General E. Camera, honoring the change of command between two outstanding Marines. All of us in uniform know that any lasting success is only possible with the support of our loved ones. Brian, you and your wife, Okyung, have proven to be quite a team throughout your command. We'd like to express our gratitude for her numerous sacrifices to support our Marines, their families, and the local community in our alliance. Thank you very much. West, you and your wife, Jody, have accepted an enormous challenge, and we are proud to have you on board. Jody, thank you for supporting your husband in this new and challenging endeavor. Also, please give your appreciation to your children, Dene, Skyler, Kyle, and Connor, and welcome to the team. Our mission here is to maintain the 70-year armistice, to turn North Korean aggression and, if required, defend the Republic of Korea. Mark 4K punches well above its weight class and is a big part of that mission. The outgoing commander, Major General Brian Wolford, has led with distinction as the commander of U.S. Marine Forces Korea. He's also served as the deputy commander, Combined Marine Component Command, and as the service component commander, United Nations Command. Brian has shouldered the weight of command of all U.S. Marine Forces assigned to USFK and UNC, while advising the USFK and UNC on the capability, support, and employment of Marine Forces in this theater. He has ensured that if called upon, Marine Mark 4K can facilitate the rapid introduction of U.S. Marine Forces onto the Korean Peninsula in order to maintain stability in Northeast Asia. Moreover, Major General Wolford was also the U.S. Marine Corps representative to the commandant of the Rock Marine Corps here on Peninsula. Brian, congratulations on your super successful command. Only a small percentage of our countrymen ever become United States Marines. Far fewer still become general officers. You've proven yourself a model Marine. So congratulations. As we like to say to each other in the military, it's not goodbye, but see you later. Literally, you're moving up three floors and you'll be working as the UCJ-5. We're glad to have you on board. As we say farewell to Major General Wolford, we welcome Major General William E. Susan III. He most recently served as the commanding general of the 4th Marine Registry. West, welcome to Korea. You are inheriting an exceptional team and have no doubt you will lead with distinction. All our Marines deserve outstanding leadership, and I know you will provide that and more. As we honor the transition between exceptional leaders, we should also remember that Mark 4K remains ready to fight tonight. As we bring the ceremony to a close, I want to leave you with two closing thoughts. First, both General McCann and I are proud to stand with you as we remain ready to fight tonight. Second, USFK, CSE, UNC is the most lethal joint combining team on the planet that enables us to fulfill our sacred task to defeat our adversaries on the land, the sea, and in the air, the areas where you will find U.S. Marines. Thank you Marines and thank you to all in attendance for what you do to support the Black U.S. Alliance. We go together, touchy-touchy dot. Now I would like to welcome General Wolford's employee. First off, thank you for everybody being here. I'm going to try to talk slowly. My poor interpreter, Mr. Yuke, is going to try to keep up with me because I did not get him a speech. So first off, welcome to Mr. Baster, Donald, Mr. Young, the Mayor of Trump Tech, Joe Lanz. I'm going to keep this short, but I do want to hit a couple of points. First off, I want to talk about the unique nature of being here in Korea. First off, it's one of the places where we work with our joint and combined partners. And as the Army always likes to say, how do you spell joint, A-R-M-Y. But what that's done is, one, for the Marines, it gets a chance to work with all of our joint U.S. service members that work together. One, I think it makes us stronger. Things are a little frustrating sometimes when we learn from each other, but being here in Korea is probably unique in the U.S. military on how they do things. So for all of the non-Marines out here, thank you for everything you've done with us over the last year. I appreciate it, and the Marines appreciate it. I'll talk about the Rock Marine Corps later. But first, I want to talk about the most important people here right now, and that's the Marines behind it. So what we've done here at Mar-4K is the component is we are responsible for preparing all Marine forces to come to Korea. Over the last year, these Marines behind you have completely revitalized and expanded our exercise program to support both the Joint Force and the Combined Force, both in scheduled exercises and then regular annual training. We've updated our mission statement and all of our METs in order to reflect what we do here as the component. They've gone through and revalidated everything that we do here in support of Marine forces, both U.S. Marines and any U.N. Marine forces that come here. They went through, recognized all the shortfalls. They went through and revalidated everything that we have here line by line over the last year. And for you all that are familiar with some of those documents, it's quite a massive undertaking. We've realigned all of our post-nation support, realigned all of our sustainment in support of the Marines. All of this is what it does. It makes Korea MAP agnostic. All of their hard work means it doesn't matter what MAP shows up here in Korea. They'll be ready to fight because of all the hard work that these Marines have done. I'm very proud of it, and I know our Commandant is very proud of it, that any Marine force can show up here and fight the fight. And they can focus on fighting, defeating the enemy, not worrying about all their support they're going to have in order to get to the fight. That's for all the Marines out here. I'd like to give a round of applause for all the Marines. Now I want to talk a little about the Rock Marine Corps. They're our partners. There is no other force in the world that we are closer to than the Rock Marine Corps. What we've done over the last year due to the hard work of the Commandant, who's previously the Assistant Commandant, when I first got here, has been nothing but completely fulfilling. And I think we've moved the bar along as we continue to work towards force design for the US Marine Corps and force design for the Rock Marine Corps. But for everything that the Rocks Marines have done for us, sir, I want to say thank you. But all that being said, we still have a lot of work to do. Wes, as you get here, you've got a great team behind me. You've got a great team with General Kim, and you've got a great joint force here that's surrounding you right now. There's a lot of work still needs to be done. We just got the ball started. So from all my Marines, keep the momentum going for General Sousa. For you and Jody, welcome. I can't think of a better person here to replace me. You're absolutely the right Marine at the right time to come in here this summer. And I'm very pleased to have you here. The last thing, a couple of things that I want to go to. Being here at Mar 4K is what I like about being a Marine. This is why I'm still a Marine. It's being with the Marines that are behind me, people that have a mission, understand duty, and we work together. I come to work every day very happy, and I enjoy being a Marine because the Marines here and everyone else I work with over the last year. So for everybody, thank you. For all my families on there, my mother, my father, my brother, brothers and sisters, thanks for everything you've done over the last 35, 36 years, whatever it is. But thank you. Got some friends here. Thanks for being here. That doesn't happen very often. And last, I'll just close with Oak Young, but she's put up with a lot over the years. You didn't know I've done 10 deployments with her. I've been gone. She's kept the house down. And without her, I couldn't be here. She's actually the most special person to me in the whole world. Thank you everybody. Good morning and welcome. So really wonderful day for this event. So thank you for your attendance here. Yesterday, I was in Busan, and I was able to see Lieutenant General Boyce and listen to the myriad of responsibilities he has. So the fact that you're even here to facilitate this, sir, thank you so much from Marine Forces Korea. It's my goal to ensure that we continue the value at relationship with U.S. Forces Korea. So thank you for yours, Nathan, much for distinguished visitors and guests. And thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to be here today. I'm very appreciative of it. And to the Marines of Marine Forces Korea and staff, thank you so much for cross-decking me over so that I'm able to expeditionally move out in a run pace as the commander here of Marine Forces Korea. So thank you so much for that as well as your support out here for this ceremony. Also to the combined band and the artillery battery, I thank you so much. I wasn't expecting an artillery battery. So thank you so much for the rounds that you shot earlier. It's a I'm an old infantry tank and AAV guys. So that grand combat arm stuff, it really gets my heart beating. I like it. I'm so grateful and thankful for the sacrifice to be away from family for two years here with me. I thank God that I have to do this adventure together with a very busy future ahead of us at Mar 4K. I know through leadership and guidance that the Mar 4K staff is as prepared as it possibly can be to move forward and be a good ally and partner, very generous in transitioning Jody and I here. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the playing of Anchor's Away and the Marine team and remain standing for the remainder of the ceremony. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's ceremony. On behalf of Major General Wolfe, Major General Sousa, officers and Marines of Marine Corps Forces Korea, we thank you for your attendance. Please join us inside the UNC Hall for the reception. At this time, please return all headsets.