--- title: "Marine Corps fires senior enlisted leader of 47,000-strong expeditionary force" description: "The Marine Corps has fired the senior enlisted leader of the 47,000-strong 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, California." date: "2022-02-23" modified: "2022-02-23" authors: - name: "David Roza" job_title: "YouTube Writer/Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/david-roza/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-sgt-major-terrence-whitcomb-i-mef/" categories: - "Around the World" - "Marine Corps" - "Military Branches" - "News" - "United States" --- # Marine Corps fires senior enlisted leader of 47,000-strong expeditionary force ![]() *U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Terrence C. Whitcomb, the Sergeant Major of 1st Marine Division, speaks with Marines participating during the Super Squad Warriors’ Breakfast at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Aug. 30, 2019 (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ana S. Madrigal)* The Marine Corps has fired the senior enlisted leader of the 47,000 strong 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, California. Sgt. Maj. Terrence Whitcomb, the sergeant major of the I MEF, was relieved by Lt. Gen. George Smith Jr., the commanding general, “due to loss of trust and confidence in his abilities to fulfill his assigned duties,” the force’s public affairs office said in a statement. The statement did not say who would assume the role of sergeant major of the force in Whitcomb’s absence. Based in Southern California, I Marine Expeditionary Force is the largest such force in the service, with a long history of combat deployments. As the unit’s sergeant major, Whitcomb was the senior enlisted leader of the 47,000 strong unit of Marines and sailors, which makes up about a quarter of the Corps’ active duty service. After joining the branch in 1993, Whitcomb served as a personnel clerk, an administrative chief, a drill instructor, an instructor of drill instructors, and in other roles across his 29-year career, according to his [official biography](). He deployed as an administrative chief with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, then in support of the same operation with the 1st Marine Division as a company first sergeant in 2007, then a third time to the Middle East as part of a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force sometime between 2016 and 2018. The unit’s public affairs office did not immediately respond to a request for more information about Whitcomb’s relief on Wednesday. This story will be updated as more details become available. ## What’s hot on Task & Purpose - [**A Marine sued the Navy**]() **over how it handles ‘bad paper’ discharges and won** - **Army 3-star general suspended amid investigation into**[ **toxic climate and racist comments**]() - **The best gear under $25** **to make life in the field suck less, according to soldiers** - **How a rivalry between two WWII vets led to** [**the world’s smallest flyable airplanes**]() - [**Air Force Reserve major helps**]() **to subdue unruly passenger aboard American Airlines flight** **Want to write for Task & Purpose?** [**Click here**]()**. Or check out the latest stories on** [**our homepage.**]() ## Author David Roza writes scripts about military news for the Task & Purpose YouTube channel, and he also writes articles about military pay, benefits, health care, child care, culture, and other personnel topics on a freelance basis. Roza previously covered the Air Force and Space Force for Task & Purpose from 2019 to 2023 and for Air & Space Forces Magazine from 2023 to 2025. In the course of that reporting, he has set off a ‘Hollywood explosion’ with Air Force bomb techs, turned the (unarmed) keys of a nuclear missile bunker, hovered over the Nevada desert on an Air Force rescue helicopter, and got the best sleep of his life on the floor of a C-17 over the central Pacific. Share tips and story ideas with David at [david.roza@teamrecurrent.io]()