Although the U.S. Marine Corps has had units stationed in the Pacific region since
World War II, Marine Corps Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) was not established as a service component of
Pacific Command until 31 July 1992. The Commander, Marine Forces Pacific, is dual-hatted as Commanding General,
Fleet Marine Force Pacific, a position that existed since 1944. General
Holland Smith, the first commander of Fleet Marine Force Pacific, established its headquarters in the summer of 1944 to lead over 500,000 Marines in the
theater that were subordinated to the
U.S. Pacific Fleet. After its creation in 1992, MARFORPAC was initially one of only two Marine service component commands, along with
Marine Corps Forces Atlantic. During the 1990s MARFORPAC commanded two-thirds of the combat units in the Marine Corps, totaling to over 80,000 Marines, and was responsible for providing forces to not only Pacific Command, but also to
Central Command and the
United States Forces Korea. Accordingly, the Commander of MARFORPAC was also the Commander of
Marine Corps Forces Central Command (MARCENT) from the 1990s until it became a completely separate headquarters in 2005. In 2002, then-commander of Marine Forces Pacific,
Earl B. Hailston, temporarily moved from Hawaii to the
Arab states of the Persian Gulf to oversee operations in the Middle East. The expansion of MARCENT during the
war on terror led to it being made a free standing headquarters under Central Command. Even after the removal of MARCENT from its area of responsibility, MARFORPAC remains the largest field command in the Marine Corps. A subordinate command for Marines in
South Korea (
Marine Corps Forces Korea or MARFORK) was also created in 1995, answering to MARFORPAC and U.S. Forces Korea. ==Organization==