Huffman's tour of duty on Guam ends next week

Gregory Huffman

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman’s role as commander of the two-star Joint Task Force-Micronesia will end next week. He will be relieved by Navy Rear Adm. Joshua Lasky during a change of command ceremony scheduled for May 15 at the Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz Fitness Center.

Huffman, a naval aviator, will report to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, where he will assume command of the Navy Education and Training Command. Lasky, a Navy SEAL, recently served as the deputy director, Joint Interagency Task Force South at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida.

Huffman came to Guam in June 2023 to assume command of Joint Region Marianas, relieving Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson.

In June last year, Huffman handed over the reins to Rear Adm. Brent Devore and took the helm of the newly formed Joint Task Force Micronesia.

Officially launched in March 2024, the task force serves as the nucleus of defense operations in the surrounding islands in Micronesia.

According to the Department of Defense’s budget document, the task force integrates “posture plans, military construction projects, land use negotiations and other joint support activities.”

The initiative to establish Joint Task Force Micronesia “reflects Guam’s importance as a command and control node for operations and activities across the Guam cluster—Guam, CNMI, Wake Island, Midway Island and the freely associated states,” reads an unclassified document released by Indo-Pacific Command in July 2023.

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