Capt. Michael Bruce, outgoing commander of Echo Battery,

Capt. Michael Bruce, outgoing commander of Echo Battery, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, hands the battery guidon to 1st Lt. Jessi Wieck during a Change of Command ceremony at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, April 12, 2019. During the ceremony, Bruce relinquished command to Wieck – the battery is currently forward-deployed to Okinawa as the artillery support for BLT 1/4, the Ground Combat Element for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Wieck, the first female to command a Marine artillery battery, is a native of Brooklyn, Iowa – she commissioned in January 2016 after graduating from University of Iowa in Iowa City. Bruce, a native of North Reading, Massachusetts, commissioned in 2010 after graduating from Northeastern University in Boston. The 31st MEU, the Marine Corps’ only continuously forward-deployed MEU, provides a flexible and lethal force ready to perform a wide range of military operations as the premier crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. T. T. Parish/Released)