The Marine command that oversees the Corps’ operations throughout the Caribbean and Central and South Americas and the Caribbean has a new commander.

Brig. Gen. Kevin Iiams assumed command of Marine Corps Forces South on Thursday at an assumption of command ceremony at the Conference Center of the Americas in Miami, Florida, officiated by Marine Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command.

Iiams replaced Brig. Gen. Eric Smith, who was appointed as MARFORSOUTH’s first full-time dedicated commander in last July. Smith was tapped in December to be Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s senior military adviser advisor, replacing an Army three-star fired in November.

The new MARFORSOUTH commander is an FA-18 Hornet aviator who has flown more than over 500 combat hours on over 270 combat missions, and previously served as the assistant wing commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Camp Pendleton, California.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom II, Iiams' Iiam's Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242 set a record 3,800 combat sorties and 8,300 combat hours over nine months while supporting the bBattle of Fallujah and other operations.

As the head of the Marine Corps’ SOUTHCOM component of SOUTHCOM, Iiams Iams will oversee attached Marine forces in the region and advise the combatant SOUTHCOM commander on their employment and support.

That includes These include the newly created Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force—South, stood up last May to engage in a wide array of tasks throughout the area of responsibility, including crisis response, humanitarian infrastructure development and military training for American’s partners in the region.

Kelly, SOUTHCOM’s commander since November Nov. 2012, has actively campaigned for increased U.S. military presence in the region to counter rising national security threats.

In his Posture Statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee last March, Kelly specifically noted that risks posed by transnational criminal organizations involved in the drug trade, arms trafficking and human smuggling are not being given enough attention.

Additionally, growing Russian and Chinese activities and Venezuelan instability continue to threaten America's interests in the region.

"The truth is we are managing to keep the pilot light of U.S. military engagement on in the region – but just barely," Kelly said. "U.S. Southern Command has accepted risk for so long in this region that we now face a near-total lack of awareness of threats and the readiness to respond, should those threats reach crisis levels."

Kelly, who is retiring after 40 years in the Marine Corps, will be replaced as SOUTHCOM commander by Navy Vice Adm. Kurt Tidd on during a Jan. 18 change of command ceremony.

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