Major Joshua Somerlot is originally from Edison, Ohio and was accepted into the Officer Candidate Course 208 (OCC 208) and attended Officer Candidate School (OCS) in 2011 in Quantico, VA.  He was then commission as a Second Lieutenant and attended The Basic School (TBS) as part of TBS class 2-12.  Following his graduation of TBS, he attended the Infantry Officers Course (IOC) as part of IOC class 1-13.  Upon graduating IOC, he received orders and reported to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 6th Marines (1/6) in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in December 2012.  As part of 1/6 he served as a Rifle Platoon Commander and deployed on the 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) from February - November 2014.  While deployed on the 22d MEU, he participated in exercises in Jordan, Djibouti, and stood Sparrow Hawk in Kuwait in support of the United States' first actions against the Islamic State terrorist organization. Following the 22d MEU deployment, Major Somerlot served in the Battalion S-3 as the Assistant Operations Officer until he was accepted into the Basic Reconnaissance Course (BRC) in March 2015.
 
Upon graduating BRC as part of class 5-15, he then received orders to 3d Reconnaissance Battalion (Bn) on Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan.  In transit to Okinawa, Japan he attend the Basic Airborne Course and Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) School.  While at 3d Recon Bn, he served as a Reconnaissance Platoon Commander until January 2017.  As Recon Platoon Commander he supported 4th Marines Unit Deployment Program Bn's, participated in RIMPAC 2016, and completed the Expeditionary Operations Training Group's (EOTG) Reconnaissance and Surveillance (R&S) Course.  Upon completing his tour as a Recon Platoon Commander, he then received orders to 3d Marine Division (3dMarDiv) G-3 to serve as the Deputy Current Operations Officer (COPS-O) on Camp Courtney, Okinawa, Japan.  
 
While in the G-3, Major Somerlot deployed as the Marine Rotational Force - Darwin (MRF-D) Forward Command Element (FCE) Operations Officer from March to September 2017 in Darwin, Australia.  Following MRF-D 2017, Major Somerlot then returned to his position as the 3dMarDiv Deputy COPS-O.  He was then accepted into the Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS) Blended Seminar Program (BSP) where he won the Gen Draude Leadership Award.  After completing the EWS-BSP, he was then selected to serve as the 3dMarDiv Headquarters Battalion, Headquarters Company Commander. As the Headquarters Company Commander, he developed many of the SOPs for the establishment and displacement of the Division COC, stood up the Division Security Platoon, and augmented 4th Marines during ITX 1-19 as the Lead Planner and Future Operations Officer.  
 
Following his time in 3dMarDiv, Major Somerlot then moved to Camp Pendleton where he was the Director of Division Schools from May 2019 to May 2020 on Camp Margarita.  While at Division Schools, he stood up live tissue training, set the foundation for a squad systems operator course, and made several improvements to the standing courses.  In May 2020, Major Somerlot moved to Twentynine Palms to serve as a company commander in 3d Battalion, 4th Marines.  He served as H&S Company Commander for the 31st MEU deployment and then the Weapons Company Commander until April 2022.  
 
Major Somerlot is currently serving as the 3d Force Reconnaissance Company Inspector Instructor in Mobile, Alabama. 
 
He graduated from Ohio Northern University with a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics in 2009.  His personal awards include three Navy Commendation Medals, one Navy Achievement medal, Naval Parachutist Wings, and various other Service and Campaign Medals.