Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods."
— Lays of Ancient Rome, Thomas Macaulay
Eleven Marines and one Navy corpsman (a combat medic) died alongside Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss in the ISIS attack on the Kabul airport last Thursday.
But the 13 did their duty and held the airport gate.
The pain of their families is shared, albeit in smaller part, by the nation. For some, the loss is personal. My grandfather, a 96-year-old Marine veteran of the battles of Guam and Okinawa, called me on Sunday on the verge of tears. He had just watched the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. "It brings back a lot of memories," he told me. While donations are streaming in for the families, their loss is immeasurable.
We must remember the others who died in Afghanistan before them. Their stories demand our equal attention. Their families deserve our similar gratitude. But as we honor these Americans with awe, our enemies will take a different perspective. That of pause.
Consider China.
Xi Jinping's regime is engaged in arguably the most comprehensive challenge to global freedom and prosperity since that of the Axis powers in the Second World War. And China is often arrogant in prosecuting its challenge. America, it believes, is a nation riven by division, lacking national purpose, and unwilling to bear the costs of defending its interests.
But witnessing these 13 who stood and died at the gate, China is forced to remember a difficult truth. The truth that, at least in certain areas, American courage remains unyielding. This is far from the first time Marines have held the gate (read about what Cpl. Jonathan Yale and Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter did in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2008). It won't be the last time.
I do not name Sgt. Knauss separately because he was any less heroic. As he was an Army noncommissioned officer, Russia, which is more likely to face Army opposition than fight against our Marines, must pay close attention to Knauss's courage. When it comes to China, however, the Marines and their Navy corpsman brother must bear the closest attention. I use the word "brother" very deliberately. Speak to a Marine combat veteran about a Navy corpsman, and you'll hear tales of saints. My grandfather leaves his description simple: "They are very, very brave."
Why does this matter, specifically, for China?
Because just as my grandfather's Marine generation stormed island strongholds, the Marines of this generation are ready to do the same.
Via its fortress islands in the South China Sea, China intends to extort its neighbors and the international community for passage in these international waters. If successful, the extortion will be lucrative: The South China Sea accounts for $3.5 trillion in annual trade flows. It's not just about extortion. China will use its military-trade coercion to extract political obedience from the world. Considering what China does to its own people, Xi's ambition demands resistance. Diplomacy must be the abiding preference. Still, the Marines are preparing.
Recognizing that victory in any South China Sea conflict would require limiting the People's Liberation Army's freedom of action, the Marines have returned to their 1940s roots. Should war come, the Marines intend to storm China's imperial islands. They would then turn the islands into pockets of chaos against PLA air and naval forces. Too many in Congress prefer pork over provisioning this strategy, but the Marines are determined. The 13 remind them why.
This is not to say that the Marine Corps is a perfect institution. Recent events have shown that leadership and responsibility remain far too heavily weighted on the lower ranks. But the lesson from last Thursday is defining.
Just as we've learned what we've lost, China is reminded who it faces. The world has been reminded that young Americans are willing to die for each other and for strangers. I think of another verse from Macaulay's epic, in which a now-victorious Horatius struggles against the raging Tiber:
And fast his blood was flowing;
And he was sore in pain,
And heavy with his armor,
And spent with changing blows:
And oft they thought him sinking,
But still again he rose.