Victory is Sweet
We like to think of America’s military victories as glorious affairs. Whether it’s Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, defeating the British Army fresh from the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, or the Union forces chanting “Fredericksburg” from Cemetery Ridge as Lee’s Confederates stumbled back across the fields of Pennsylvania: victory is sweet. Retreat or withdrawal – not so much. That Civil War battle is a good example: the day after Lee failed at Gettysburg, his Army began the long “loser’s march” back to Virginia, wagons filled with the wounded who could stand the journey.
But the Union Army stayed in place, not initiating a new attack against the Confederates. They stayed because the shock of the losses in their victory at Gettysburg was so great, that the “glorious victory” felt a lot like the massive defeats they’d suffered before. Sure, they won, but the cost was so high. It was the worst battle of the Civil War, a combined 7,000 dead and 33,000 wounded. The Union Army lost 28% of their effective fighting force (the Confederates 37%). The Union “victory” cost 3155 Union dead – their absolute defeat at Fredericksburg eight months before cost “only” 1284.
The Rear Guard
Left to face any Union advance was the rear guard, the Confederate cavalry who protected their retreating Army. Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, the cavalry commander who famously left General Lee without intelligence before the battle, lived up to his legendary reputation as he screened off the movement of Lee’s forces back to Virginia. He faced an overwhelming Union force should their commander choose to send them. His actions, and Union General Meade’s hesitation to further commit his forces, allowed Lee’s Army to escape. But there were 654 wounded and dead from both sides in that “rear guard” action, summarized as the battle of Williamsport. Those soldiers too made the ultimate sacrifice.
Who’s Guarding Now
The United States began its withdrawal from Afghanistan years ago. As the forces dwindled down, we depended first on the Afghan Army, then a faulty agreement with the Taliban to act as our “rear guard”. Ultimately, we made the tactical error of betting on both. When the Taliban began their march to power, they were technically not in violation of the “paper”. The United States (Trump Administration) agreed to leave by May 1st. It was July.
Then the Afghan Army made what for them was the logical choice. If the Taliban were going to be the ultimate “winners”, why fight? The military that the US spent twenty years building and financing, literally disappeared, along with the Afghan President who fled to the United Arab Emirates. There was no one left to act as the “rear guard”. The United States sent in 6000 troops to serve in that duty, protecting the evacuation of both US citizens and our Afghan allies. In the end, it is American troops that are serving as the rear guard, as the final protectors of the American withdrawal.
And the longer the withdrawal goes on, the more exposed those final (and literal) gatekeepers become. This week we recognized how exposed they were. The only way to get “the right” people into the airport and onto the evacuation planes is to wade out into the crowd and bring them to a gate. There is no greater moment of exposure: US soldiers, Marines and Navy Corpsmen, in the middle of the throngs gathered at the gates, escorting those with the “proper” papers, literally to freedom.
Honor
And in the middle of that throng desperate to leave Afghanistan, are others desperate to kill Americans.
The nature of withdrawal means that those lines will compress, into smaller and smaller circles. The enemy will be closer, the target more vulnerable. The longer we maintain our rear guard, the more opportunities the enemy will have to launch attacks.
This will not get “better”. The thirteen young service members who made the ultimate sacrifice are likely not the last of our “rear guard” to fall. It is the nature of their mission: sacrifice that others’ may escape. We can argue and debate how the “end” of Afghanistan occurred. We can allow our ongoing political vitriol to flow into this tactical nightmare. But as that happens, let’s not forget those that we have asked to serve as that last “rear guard”. They stand protecting the others. And they do so with honor.
