“You just hold the line” had a double meaning. Yes, it meant holding the line in the field of battle—something that American troops accomplished month by month and year by year for 20 long years since 9/11. But it also meant something else. “Hold the line” on honor. On duty. On demonstrating that there is an American institution that is not overcome by distrust and division. Hold the line on demonstrating that America is still a nation that possesses a deep reservoir of virtue and courage.

Our nation’s story is complicated. It always has been, and it always will be. Right alongside the valor and honor of the vast majority of the men and women who deployed to Afghanistan was a story of failure, corruption, and incompetence by all too many leaders in all too many institutions. But the story of American sacrifice endures. Its legacy remains. And the story it tells about the men and women who fought, who bled, and who died is one of profound importance.

They did their duty. Their sacrifice has immense meaning. In their turn, and through their courage, they held the line.