Pacific Conflict With China Would Pose ‘Genuine Wicked Problems’: Second-Highest Ranking Marine

In this handout infrared photo from the U.S. Marine Corps, the USS Portland fires a laser weapon system at a target floating in the Gulf of Aden, on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. Staff Sgt. Donald Holbert/U.S. Marine Corps via AP

A conflict with China in the Pacific would tax the U.S. military’s logistical ability to supply and sustain itself in extreme ways, according to the second-highest ranking officer of the United States Marine Corps.

“While our pacing threat is China, our pacing challenge or pacing function is logistics,” said General Eric Smith, the assistant commandant of the Marines.