How Malakai Obed Became the First Ni-Vanuatu United States Marine

When the young trainees pushed forward to the peak of ‘The Reaper’— a 700-foot mountain at the San Diego Marine Training Command Center—18-year-old Malakai Obed became the first ni-Vanuatu US Marine in history. To commence the final test to become a United States Marine, the recruits had begun the 10-mile uphill hike at night. In the dark, Obed described the out-of-body experience of walking like zombies, sleep-deprived, marching with their eyes closed. At the climax, their training would be complete. As dawn broke, Obed’s commitment to national service had given him an incredible accomplishment, “the sunrise comes up right at the top. They time it perfectly.”

The Marines hold the reputation as the nation's first line of defense, composed of warriors forged by training that pushes physical and mental limits. After graduating high school, Obed chose the Marines for exactly this. “I like the challenge,” he said and he launched straight into bootcamp training. The Marines are held together by the core tenets of honor, courage, and commitment, and are faced with the unique task of being America's rapid reaction force, capable of responding by land or sea. The training Obed and his teammates endured reflects all the adversities they might face in service, and for Obed, the most difficult part was to “stay committed and dedicated. Going through basic training, it's not physically as tough as it is mentally.” The military lifestyle of waking up at 4 AM and the increased intensity of drills prepared Obed and the young recruits for the incredible reality of their sacrifice: they are vessels of a cause greater than themselves. Obed ‘embraced the suck’ as fellow Marines often advised, accepting every challenge that came his way: running a mile holding a log above his head, crawling under mud and barbed wire in the midst of Hurricane Hilary. The Marines refer to this final challenge as ‘The Crucible’—2.5 days, 4 hours of sleep, endless drills—but for the entirety of their training, they remain in a kind of crucible, where pressure and intensity create the next generation of soldiers. Obed was able to find a community with the Marines, an entity united by teamwork,  “I think that I've never seen better teamwork than when I joined. And you get really close with the people there and you all start helping each other out. We can do a lot of things. So it is a very tight culture of teamwork.”

Obed’s family holds an extreme amount of pride for not just his accomplishment in completing Marine training, but his unique opportunity to represent his Vanuatu ancestry. The warrior culture of the US Marines is connected to the historic warrior ethic of Melanesians by honor, invoking the image of a warrior with a spear on the Vanuatu coat of arms. His message to young Ni-Vanuatu is, "Look at everything as an opportunity, and instead of being afraid of something, challenge it.” Obed embodies this philosophy. Not despite, but because of his extreme fear of heights, he signed a contract to join the Marines aviation unit. Obed’s distinctive story as the first ni-Vanuatu Marine motivated by challenge gives us a new philosophy on fear: embrace it. 

Earlier, we sat down and chatted with Kai about his experience. Check out our conversation with him here.

By Saiya McElderry
Picture Source: Jamie Obed Rowley