U.S. Marine Commander Fired After Demanding ‘Accountability’ From Biden Admin Over Afghanistan Disaster

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, a U.S. Marine infantry officer and battalion commander, was fired late last week after a video that he posted on social media went viral. In the video, he demanded that members of the Biden administration be held accountable for the disaster in Afghanistan, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 13 U.S. service members.

“[I’m] not making this video because it’s potentially an emotional time, I’m making it because I have a growing discontent and contempt for my perceived ineptitude at the foreign policy-level,” Scheller said. “And I want to specifically ask some questions to some of my senior leaders.”

“If I’m willing to risk my current battalion commander seat, my retirement, my family stability, to say some of the things that I want to say, I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same honesty, integrity, accountability from my senior leaders,” he continued. “The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield, let someone down, that servicemember has always rose to the occasion, done extraordinary things. People are upset because their senior leaders let them down. And none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability, are saying we messed this up.”

“If an O-5 battalion commander has the simplest live-fire incident, EO complaint. Boom. Fired,” he continued. “But we have a secretary of defense that testified to Congress in May that the Afghan National Security Force could withstand the Taliban advance. We have Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs — who the commandant is a member of that — who’s supposed to advise on military policy. We have a Marine combatant commander. All of these people are supposed to advise. And I’m not saying we’ve got to be in the Afghanistan forever. But I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone? Did anyone do that? And when you didn’t think to do that, did anyone raise your hand and say, we completely messed this up?”

“And what I’ll say is, from my position, potentially all those people did die in vain if we don’t have senior leaders that own up and raise their hand and say, we did not do this well in the end,” he concluded. “Without that, we just keep repeating the same mistakes. This amalgamation of the economic / corporate / political/ higher military ranks are not holding up their end of the bargain. I want to say this very strongly. I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, I demand accountability.”

Late on Friday afternoon, Scheller wrote on social media that he had been “relieved for cause based on a lack of trust and confidence as of 14:30 today.”

WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT:

LT. COL. STUART SCHELLER, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.: I’ve been in the Marine infantry for 17 years, serving tour with [V18], the current unit that’s doing perimeter security, dealing with the mess that’s going on there. I, you can see open source reporting that there was an explosion and some people were killed. I know through my inside channels that one of those people that were killed was someone that I have a personal relationship with, I won’t go into more details because the families are still being notified.

Not making this video because it’s potentially an emotional time, I’m making it because I have a growing discontent and contempt for my perceived ineptitude at the foreign policy-level. And I want to specifically ask some questions to some of my senior leaders. And I’ll say, as a person, that’s not at 20 years, I feel like I have a lot to lose. If you play chess, you can only see two to three moves out, because there’s too many variables. I’ve thought through if I post this video, what might happen to me, especially if the video picks up traction, if I have the courage to post it. But I think what you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk. So if I’m willing to risk my current battalion commander seat, my retirement, my family stability, to say some of the things that I want to say, I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same honesty, integrity, accountability from my senior leaders.

So I want to start with, we’ll just use the Marine Corps, my, we’ll just stick with the Marine Corps. So, in the current fall out of Afghanistan, a lot of Marines were posting on social media. And in response to that, the commandant published a letter, which is the service chief of the Marine Corps, and I’m gonna read from it, it was dated 18 August, so only a week ago. That commandant, sir, you wrote, ‘Some of you may be struggling with the simple question, was it all worth it? We want you to know that your service is meaningful, powerful and important. You fought for the Marine to your left and the Marine to your right, you never let them down.’ Then you go on to say that, you know, if we’re struggling, we should we should seek counseling, which, you know, I get it. People that have killed people, I’ve killed people and I seek counseling. And that’s fine. There’s a time and place for that.

But the reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down — that servicemember has always rose to the occasion, done extraordinary things. People are upset because their senior leaders let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability, are saying we messed this up. If an O-5 battalion commander has the simplest live-fire incident, EO complaint. Boom. Fired. But we have a secretary of defense that testified to Congress in May that the Afghan National Security Force could withstand the Taliban advance. We have Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs — who the commandant is a member of that — who’s supposed to advise on military policy. We have a Marine combatant commander. All of these people are supposed to advise. And I’m not saying we’ve got to be in the Afghanistan forever. But I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, ‘Hey, it’s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone?’ Did anyone do that? And when you didn’t think to do that, did anyone raise your hand and say, we completely messed this up?

I’ve got battalion commander friends right now that are posting similar things. And they’re saying, you know, wondering if all the lives were lost, and if it was in vain — all those all those people that we’ve lost over the last 20 years. And he goes on to say that we’re all part of the chain. While every link may not be tested the strength the chain is only as strong as each link and you got to be good link, something like that. And what I’ll say is, from my position, potentially all those people did die in vain if we don’t have senior leaders that own up and raise their hand and say, we did not do this well in the end. Without that, we just keep repeating the same mistakes. This amalgamation of the economic / corporate / political/ higher military ranks are not holding up their end of the bargain.

I want to say this very strongly: I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, I demand accountability.

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