Marine commander relieved over his viral video calling out military leaders for Afghanistan withdrawal

On Thursday, a Marine infantry officer and
battalion commander took to social media to air his frustrations with
senior military leadership over their handling of the U.S. military’s
withdrawal from Afghanistan and what he says is a lack of accountability
for mistakes made by those charged with managing the final stages of
America’s longest war.

“I’m not saying we’ve got to be in 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,’” asked Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller in a recent
video shared to Facebook and LinkedIn.

“Did anyone do that? And when you didn’t think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say ‘we completely messed this up.’”

The video was posted online Thursday evening by Scheller, who
identified himself as the Battalion Commander for Advanced Infantry
Training Battalion. On Friday afternoon, Scheller shared another post to Facebook announcing that he had been relieved of command.

“My chain of command is doing exactly what I would do… if I were in their shoes,” he wrote.
“I appreciate the opportunities AITB command provided. To all the news
agencies asking for interviews… I will not be making any statements
other than what’s on my social platforms until I exit the Marine Corps.
America has many issues… but it’s my home… it’s where my three sons will
become men. America is still the light shining in a fog of chaos. When
my Marine Corps career comes to an end, I look forward to a new
beginning. My life’s purpose is to make America the most lethal and
effective foreign diplomacy instrument. While my days of hand to hand
violence may be ending…I see a new light on the horizon.”

(Screenshot via Facebook)

The
Marine Corps announced that Scheller was relieved “due to a loss of
trust and confidence in his ability to command,” according to Maj. Jim
Stenger, a spokesman for Headquarters Marine Corps.

“This is obviously an emotional time for a lot of Marines, and we
encourage anyone struggling right now to seek counseling or talk to a
fellow Marine,” Stenger said. “There is a forum in which Marine leaders
can address their disagreements with the chain of command, but it’s not
social media.”

According to his official bio,
Scheller is stationed at School of Infantry East at Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina and took over the post as the AITB commander in June 2021.

The
infantry officer began the video message by addressing the terrorist
attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan
by Islamic State militants on Thursday, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members. On Friday, the Marine Corps issued a statement confirming that 11 of those killed in the attack were Marines.

“I’ve been in the Marine infantry for 17 years. I started my tour
with Victor 1-8, that’s the current unit that’s doing perimeter
security, dealing with the mess that’s going on there,” Scheller said.
“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 the
people that was killed was someone that I have a personal relationship
with. I won’t go into more detail because the families are still being
notified.”

“I’m not making this video because it’s potentially an emotional
time,” continued Scheller, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
who’s held billets as a commander from the platoon, to company, and
battalion level. “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.”

From there, Scheller reads and reacts to a portion of a recent message from Gen. David H. Berger,
the commandant of the Marine Corps, regarding the Taliban takeover of
much of the country ahead of a full U.S. military withdrawal: 

“And 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 if we’re struggling, we should seek counseling. Which, you know, I
get it. People have killed people. I’ve killed people, and I seek
counseling, and that’s fine. There’s a time and place for that.

The
reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the
Marine on the battlefield let someone down. That service member always
rose to the occasion and has done extraordinary things. People are upset
because their senior leaders let them down and none of them are raising
their hands and accepting accountability or 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 Forces 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 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 their hand and say ‘we completely messed this
up?’”

Scheller’s comments generated an immediate reaction online. Since posting the video it has been shared more than 10,000 times on Facebook and received more than 1,000 comments as of Friday morning. 

While some comments on social media criticized the officer for
calling out his senior leaders while in uniform, many others praised
Scheller for putting his career on the line to do so.

And
let’s not make any bones about it: calling out the commandant of the
Marine Corps, the secretary of defense, and other top-ranking officers
while in uniform is a big professional risk for any Marine, particularly
those who have more to lose, like Scheller.

But it’s something that he acknowledges from the get-go and, to be
frank, his candor about how his words may impact his career make the
message all the more impactful.

“And I will say that as a person who’s not at 20 years, I feel like I
have a lot to lose,” he said. “If you play chess you can only see
two-to-three moves out because there’s too many variables. I 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’s stability to say some of the things I want to
say. I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same
honesty, integrity, accountability from my senior leaders.”

The video ends with Scheller imploring leaders to take his words seriously.

“But 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 said.
“Without that we just keep repeating the same mistakes.” 

“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.’”