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A Marine officer who filmed a viral video calling out senior military and civilian leaders was relieved Friday from command of the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
In a video posted on social media hours after a blast in Kabul killed 13 U.S. troops, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller appeared in uniform and criticized the Marine Corps commandant, defense secretary, and other senior defense officials.
“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.'” Scheller, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, said in the video he was “willing to throw it all away” to publicly “demand accountability” from military leadership.
“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, and I want to specifically ask some questions to some of my senior leaders,” he added.
“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.”
After the video amassed some one million views, Marine Corps Spokesman Maj. Jim Stenger said that Scheller had been relieved of his command.
Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was relieved of command by Col. David Emmel, Commanding Officer of School of Infantry-East, due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command.
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. There is a forum in which Marine leaders can address their disagreements with the chain of command, but it’s not social media.
In a new video released on Sunday, Scheller said that he resigned his commission “effective immediately” and threatened to “bring the whole system down.”
“I’m currently not pending legal action and I could stay in the Marine Corps for another three years, but I don’t think that’s the path I am on. I’m resigning my commission as the United States Marine effective now,” he said in a new video posted on his Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. “I have forfeited my retirement, all entitlements, I don’t want a single dollar.”
