Generals who are more intent on pleasing politicians than warfighting are responsible for introducing woke initiatives and undermining U.S. military prowess, according to the Marine who was drummed out of the service for his public criticism of the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
Five months later, Stuart Scheller says he has no regrets about how his 17-year military career ended.
And now he is writing a book that lays out his concerns about the way senior officers are more focused on equal opportunities or COVID-19 than winning wars – with a 13-point plan to fix what he sees as a rotting institution.
‘The problem is, you have generals that try to please their bosses,’ he told DailyMail.com in an interview to coincide with Memorial Day.
‘So what happens is you get generals that will just do anything to please the politicians because it takes Congress to get appointed to be a three or four-star general.
‘And so they’re willing to inject into the military the initiatives of the politicians of the time without advocating for what’s best for the military, which is what a general should do.
‘So it’s not necessarily woke – but that you just have people-pleasing generals, and they cater to whatever person is in charge at that time, rather than advocate for what’s best for the military.’
He said the only thing the military should be focused on is warfighting. Other factors such as equal opportunities initiatives, extremism training or COVID-19 were a distraction from that central mission, he continued.
‘The Secretary of Defense made a comment after 100 days in office that said the biggest problem facing the Department of Defense was COVID,’ he said.
‘And that is just a perfect example of how misguided the focus of the military is. There are systemic issues rotting the military.’
Stuart Scheller was a 17-year Marine officer when he recorded a video post condemning military leadership for the planning and execution of last year’s withdrawal from Afghanistan
Angered by the suicide attack on Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. personnel, he went public with his growing sense of concern that military leaders were failing the armed services
Conservatives have criticized senior leaders in the past year for running a more inclusive recruitment push – which Sen. Ted Cruz risked turning the military into ‘pansies’ – and singled out Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after he said it was important to understand ‘white rage.’
Scheller’s book is published by Knox Press on September 6
Scheller’s book, ‘Crisis of Command: How We Lost Trust and Confidence in America’s Generals and Politicians,’ is published by Knox Press on September 6.
It builds on his explosive condemnation of the haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan.
After 13 U.S. service members were killed in a suicide attack on Kabul airport, the lieutenant colonel sat down in uniform to record a video in which he rebuked senior officers for the way they planned and executed the end of America’s 20-year war.
‘I want to say this very strongly,’ he said in a message that quickly went viral.
‘I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.’
He won sympathy and support from veterans who shared his concerns but was quickly relieved of his command. And he was thrown in the brig at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, a month later after further social media posts criticizing military leaders and calling for ‘revolution.’
He was charged with six violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and ultimately struck a plea deal.
As part of the deal, he resigned his commission and left the Marines at the end of the year.
For an officer who had long been considered a star of the service, it was a difficult end to a career.
It also triggered the collapse of his marriage, he told DailyMail.com, but he has no regrets.
‘I think it would have been easier to sit in the stability of my retirement with my wife my three sons, but for my entire life my goal has been to leave a better America for my three sons,’ he said.
‘And I think had I not done what I did my sons wouldn’t have as good of a future.’
The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August last year triggered a rush of people to the airport in Kabul seeking safety from advancing Taliban fighters
A suicide bomber used the scenes of chaos to kill 13 U.S. personnel in an attack on the airport. Scheller said it was the final straw for him, triggering his very public critcism
A Department of Defense investigation concluded that a lone bomber from the Islamic State’s local branch was responsible for the deadly blast that brought a bloody end to the U.S. war
He described how his questions and criticisms had been building for years, before the nature of the withdrawal from Afghanistan – conducted to President Joe Biden’s political timetable – triggered his public condemnation.
‘They conducted the last evacuations from April to September,’ he said.
‘Anyone that’s deployed there knows that the Taliban hides in the mountains of Pakistan during the winter. That’s why we have a spring fighting season.
‘We could have done it in the second half of the year from September to March, and we would have been unmolested by the Taliban.
‘Because of the BS PR date of September 11, we risked American soldiers and Marines and our coalition partners lives.’
He also criticized the decision to close Bagram Air Base, rather than use it for the evacuation.
Too often, he said, failures were being blamed on junior service members
‘There’s plenty of examples from Vietnam, smaller examples, whether it’s Beirut, whether it’s Somalia, whether it’s Kosovo, whether it’s Libya, whether it’s Syria, when we consistently are not connecting the national security politician objectives of the campaign with the four-star combat commanders,’ he said.
‘That’s where wars are won or lost. We are consistently falling short. And then what we do is we redirect the blame to the junior service members.’
Scheller reached the rank of lieutenant colonel during a glowing 17-year career in the Marines, which included being awarded the Bronze Star amid multiple tours of Afghanistan and Iraq
He was quickly stripped of his command after going public with his criticism and was then confined to the brig (pictured) after publishing more critical social media posts
After the suicide attack in Kabul, he said he felt he had no choice but to go public with his concerns. And rather than letting down his uniform, he said he was standing up for the values of a Marine.
‘At the end of the day I did what I thought was right,’ he said.
‘There’s a saying in the Marine Corps that you’re a leader 24/7. If you’re really a leader 24/7 then you need to do the hard thing, even if it comes at the expense of everything.’
No one else was willing to stand up and do the right thing, he added.
‘So everything I did was not because I was mad at the military. It was because I love the Marines. I love the military,’ he said.
‘And it’s what America stands for. But we’ve gotten off track and somebody needed to say it.’
His high-profile criticism catapulted him in to the public eye and the political arena. He quickly became the darling of the right – interviewed by Tucker Carlson on Fox News among others – who saw a way to attack Biden.
Schuler now distances himself from their agenda, saying he simply accepted the interview requests that came his way and that the left was less interested.
Scheller is seen here arriving at his court martial with his legal team in October. He pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor-level violations of military law
His stance triggered speculation that he would run for office, something that Schuler is not ruling out in the future.
This time around he is supporting a handful of veterans who are running in the midterms. His Veteran Candidate Coalition is backing 18 runners around the country.
And he is focused on the forthcoming launch of his book.
In it, he said he fleshed out what was needed to reform the military but in more moderate terms than some of his social media posts.
‘Maybe I should have used the word evolution,’ he said.
‘I was never calling for violent conflict. I even said, in one of my posts, every generation needs a revolution “in one loud voice in a constitutional manner.”‘
The book, he said, was a chance to step back from the hype and excitement of his viral posts and flesh out a deeper analysis.
‘I tried to take all emotion out and step back,’ he said.
‘It’s hard to completely take the emotion out because some of it is a real, raw story, but at the same time, I try to remain very objective, and provide a critical analysis that will help us.’