August 27, 2021
Active duty Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was relieved of his duty for publicly calling out senior leaders in widely shared video
'People are upset because their senior leaders let them down. And none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability'
Scroll down for full video of Scheller's statement
The Marines said in a statement to DailyMail.com, 'There is a forum in which Marine leaders can address their disagreements with the chain of command, but it’s not social media'
An active duty Marine Corps lieutenant colonel was relieved of his duties Friday after publicly demanding leadership take accountability for the deadly disaster in Afghanistan
Lt. Col Stuart Scheller called out Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and others for not 'raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, "We messed this up."'
'The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down,' Scheller said in a nearly five-minute video posted on Facebook and LinkedIn.
'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."'
The video has been shared on Facebook over 23,000 times by Friday evening and has over 3,100 comments, most of which are supporting Scheller's bravery for speaking out.
It's unheard of for an active duty Marine commander to publicly rip ranking military leaders and political officials.
In the video, he said he knew he was risking his stellar 17-year career that included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan by posting the video, but he still ran head-on into metaphorical gunfire.
'I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, "I demand accountability."'
'I think what you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk,' he said. So, I think it gives me some moral high ground to demand the same honesty, integrity, accountability from my senior leaders.'
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