In the furor surrounding Joe Biden’s inexcusable withdrawal from Afghanistan, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller Jr. was not mentioned. In late August 2021, he called on his chain of command to end the disastrous attempts at the evacuation of the war-torn country.
Lt. Col. Scheller was taken into custody, court-martialed, and finally released from service.
Scheller published an opinion article at Human Events on Thursday in which he attacked the Armed Forces of the United States. He spoke the truth, blasting Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Mark Milley, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff — the “three Stooges” who want to destroy America’s fighting force by putting more emphasis on “critical races theory”, gender self-identification, and LGBTQIA+ rights (LMNOP), than maintaining combat readiness.
Scheller stated, “the bottom line of American military policy was to encourage cowardice.”
Scheller began with his imprisonment.
I was detained for criticizing military leadership after the evacuation of Afghanistan. Instead of looking admirably dressed old men saying “yes,” during crucial moments when military leaders are expected to stand for American principles and values,
Military leaders tend to focus on managing political narratives in order to save themselves and their careers when unconditional obedience can lead to disaster, as it did in Afghanistan/Benghazi. They fail to make timely assessments of failure and endanger the sacrifices made by young, selfless service members.
Austin, Milley, the “wokest” of the “woke”, were shamelessly unavailable for comment. Scheller took a different approach to the issue and attacked the lack of moral courage.
People blame “woke generals” as the cause of the problem. However, this is a broad term that overlooks the true problem. The American military is currently run by morally poor senior general officers, which is what most Americans don’t get.
Officers are easily influenced and tend to focus on pleasing their superiors to score high subjective evaluations. Senior military officers who place great importance on pleasing their superiors for over 40 years (the time required to become a four-star general) are more likely to give in to political whims or sacrifice building combat power.
They are open to listening and encouraging silence when military failures occur in practice. This would result in their careers being restructured and, worse, their lucrative jobs in the oligopoly government contractor companies.
Many of us realized that Biden’s Afghanistan catastrophe was not about Afghanistan. It was how he left it. He also left behind an incalculable amount of civilians to fight the evilest terrorist organization on Earth.
Scheller also took a few shots of Gen. James Mattis and the aforementioned Lloyd Austin.
General James Mattis was General Dynamics Secretary of Defense and then General Dynamics Secretary of Defense. Because of the supposed success and failures of his military policy, he is now immune to scrutiny.
Secretary Lloyd Austin’s path was similar. He went from four-star to the board of Raytheon and then to Secretary for Defense. Corporate interests dominate the media. They often focus on trivial issues instead of the important ones.
An increasing number of patriotic Americans are more aware of the shortcomings of the military under Austin and Biden. Now the question is: How can they fix it?
As Scheller sees it, not top-down — the stringent M.O. of the U.S. military and the federal government alike — but bottom-up.
Reform must start from scratch. America has two decades of combat veterans and top young talent.
The next generation might break the cycle and be a general, instead of pleasing their bosses.
The reforms won’t be implemented if the military doesn’t hold military accountable to the public. America didn’t hold anyone responsible for the evacuation of Afghanistan.
Accountability forces understand that military officers cannot please their superiors, and must fight wars effectively.
In the end, it’s all about a “real leader”
Without real leadership, the cracks in the military foundation are only going to get worse. America requires courageous leaders who are ready to confront our deeply flawed system and make reforms.
Restructure the leadership and culture, and all other problems will vanish. The American military has fallen into a crisis of command.
Again, Joe Biden, Lloyd Austin, and Mark Milley were unavailable for comment.
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