{"id":33106,"date":"2021-08-30T19:39:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T19:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/30\/marine-relieved-for-viral-video-now-says-hes-resigning-his-commission\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:45:03","slug":"marine-relieved-for-viral-video-now-says-hes-resigning-his-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/off-duty\/2021\/08\/30\/marine-relieved-for-viral-video-now-says-hes-resigning-his-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine relieved for viral video now says he\u2019s resigning his commission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who was relieved of command Friday due to a now-viral social media video demanding \u201caccountability\u201d<\/a> from senior leadership released a new video Sunday, in which he appears to resign his commission as a Marine Corps officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Col. Stuart P. Scheller Jr.\u2019s first video, released Thursday, sparked controversy and support on its way to accumulating more than 800,000 views on Facebook as of Monday morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The infantry Marine and battalion commander of the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion at School of Infantry\u2013East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, said he made the video for his \u201cgrowing discontent and contempt\u201d of \u201cineptitude at the foreign policy level.\u201d The video was released the night that 13 service members<\/a>, including 11 Marines, were killed in an attack <\/a>at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason so many people are upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down,\u201d Scheller said, noting that those service members always have risen to the occasion. \u201cPeople are upset because their senior leaders let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, \u2018We messed this up.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to ask if the secretary of defense or chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which includes the commandant, threw their rank on the table and said, \u201cHey, it\u2019s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic air base, before we evacuate everyone? Did anyone do that? And when you didn\u2019t think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say, \u2018We completely messed this up.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheller\u2019s first video came with an influx of support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would follow this man through the gates of hell with an MRE spoon,\u201d a Marine veteran who served under Scheller in 2017 wrote Marine Corps Times in a message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time Scheller was a major and company commander at The Basic School 26-week course at Quantico, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Facebook, one commenter wrote, \u201cAbsolutely honored and proud of you for saying what needed to be said. The cost of incompetence is permanent for those young men.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post garnered 2,400 likes as of Monday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, in a public Facebook post, Scheller wrote that he had \u201cbeen relieved for cause based on a lack of trust and confidence as of 14:30.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine Corps Times reached out to Scheller for comment and did not receive a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy chain of command is doing exactly what I would do\u2026 if I were in their shoes,\u201d Scheller wrote Friday. \u201cI appreciate the opportunities AITB command provided. To all the news agencies asking for interviews\u2026 I will not be making any statements other than what\u2019s on my social platforms until I exit the Marine Corps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday evening Maj. Jim Stenger confirmed that Scheller was relieved of command by Col. David Emmel, commanding officer of the School of Infantry\u2013East, \u201cdue to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n