EXCLUSIVE: An Ohio lieutenant colonel who publicly opposed the withdrawal from Afghanistan will lead rank-and-file soldiers door-to-door in the Senate next week in support of nominee Pete Hegseth.
Stuart Scheller, who was imprisoned in a prison in Jacksonville, N.C. for his public criticism of military brass, told Fox News Digital Wednesday that he is organizing enlisted men and women to meet with senators next Wednesday.
Scheller emphasized that the participating military personnel are not prominent members of think tanks or of any government or related seat of power.
“Pete has publicly stated that he wants to move toward a meritocracy, and he believes we need more courage in the ranks. So I’m not saying I wouldn’t have been reprimanded (if he had been secretary),” Scheller said.
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“I still think a reprimand was probably necessary, but it would be across the board.
“The difference is that if Pete had been the Secretary of Defense, the general officers would have also been held responsible (for the failed withdrawal) and I wouldn’t have had to make the effort I had to make to draw attention to the situation. “
Scheller said the U.S. military “hasn’t won anything over the past decade and we need to make it a winning organization.”
Scheller said Hegseth plans to hold accountable Pentagon leaders who have experienced “stagnation,” in the lieutenant colonel’s words.
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Piet Hegseth (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
He also emphasized that Hegseth is the first Pentagon nominee in decades not from the officer corps or defense contractors.
Outgoing Secretary Lloyd Austin III is a retired CENTCOM general, but also came from the Raytheon board.
“Forty years to become a four-star general really removes you from the armed forces,” Scheller said of the past several choices of officer corps secretaries in general.
“Pete’s middle management – a major. I mean, he’s the perfect guy… and he’s been sitting here talking to veterans as he’s been developing his book, trying to understand their pulse and pulse. So that book he wrote probably prepared him better for today’s culture, feelings and frustrations than any other Secretary of Defense.”
As for his plans for the Hill next week, Scheller said he and his fellow service members are targeting those who appear to have doubts about Hegseth.
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The Pentagon (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)
“I’m looking for more (of) the right people than the total number,” he said.
Scheller will also release a video announcing his mission on Wednesday.
“(Hegseth) is a combat veteran of our generation and … he is not a puppet for the military-industrial complex. He will not end up on one of their boards like every general officer of our generation,” Scheller says in the video.
“I’m going to be in Washington DC, walking the halls of the US Senate, talking to all the US Senators and advocating for peace.”
