PrintIs Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller the real deal or a QAnon throwback?
Soon-to-be former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel Stuart Scheller just threw down the gauntlet. After criticizing the military powers that be, he's resigning his commission and inviting any and all patriots to join up in his movement to "bring the whole f------ system down."
Sir, my question is this: what system? The military-industrial complex? American military wokeness? The worldwide cabal?
While watching Scheller's video, I felt simultaneously fired up by his words and concerned by his vibe. After reading one of his Facebook posts, I'm a bit comforted. Perhaps his stand is the beginning of a real and worthy change.
I served six years in the Navy and schooled with Marines. An enlisted Marine would likely never try what he's trying, for obvious reasons. Marine Corps officers are different animals and enjoy real power, like all military officers.
I remember thinking my Marine classmates were a bit high-strung. My recollections of Marine officers like Scheller bring this descriptor to mind: high-performance.
Officers like Scheller go flat-out, but most temper their passions with a strong sense of duty. I find it compelling that he challenges anyone to ask those who served with him about his honor. Maybe he's legitimately — and rationally — hacked off by the actions of his superiors. On the other hand, after repeating his threat to bring down "the system," he ended a tweet yesterday like this: "Thank you for the follows and Retweets #BidenLiedPeopleDied BIG NEWS COMING”
Big news coming? This reminds me of the many glowing promises we got from the QAnon crowd. While interacting with one of Scheller's Facebook followers today, I was assured that "The plan is still in place. This is all part of it. "
Again with The Plan. Uh-huh. Sure.
This plan talk makes me wonder if Stuart Scheller is a QAnon proselyte. It's one thing to recognize that President Biden is responsible for the Afghanistan debacle and the deaths of 13 American service members. Naturally, all commanders-in-chief are responsible for dead soldiers.
It's another thing entirely to speak cryptically about bringing down systems and writing this on Facebook:
We can’t ALL be wrong.
They only have the power because we allow it.
Every generation needs a revolution.
Bxf6
Bxf6 is a chess move involving sacrificing a bishop. By ending his post this way, Scheller is telling "the system" it's their move. As a chess-player, I dig his style. However, for me to join his movement, I'll need more information.
Still your move, sir.
Maybe Scheller will trigger something worthy. It all depends on whether his conspiratorial video style is powered by passion or crazy. Perhaps his chutzpah will compel other officers and upper-echelon military power brokers to come out and join his ranks.
At the beginning of Trump's presidency, it was tough for an old sailor like me to believe in the Deep State or that it has infected the military. When I was in, we trusted our president because he served in the military, and under Ronald Reagan, our mission was worthy and clear. Now, after watching a career politician who escaped service through multiple draft deferments and a medical exemption mangle our disentanglement from Afghanistan — and his suspect military advisers like General Mark Milley — I have little or no trust in military intelligence.
By the way, longtime foreign correspondent and Middle East resident Jennifer Griffin is right on about Afghanistan. Our involvement there was never an "endless war." It was maintenance of a strategic foothold in a terrorism hotspot. If it's truly in our interest to abandon it, any thoughtful student of history and military strategy could have drawn up a better plan of retreat. The fact that our president and his Cabinet members and generals keep calling it an endless war shows a depth of deceit throughout the chain of command.
Maybe Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller is the spark to illuminate genuine corruption in our military. Only time will tell. First he must convince this veteran that he's not just another QAnon oddball trusting in some amorphous and nonexistent plan.
Semper Fi.
Image: Robert Gurskis via YouTube.
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