LtCol Stuart P. Scheller, USMC An opinion

Like many I have been following the story of LtCol Scheller’s recent public social media calling out of senior military and naval leaders lack of integrity and leadership in our national failures in Afghanistan (and frankly Iraq as well). I have been reading a lot of email traffic from the “Old Boy Net” of retired and former Marines of all ranks (to include colonels and generals) on this situation. Many have pointed out that LtCol Scheller should have followed proper channels in expressing his opinion (request mast, point papers, etc.) instead of publicly expressing his concerns on social media. A point that even LtCol Scheller has acknowledged. But the bottom-line fact is that LtCol Sheller was and is correct in his assessment and was willing to sacrifice his career to say so. He did sacrifice his career by resigning his Marine Corps commission. An officer with integrity and selfless motives it would appear.

As an amateur naval and military historian, I can think of several instances where this type of honesty and candor in military and naval history of our Nation has been significant and vital to our Nation’s interests and security. The first is of these is the case of Brigadier General William Lendrum Mitchell or better known as Billy Mitchell, the Father of the United States Air Force. General Mitchell was court-martialed for issuing a statement accusing senior leaders in the Army and Navy of incompetence and "almost treasonable administration of the national defense." according to the book by Mark A. Clodfelter “Molding Air Power Convictions: Development and Legacy of William Mitchell’s Strategic Thought” (p.92). Mitchell was found guilty and suspended from active duty for five years without pay. That conviction was later modified to half-pay. Mitchell resigned his commission instead of accepting the punishment. One of the members of that court was then Major General Douglas McArthur. Historical accounts indicate that McArthur voted to acquit Mitchell and stated, “that a senior officer should not be silenced for being at variance with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine.” The precedence for LtCol Scheller’s case. General Mitchell is now revered by the Air Force and often referred to as the Father of the Air Force. His predictions for the need of air power came to be painfully apparent on December 7th, 1941. And his theories of Air Power were applied successfully in the European and Asiatic Theaters during World War II.

The second incident was the Admirals Revolt of 1949. President Truman and his Secretary of Defense, Louis A. Johnson, advocated significant reduction of the Navy and Army as cost saving measures that relied upon enhancing Air Force capabilities and majority reliance upon nuclear weapons delivery as the nation’s sole defense needs. Numerous Navy and Marine Corps admirals and generals expressed publicly the potential for failure in this strategy and the need to maintain Naval air power, naval power and the need for a Marine Corps. Numerous navy admirals were sacked but many elected retirement and continued to speak out publicly. But on June 25, 1950 world events showed that the Truman Policy on National Defense was indeed flawed with the outbreak of the Korean War as the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) pushed south of the 38th parallel and marched to the Port Pusan in South Korea. Proof that these Navy admirals and Marine generals were correct in their opposition to the President’s strategy for national defense.

The third incident was American involvement in South Vietnam. Recent historical reviews indicate that President Kennedy had decided that Vietnam was not a war for American involvement and had issued National Security Action Memorandum 263, dated October 11, 1963 which directed that all US military forces be removed from the Republic of Vietnam beginning with a withdrawal of 1,000 US troops in 1963. President Johnson reversed this Memorandum shortly upon his entrance into the Office of the President upon President Kennedy’s assassination. There have been several accounts of the discussions of President Johnson with the Chiefs of the Joint Staff, to include references in Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s book In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. This was a topic delved into by LGN HR McMaster in his book “Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam”. General Maxwell Taylor, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs advised the President against involvement in Vietnam and to withdraw forces, as had Secretary McNamara. President Johnson berated his military advisors and brow beat his Secretary of Defense into entering an unwinnable war as history has proven. Perhaps if the Secretary had listened to his own conscience and the Joint Chiefs had stuck with their recommendations and resigned, the mess of Vietnam and the loss of 58,281 American lives and the million plus other lives could have prevented.

Perhaps Lt Col Scheller is correct. Most certainly his is an officer of integrity with the conviction of his beliefs, and a willingness to express those views regardless of the personal consequences. Definition of leadership? Certainly, an example of leadership. To quote one of my favorite authors about leadership: “The manager does things right, the leader does the right thing.” (Dr. Warren G. Bennis, “On Becoming a Leader”). Good luck to Lt Col Scheller and thank you for your honesty.