Marine officer who criticized Afghanistan evacuation released from brig

The U.S. Marine who was incarcerated after publicly criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan was released on Tuesday after just over a week of confinement.

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. was relieved of duty in August after posting a video on Facebook criticizing senior military leadership and demanding accountability in the military withdrawal from Afghanistan. A Marine Corps spokesperson told The Hill at the time that Scheller had been relieved “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command.”

Scheller resigned from service just days after being relieved. About a month after he resigned, Scheller’s father shared online that he had been incarcerated for breaking a gag order.

Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Sam Stephenson confirmed that Scheller had been placed in pretrial confinement at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

In a statement to The Hill, Stephenson said, “Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. is being released from confinement today, Oct. 5, 2021, as a result of a mutual agreement between Lt. Col. Scheller, his Defense counsel, and the Commanding General, Training Command.”

Details regarding the agreement were not shared.

The charges against Scheller included contempt toward officials, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, failure to obey lawful general orders and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

In the video he posted on Facebook, Scheller said he had questions he wanted to ask senior military leaders.

“[I’m] not making this video because it’s potentially an emotional time, I’m making it because I have a growing discontent and contempt for my perceived ineptitude at the foreign policy level, and I want to specifically ask some questions to some of my senior leaders,” he said.

“People are upset because their senior leaders let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, ‘We messed this up,’” Scheller said.