Marines criticize Afghan withdrawal to lead base recruits in Senate visits promoting Hegseth

EXCLUSIVE: An Ohio Marine lieutenant colonel who has publicly spoken out against the Afghanistan withdrawal will go door-to-door with rank-and-file soldiers in the Senate next week to support defense nominee Pete Hegseth.

Stuart Scheller, who was imprisoned in a Jacksonville, North Carolina, brig for his public criticism of the military's top brass, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he organized men and women enlisted to speak with senators next Wednesday.

Scheller emphasized that the military personnel participating are not prominent figures in think tanks or government or related seats of power.

“Pete has publicly stated that he wants to move to 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 was secretary]” Scheller said.

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“I still think there was probably a reprimand that needed to take place, but it would extend across the board.

“The difference is that if Pete had been Secretary of Defense, the general officers would have been held accountable as well. [for the botched withdrawal]and I wouldn't have had to do whatever it took to draw attention to the situation.”

Scheller said that over the last decade or two the U.S. military “hasn't won anything and we need to make it a winning organization.”

Scheller said Hegseth planned to hold accountable Pentagon leaders who have “become stagnant,” in the lieutenant colonel’s words.

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Pete Hegseth (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

He also pointed out 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 comes from the Raytheon board of directors.

“Forty years to become a four-star general, it really takes you away from the forces,” Scheller said of past choices for secretary of the officer corps.

“Pete's middle manager – a major. I mean, he's like the perfect guy… and he was sitting here talking to veterans when he was developing his book, trying to understand their pulse and their heartbeat. So , this book that he wrote probably prepared him for today's culture, feelings and frustrations more than any other Secretary of Defense.

As for his plans for the Hill next week, Scheller said he and his military colleagues are focusing on those who might seem hesitant 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 quantity,” he said.

Scheller will also release a video announcing his Wednesday mission.

“[Hegseth] is a combat veteran of our generation and… he is not a puppet of the military-industrial complex. He’s not going to 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, D.C., walking the halls of the U.S. Senate, talking to every U.S. senator and advocating for peace.”