Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (5:29)

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me on. I'm a lieutenant colonel from the United States Marine Corps, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Combat vet. You know, my whole life has been serving this country over the gwat generation, the same, same wars that Pete Hegst bought in. I got out under weird circumstances on August 26, 2021, during the Afghanistan withdrawal. There was just a long list of mistakes that I saw. You know, I've got a master's in military science. I've been studying foreign policy my whole career. It was just obvious the mistakes that were happening. And I had been playing the game long enough to know that no one was going to be held accountable. So I made a video in my uniform demanding accountability of my senior military leaders. And at the time, I didn't mention any politician. And it wasn't political. I thought holding senior military leaders accountable would be like one of the last apolitical things we could all agree upon. But when you get thrust into the stratosphere of these types of things, you know, it's just, it's, it's hyper political. And that's kind of what happened. Every headline was, Lt. Col. Schaller criticizes President Biden. When at the time, I wasn't saying anything about President Biden. I was just sick of, you know, the apathy and the lack of accountability in the senior military ranks. Well, after that, I was fired, later given a gag order, imprisoned in solitary confinement, court martialed and drummed out of the military short of my retirement. And that was a six month process. It didn't happen quickly, and I didn't make a single interview during that whole process. Meanwhile, the media was slandering me. I mean, the Marine Corps released my medical record to an article called Task and Purpose. And it was, I mean, they were comparing me to all these things, the classic Hitler white supremacist, all the things that, you know, the left will try and do. And at the time, I wasn't even familiar with all that because I was just a Marine, wanted to serve my country. I was like, thrown in the fire of getting a PhD in left wing political tactics. So I got out Christmas Eve 2021, and then I hit the media circuit for the first time and I did all the shows. I did Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Laura Ingram, Jocko's podcast. I went on the PBD podcast. But one of them was Pete Hegseth. So I did a Fox and Friends hit with him and then I ended up writing a book. And when the book came out, I went out and promoted, did another hit with Pete, and then he actually brought me to Tennessee to do a one hour in person segment called Modern warriors and actually Waltz. The incoming National Security advisor was one of the the five people. So it's kind of an interesting show. And you go back and look at that now of all the picks. But Pete's just, to me, always been one of those down to earth guys. I feel like in a lot of ways I see myself in him and I think that's why all the warriors are rallying around him. And so, you know, after I wrote my book, I did media for another two years. Everyone wanted me to go into politics, and I'm just not a politician. I've. I've always loved the military and been focused on wanting to make the military stronger. And I kind of just went out and started living life, started a business and dropped out a little bit. And it wasn't until Pete got the nomination and everyone started attacking and canceling him with the anonymous sources that I felt the need to get involved.

Charlie Kirk (8:25)

So how have those meetings been going? And what exactly are you are you doing to help lobby people on Capitol Hill for Pete Hegseth?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (8:33)

Yeah, the takeaway is, bottom line, the warrior class overwhelmingly wants Pete Hegseth. I mean, I called everyone. Remember Scott Mann, the Operation Pineapple guy, if you remember Matthew Lomeyer, who asked the question to President Trump. I've talked to all these guys on the phone, the black rifle coffee guys, Eddie Gallagher, I mean, the list goes on and on. I've talked to probably 50 influential military influencers. Not a single one doesn't overwhelmingly support Pete Hexath. I've spoken to the congressmen that I respect the most, whether it's Mast Mills, these actual warriors of our generation, they all support Pete Hegseth. And so first step was making sure that I could get the pulse of the community. And once I realized that the pulse of the community absolutely wanted him, I had to figure out how I could, you know, unify this voice. So what I've done is I've gathered up all the petitions out there because there's a Navy SEAL petition with over 3,000 signatures. There's a Heritage foundation petition, there's a Green Beret petition, there's a Vets for Pete petition. So I've gathered all of these up and then I plan to go up to Capitol Hill on Wednesday and meet with US Senators and their staffs that are willing to talk to me. So I've got at least 10 meetings on Wednesday, which is huge. And you know, you know one of them like Ricketts office who's meeting with us, he's the chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, being able to hand him these petitions and tell him exactly what I'm telling you. You know, Pete Hegseth is obviously a smart guy. Princeton, Harvard, great orator on Fox and Friends. But the reason that veterans want him so bad is because he's an outside establishment pick. Not only is a combat veteran from our generation, but you know, the last two general officers have literally gone from the board of the military industrial complex, the SecDef. And then they go back, you know, Austin is Raytheon, Mattis was General Dynamics, Dunford, Lockheed Martin. I mean it's the ties to the military industrial complex is a real problem. But even more so, these senior military leaders that get selected, they protect the status quo. Why? Because their authority comes from navigating the current system. And the current system is what needs overhauled. And that's why I think someone like Pete Hegseth is so important.

Charlie Kirk (10:46)

Are you ready to lose weight, but not sure where to start? I understand I was right where you are two years ago. Let me tell you why I chose the PhD weight loss and nutrition program. First, Dr. Ashley Lucas has her PhD in chronic disease and sports nutrition. Her program is based on years of research and is science based. Second, the PhD program starts nutrition. There is so much more. They know that 90% of permanent change comes from the mind. And they work on eliminating the reason you gain this weight in the first place. There's no shortcuts, pills or injections. Just solid science based nutrition and behavior change. And finally a probably most Importantly, I lost 30 pounds. Look, they're amazing. If you want to lose weight, you got to go to my PhD weight loss dot com. I was just texting with Dr. Ashley Lucas today. If you're ready to lose weight for the Last time, call 864-644-1900. Go online at my PhD weight loss.com, do what I did and what hundreds of my listeners have done and call today. 864-644-1900 I recommend their program. Dr. Ashley Lucas has her PhD in chronic disease and sports nutrition. Her program is based on years of research and is science based. Second, the PhD program starts nutrition but it's so much more. Go to my PhD weight loss.com myphdweightloss.com 646-441-900 I lost over 30 pounds. Dr. Asher Lucas, great American. Check it out. My PhD weight loss.com so can you add more to that distinction of the warrior class versus the highly credentialed general class? One of the reasons you made the video you did at the time, and I want to play that video here. This is cut 23. When you were relieved of your post is that you did not feel as if we were a mighty fighting force up against the enemies that wish to kill us. Play cut 23.

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (12:24)

We have a Secretary of Defense that testified to Congress in May that the Afghan national security force could withstand the Taliban advance. We have chairmans of joint Chief who the command is a member of that we're supposed to advise on military policy. We have a Marine combatant commander. All of these people are supposed to advise. And I'm not saying we've got to be in the in Afghanistan forever. But I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate Bagram airfield, the strategic air barriers before we evacuate everyone? Did anyone do that? And when you didn't think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say we completely messed this up? And from my position, potentially all those people did die in vain? If we don't have senior leaders that own up and raise their hand and say we did not do this.

Charlie Kirk (13:13)

Well, in the end, what happened after you made that video?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (13:19)

It got real weird, Charlie. After I made that video, I was fired the next day. Immediately, I knew that I was risking my career. If you watch that video in its entirety, I call the shot. I say, no, I'm risking my career, my retirement, my family, stability. I did end up losing really all three of those things. But there should have been an investigation that took place. But like I told you, I was shot right into the political realm. The cardinal standing in the military is making your bosses look bad. And so I was fired immediately. And I was told at that time that if I just shut my mouth that the generals would take care of me. So the best case scenario, I would be hidden in a cubicle and make PowerPoints for some General Officer for the next three years. Limping towards my retirement. And I just knew I couldn't live my life that way, number one. And number two, I fully believed all those comments I made and no one was addressing the content of my statements. And that's what really deeply bothered me. So it became this fight, you know, and I continued to fight all the way to the end.

Charlie Kirk (14:11)

So if Pete Hegseth is to be confirmed as secretary of defense, what can he do from a policy perspective to better prepare the American military to fight our enemies?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (14:23)

Yep. So Matthew Lohmeier, there's a lot of people out there advocating to get rid of woke generals and I think there's a lot of generals that need to get cleaned out. Historical precedents for George Marshall after World War I is probably the best example. That being said, just going after wokeism is actually attacking the symptom, not the root cause. The root cause is that you have general officers that it takes 40 years to make a four star general. Every evaluation for an officer in the military is a subjective evaluation, I. E. I'm trying to please my boss and get a higher evaluation than my four peers. And so the people that are four star generals have literally pleased their boss for 40 years, more so than all of their peers that are competing for the same jobs. And I'll tell you what, it should be based on the best performers. But pleasing your boss and being the best performer diverge at certain places of your career. Anyone that's worked at a bureaucracy understands this. And so the reason why wokeism is so prevalent, one, because some of the moves that President Obama made. But two, more importantly, the general officers are so fickle, they care most about self advancement and they'll do whatever is the topic du jour. And they have no backbone. I mean when Carter Ham was in Germany and Benghazi took place and he was watching on screens Americans fighting 1v1000 and he had eight military options and he was told to stand down and he did. Why? Because he's conditioned to please his boss. And that's what all general officers do. I think what Pete Hex needs to do is he needs to get into the military. He needs to clean out a lot of the archaic leadership, but then he needs to implement a performance based system. Because at the end of the day, if you've got the best performer, if I as an infantry officer go against another infantry officer and the best one wins and whatever that that competition is, then all other things go away. Because the focus of the military should always be on lethality and winning.

Charlie Kirk (16:09)

And so how did we get away from lethality, winning, destroying the enemy? What specifically, what year, what period of time did that start to change?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (16:21)

You look back to the last generation that won a war. It was World War II and we didn't have the national security establishment then. World War II is when we literally built the national security establishment that we have today. It went through the national security act of 44, 47, 50, and then it finally, what structured what we have now is the Goldwater Nichols Act. After Vietnam, where we really went off the rails was Vietnam. I mean, Korea was still a generation of World War II vets. And the rigid structure of the current DoD was not in place yet. What happened was we created this military industrial complex. We created this system of officers that are self pleasing. And in Vietnam, what we did after our loss, instead of going back and holding the general officers accountable, we let the general officer sing the song that it was the draft and the drugs and it was the junior service member. And what we really did was we empowered these general officers that failed. I mean, if you go look at someone like Khe Sanh, where we lost hundreds of thousands of lives, and then it was strategically important one year and then not the next year. I mean, these are huge failures that no general officers were held accountable. The massacre in Vietnam, My Lai massacre, if you look at that, only company grade officers were held accountable, no general officer. So somewhere along the way, starting with Vietnam, stopped holding general officers accountable. And we need to get back to that. And I think this is such a breath of fresh air when we're talking about President Trump and Pete Eggseth.

Unknown Speaker (17:40)

Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here. If you ever had a doubt that there's a war on the unborn, you now know beyond a doubt that is the case. It'd be easy to give up, but you know, I'll never give up on giving the truth to girls and women who the other side want to choose death for their baby. I'm standing for life no matter what the other side says. And we're going to save more babies than ever before. To show them that truth will win out. It can only be shared with girls and women who will make the right choice. Preborn provides free ultrasounds to girls and women. It's the truth that they deserve and it doubles the chance that she'll choose life. $140 gives five mothers a free ultrasound and saves babies. $280 can save 10 babies and just $28 a month can save a baby a month for less than a dollar a day. Whether you want to Save one baby or five or hundreds. Join me in saving babies right now. Call 833-850-2229 or click on the pre born banner@charliekirk.com that is a $15,000 gift. We'll provide an ultrasound machine that will save lives for years to come. Go to pre born bannerarlykirk.com I'm a donor, and you should be a donor as well. Go to charliekirk.com and click on the pre born banner.

Charlie Kirk (18:42)

Lieutenant, what is going on with these drones on the east coast of the United States right now?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (18:48)

Yeah, there's only a few things that the drones would be up there for. And at the middle of the night, it really dwindles it down. So I'll start with it's the government absolutely knows what's going on. We have such a robust capability that first of all, they know what's going on. Second of all, what they are doing is really the deeper question. The best guess that I can come up with is it some type of cbrn, Chemical biological radiological nuclear detection system, or they're just testing capabilities. But it is disheartening that the government, John Kirby, no one is being transparent about it. I think it's just another. Another head shake in the long list of things that don't make sense. We the people probably deserve answers, especially with the coverage this is getting. But my position is that it's the government.

Charlie Kirk (19:33)

Yeah. And so if it is the government, what would they possibly be doing sending drones in the sky to surveil us to be looking for something?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (19:43)

Yeah. Like I said, there's only a couple reasons you would do it. One would be a training op. Two would be you're looking for somebody, which you probably wouldn't do at night. Or three, you're using a different type of detection capability to try and find something like a CBRN capability. So if they're actually employing it, that would be my best guess. Or they're just gauging the temperature of the American people and what the reactions would be. But this is absolutely something. The government knows what's going on.

Charlie Kirk (20:09)

Going back to our original topic here, in closing, do you believe Pete Hegseth will be confirmed? And how can our audience help?

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (20:16)

I believe Pete Hegseth will be confirmed. We have, you know, the three senators that are on the fence. I think Joni Ernst is coming around. You know, I look back at Secretary Austin, and there was only two votes for no against him. One of them was Josh Hawley. And I'll tell you what. Right now, Republicans sitting at 53 votes. We can't afford to lose a single one. And for all the Republicans that voted for Lloyd Austin, he was maybe one of the worst secretaries of defense we've had in a long time. Resetting the military is critical. Recruiting rates down significantly. War fighting capability down significantly. We need a disruptor. We need someone like Pete Heck that if you want to support him, you can go to my website, authenticamericans.com we have a petition. Or you can find one of the petitions floating around on X. All of those will make their way to me. And at the end of the day, call your senator. Please call your senator and let them know that you support Pete Hegseth. We the people need Pete Hegseth.

Charlie Kirk (21:09)

Yes, we do. And any senator that stands in the way, that's a Republican, will face a primary challenge, especially if they voted for Lloyd Austin. Thank you so much. God bless you, sir. Thank you. Email us freedomarliekirk.com AmFest is just hours away, everybody. That is America Fest. President Donald Trump, of course, is our keynote of the entire event. But we also have Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, Steve Bannon, Patrick Bet, David, Ben Shapiro, speaker Mike Johnson, Don Jr, Matt Walsh, Tim Poole, Ben Carson, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Michael Knowles, Ted Cruz, Rob Schneider, Byron Donalds, Anna Paulina, Matt Gates, Danica Patrick, Brett Cooper, Jack Posobic, Riley Gaines, Brandon Tatum, Tom Homan, George Janko, Ali B. Stuckey, Sage Steele, Roger Stone, James O'Keefe and more. Everybody. I mean this is the star studded event of the year. We can't even fit all those speakers on screen. It's remarkable what the team has done. And this is the event to celebrate, to get fired up, to get filled up, to get encouraged, to get ready to fight. Especially if you live in Arizona, Nevada, Utah. Get in the car and come to America Fest. And tickets are running thin. This will be the biggest America Fest ever. It already is, by the way. The tickets are bigger than last year. And at this time last year, the event had already started. Go to amfest.com that is amfest.com promo code Charlie for a special discount and to hear President Trump's first rally post election win. That's right, his first rally speech. Amfest.com amphest.com thanks so much for listening everybody. Email us as always, freedomarliekirk.com thanks so much for listening and God bless.

Pete Hegseth (22:49)

For more on many of these stories.

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller (22:51)

And news you can Trust, go to charliekirk.com.