Posted on 12/28/2021 10:19:19 AM PST by george76
Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller, who made waves after posting a video demanding accountability over the war in Afghanistan during the disastrous withdrawal in August, announced on Facebook right before Christmas he has been officially discharged from the Marine Corps, but that does not mean he'll be quiet.
Scheller said he will be going on a media tour to explain why he did what he did and what experienced in the aftermath, starting with appearing on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on January 4:
"I was released from the Marine Corps today, Thursday, December 23rd, 2021. I am filled with mixed emotions. I would like to sincerely thank the Marine Corps for forging me into a man. And from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank all the Marines who served, led, bled, and suffered alongside me the past 17 years...Out of respect to my senior leaders, I haven’t done a single interview since this began. But now it’s my turn."
In the post, Scheller explained his "defeats after demanding accountability" which included:
"I was relieved of command, slandered as homicidal/suicidal by the USMC’s public affairs team, ordered to get a mental health evaluation, lied about in the investigation by my “friends”, denied my legal right to prefer charges against another service member beholden to the UCMJ, imprisoned under the false pretense of ‘flight risk’, left without basic items in prison for five days, offered a legal deal while held illegally in jail (you can’t be placed in pre-trial for a special court-martial), slandered again when my medical records and investigation were released to the media, fined 5K dollars, called a narcissist in my letter of reprimand, kept under a gag order for over four months, denied the ability to request mast twice, given the lowest characterization (General under Honorable Conditions) allowed by the plea deal, and lost my retirement."
He further thanked those who donated to him and his family while he was dealing with the resulting legal battle.
Scheller said in the initial video from August he knew the risks he was taking by speaking out over the handling of the war in Afghanistan, but he felt someone needed to speak up.
...
The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down...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.
"I'm not saying we've got to be 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, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone,'" Scheller asked. "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.'"
DoD is the largest, most-bloated government bureaucracy there is
You’d have better luck demanding accountability from the IRS, or your local Department of Motor Vehicles.
Anyone and everyone who ever spent time in Afghanistan knew to keep Bagram. Bagram is the last place to bug out of. What a frickin disaster.
This guy should demand top dollar for every interview. He has sacrificed a lot.
Sure, Scheller made some good points. But this is the guy who blamed everyone above him - including Trump - for just about everything. He has little credibility in my book.
And that’s the real reason for the mandate madness.
Brandon wanted everyone’s focus somewhere else.
He did not have nice words for Trump. He violated the UCMJ and paid the price.
Two reasons...1) your suggestion 2) mail in balloting.
“He has sacrificed a lot”
I agree but kinda brought it on himself did he not?
I understand the frustration but to post videos online while in uniform, and in his office it looked like is a big no no as I understand it.
Never had the privilege of serving in the military myself but I did work for the DoD attached to the US Navy for 31 years and worked very closely with enlisted and officer personnel.
When it came to politics they very very seldom shared their political views verbally....much less posting things online.
IIRC
The USCMJ (the Uniform Code of Military justice) prohibits it.
If that’s incorrect someone please correct me.
Does he get to keep any of his pension benefits or health care?
Correct, this guy had Vindermin syndrone, only really pissed that HE wasn’t listened to.
He knew what he was doing when he posted the videos.
He’s lucky to be out before they are ordered on the American people.
If he worked for a company and publicly badmouthed the company and trashed it on social media, the company would fire his ass. The Marines were his company, and they fired him.
U.S. Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was fired on Aug. 27 after he posted a video on LinkedIn and Facebook criticizing the “ineptitude” of U.S. military leadership over the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and demanding “accountability” from those involved.
First of all, the term fired is not negligible in the military. The term relieved of command administratively would be closer to the right terms used.
The UCMJ is a very broad based system that can be used for many cases a non-military person wouldn’t understand. He opened his mouth publicly and attacked the military for something that he most likely didn’t know where the determination of how to with draw came from. So going after the DOD when the decisions were right out of the white house was stupid. If he felt the decisions were wrong, he should have voiced it up the chain until it got to the people who made them. There are ways to handle this scenario without slamming the wrong people in public. And the UCMJ is very able to handle that as he found out. In the regular world the acts he took could have been considered slander or liable. Now he can get his say, but what difference does it make to a president with less than a 40% approval? He wasn’t going to win that battle and never should have fought it that way.
wy69
I don't think the man really understands the scope of what he is asking for.
Yes, he did. If he wanted to speak out, he should have resigned in protest, as others have done in the past.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.