We all knew it was coming. Which, far from quelling the anger out of fear of possible consequences, ought to stoke the fire from Hot, But Manageable right on up to Killing Rage.
Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, the Marine officer whose meteoric rise to internet fandom began with a video criticizing military leadership over Afghanistan, is currently in the brig, his father told Task & Purpose.
“All our son did is ask the questions that everybody was asking themselves, but they were too scared to speak out loud,” said Stu Scheller Sr. “He was asking for accountability. In fact, I think he even asked for an apology that we made mistakes, but they couldn’t do that, which is mind-blowing.”
He said that his son is expected to appear before a military hearing on Thursday.
“They had a gag order on him and asked him not to speak,” the senior Scheller said. “He did, and they incarcerated him. They don’t know what to do with him.”
After this story was first published, the Marine Corps issued a statement confirming that Scheller has been sent to the brig.“Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. is currently in pre-trial confinement in the Regional Brig for Marine Corps Installations East aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune pending an Article 32 preliminary hearing,” said Capt.Sam Stephenson, a spokesman for Training and Education Command. “The time, date, and location of the proceedings have not been determined. Lt. Col. Scheller will be afforded all due process.”
(After publication the Marine Corps confirmed that Scheller is accused of the following offenses under the UCMJ: Article 88: Contempt toward officials, Article 90: Willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer, Article 92: Failure to obey an order, and Article 133: Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.)
I am not a Marine, nor do I play one TV, but for me the charges break down like this:
- On the second and third: Scheller is inarguably guilty as charged
- On the fourth: The charge is not only spurious, but is in direct opposition to observable reality; Scheller is in truth the living, breathing embodiment of how an officer for whom integrity and courage are still more than just empty words ought to conduct himself
- On the first: Guilty as charged, said guilt mitigated entirely by the simple fact that contempt, for almost any officer above the rank of Lt Colonel, is the only opinion of the miserable rumpswabs any honest, self-respecting man could possibly hold
Stipulated: in time of peace—more importantly, with a military whose flag-rank officer corps has NOT been corrupted stem to stern by the crippling toxins of political correctness, partisanship, and self-dealing—LTC Scheller’s defiance would amount to insubordination, and the harm done to respect for the chain of command would indeed warrant the harshest punishment.
Unfortunately, that is no longer the military and flag-rank officer corps we actually have. If it were, it’s doubtful in the extreme that Scheller would have felt the need to do what he did in the first damned place. To my way of thinking, the burden of criminality is properly on the shoulders of the reprobates **cough-cough Obama cough-cough** who purposefully perverted the higher-officer corps wholesale, and the ladder-climbing, ass-kicking scoundrels who acceeded to positions they were wholly unworthy of a result of said perversion.
It isn’t LTC Scheller who should be sitting in a cell awaiting trial and punishment. It’s his accusers. Scheller’s real crime was his courage, and his inability to just sit back and keep his mouth shut in the immediate presence of the brazen outrages, the raw treason, to which he was forced to bear witness. Yon says:
One who Surrenders to the Machine vs Warrior who Stands
LTC Scheller is essentially a prisoner of war at this point. Not by letter of the law, but in essence.Scheller is the first POW in the unfolding civil war. A Marine officer taken by Marines.
Notice the narrator misses the point of self-sacrifice. It’s all about career.
The longer Scheller fights, the more support he gathers. The harder the war-losers punish Marine Scheller, the stronger this leader becomes. This true Marine can flip the script and suddenly outrank this tormentors through elected office, and/or power of the pen.
It’s only over if he quits. If Scheller goes Honey Badger, they are in for torn flesh.
I support this True Marine, Lieutenant Colonel Scheller. This Officer put his country first.
Indeed. The shameful attempt at a political lynching of this good and honorable Marine cannot stand. Every Real American has a personal obligation to meet the standard he so bravely and selflessly set to make damned sure that it doesn’t. Torn flesh is but a down-payment on the debts his tormentors have incurred.
The Lt. Col. was in charge of an advanced infantry training brigade. I would imagine he has had access to hundreds of Marines. I wonder what impact this has on them?
He is certainly doing the honorable thing by resigning his commission – even though it is costing him everything he has worked and bled for for decades. The military is being punative at this point. They could simply discharge him and be done with it. POW is a fair statement.
“He is certainly doing the honorable thing…”
Yes. And it’s clear now, very few of our military have it.