It brought him back to 2001, when, as a freshman in college, he had watched the Sept. 11 attacks on TV, resisting the urge to ­enlist so that at the request of his parents he could finish his college degree.

He was the son of a career businessman, and one day wanted to join the FBI. But, deep within him, Scheller decided that his place was leading Marines on “the edge of the Empire.”

“I just thought I could go into the FBI ­anytime,” Scheller told Marine Corps Times in a phone interview. “But, this war may not ­always be going on, and I wanted the opportunity to serve my country. So, I called the Marine recruiter and started my path.”

By January 2005 Scheller was in officer ­candidate school. And just a little more than a year after his first call to a Marine recruiter, Scheller got his wish.

In January 2006, he was a freshly minted Marine Corps infantry platoon commander, entering the combat forces on the eve of the costliest stretch of American involvement in the Global War on Terrorism.

Growing up

Scheller’s choice to join the Marines was a bit of a surprise, according to his parents. But it didn’t come as a total shock either.

Growing up in the Midwest, principally outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, Scheller excelled both athletically and academically, traits the Marine Corps covets during the officer recruitment process.

“Stuart was an all-state Ohio soccer player in high school,” Stuart Scheller Sr. said. “Stuart was always a straight-A student, very intelligent.”

While Scheller’s parents had never been in the military, his family boasts a long history of military service.

According to his mother, Cathy, her family has had an ancestor fight in every U.S. war except Vietnam dating back to the Revolution.

More immediately, Scheller’s paternal grandfather — whom Scheller Sr. said Scheller was very close to and who imbued a sense of duty and service on him as a child — landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, during World War II.

“He knew that my dad was very proud of him just for being a good student and for his athleticism,” Scheller Sr. told Marine Corps Times in an October 2021 interview. “He probably wanted to make my dad proud as well by joining.”

Although Scheller had expressed interest in the Marine Corps to his parents in the year 2000 out of high school and again after 9/11, it still was a shock to them when he ultimately decided to join in 2004. After all, the war in Iraq was heating up, unbeknownst to the family that the bloodiest years were still to come.

“He said, ‘I know what I don’t want to do, Dad, I don’t really want to be an accountant,’” Stuart Scheller Sr. said. “And I’m thinking, ‘Holy cow, he just spent four years in college, with an accounting degree.’ But, he wanted to join the Marine Corps, and we completely supported him.”

Despite the risks to life and limb and the move into a career field Scheller Sr. had little familiarity with, he knew his son would do well. Stuart ­Scheller Jr. had proven himself a leader on the athletic field and in the classroom. And his father knew he had imbued his own strong leadership philosophy onto his son.

Scheller Sr. has a track record of success, ­working at the business executive level for nearly 40 years. That includes spending more than 20 years running a health care consulting ­business, where he provides executive coaching and ­leadership counseling.

Stuart Scheller Sr.’s core philosophy, passed onto his son, is based on “managing down to your people and lifting them up” while helping them “grow” and “improve” and “leaders lead by ­example.”

In short, leaders are accountable to their people, he says.

Time in the Corps

Scheller Jr. checked into his first unit, 1st ­Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, in early 2006 and received an instant eye-opening into the ­realities of warfare.

As he stood in front of his platoon for the first time, he noticed that many of them were wearing sweatsuits rather than the prescribed uniform of the day. Scheller asked his platoon sergeant why.

“He said, ‘Sir, they all have doctor’s notes because they all have shrapnel still in their body from the push through Fallujah,” Scheller recounted. “That was the moment for me to say, ‘This is real.’ Just like the weight of the world hits you with the responsibility.”

However, when it came to combat Scheller would have to wait.

His first deployment with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, in 2006 was as part of a Marine expeditionary unit. Although they trained in Kuwait and evacuated noncombatants from Beirut that year, as a whole the battalion did not deploy into Iraq.

The year 2007 though, was a different story.

In September 2007, the Marines of 1/8 received orders to Ramadi, Iraq — in the heart of the Sunni “triangle of death” and carrying the reputation of one of the most violent cities in Iraq.

Now a company executive officer in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Scheller immediately made an impression as a leader, Matt Underhill, a former platoon commander in the same company, told Marine Corps Times.

“Stu is just one of those solid leaders that you just felt good about the direction of Marine Corps when you met Stu and worked with Stu,” ­Underhill said. “This is what I was hoping for amongst my peers and amongst whomever’s ­leading me.”

Underhill said that Scheller developed a personal relationship with all his subordinate leaders. This, in turn, made Underhill’s job, the company ­commander’s job and the life of the Marines in their charge “easy.”

Additionally, Underhill mentioned a thread that would become relevant nearly two decades later: accountability up and down the chain of ­command, with Scheller at the center.

“He would hold us accountable,” Underhill said. “He would hold himself accountable. I mean, I honestly feel like if the need had arisen, he would have held the company commander accountable.”

Underhill added that Scheller was neither a “maverick” nor a “cowboy” when it came to his professional style. Rather, his opinion, Scheller Jr. was very much “by the book,” but with a personal style that built confidence and respect from those around him.

“He was always putting the Marines, and I’d say the junior Marines ahead of him. It was that selfless servanthood leadership.” Underhill said. “Commanders wish they had more guys like Stu. I won’t say subordinates, but his junior Marines wished they had more leadership like Stu.”

Following the unit’s return from Iraq, Scheller continued to see his star grow as a leader in the Marine Corps.

From 2008–2010 he served as a company commander at the School of Infantry–East, located at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he oversaw the combat development of enlisted Marines.

Wanting, in his words, to experience ­Afghanistan, Scheller accepted an individual augmentation billet with the Joint Improvised ­Explosive Device Defeat Organization.

From June 2010–July 2011, Scheller deployed to Afghanistan with the Army as part of that group, assisting in developing counter-IED techniques. His efforts with the Army overseas led to the award of a Bronze Star Medal, along with an Army Commendation Medal.

Upon his return from Afghanistan in 2011, Scheller was selected to ­attend expeditionary warfare school in Quantico, Virginia, where he earned a master’s degree in military science and operational studies.

The-now Capt. Stuart Scheller ­assumed command of a Marine Corps infantry company with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine ­Regiment, aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and headed out to sea on another MEU deployment.

Michael Welter, then a corporal under Company Commander Capt. Stuart Scheller, said the Marine immediately stood out.

“He was a leader,” Welter told ­Marine Corps Times. “He was fair, and he was emotionally and mentally invested in the success of the ­human beings below him. Not just as a ­Marine, but as a human being.”

Welter described how Scheller’s leadership style resonated well among the junior enlisted at sea. In short, Welter said, Scheller regularly would come to their berthing area with no specific motive other than to see how his Marines were doing.

“The berthing area, just kind of the living spaces suck,” Welter said. “But he’d still come in and be like, ‘Hey, how you guys doing?’ … ­Literally would sit down just chit-chat. ­Making sure everybody’s doing fine.”

Scheller always was asking if his Marines needed anything for training, logistics or simply improving their quality of life, Welter said.

“For an 0-3 to do that is that says a lot,” Welter said. “Not only about the culture that he was trying to build in his company, but also about him as a human being.”

Scheller’s reputation as a competent officer and leader of Marines resulted in him being selected to train future Marine officers at officer candidate school and The Basic School. As a rule, the Marine Corps invests its best talent into its training programs.

Retired 1st Sgt. Dale Barbitta first met Scheller while working at OCS in 2012. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that he worked directly with Scheller when the two were ­assigned to Marine Special Operations ­Command.

Barbitta, who in 2019 was about to retire from the Marine Corps, spoke bluntly about the type of leader Scheller was.

“If I could have guaranteed that he would have been my battalion commander, or I would have worked in the same command as Stu, I would have stayed in,” Barbitta told Marine Corps Times.

Barbitta said that leaders in the Marine Corps such as Scheller are few and far between.

According to him, Scheller ­allowed those under his command the flexibility to make their own calls, so long as the mission, whatever it was, ended up accomplished.

One of the things Barbitta most ­appreciated about Scheller’s ­leadership was his emphasis on ­communication both up and down the chain of command, which Barbitta said allowed all Marines in the chain of command to feel valued and involved.

Scheller showed humility when he arrived at MARSOC, Barbitta said.

Scheller, who came from a ­conventional infantry background, understood how ranges and other training exercises were conducted differently in MARSOC.

Scheller maintained a “first to arrive and last to leave” mindset and dedicated his efforts to enabling his Marines. Further, he constantly asked his senior enlisted how conventional tactics translated or didn’t into the world of MARSOC.

“He’s just a great f*cking leader,” Barbitta said.

He’s ‘not a hothead’

The final stop in Scheller’s Marine Corps career was back at Infantry Training Battalion in North Carolina.

From June 2021 until his firing following his public cry for accountability went viral in late August, he served as battalion commander.

While Scheller says that the attack in Kabul, which claimed the lives of 13 service members, including 11 Marines, sparked him to speak out on Aug. 26, 2021, the rationale behind it was more complicated.

Scheller says that as he began to ­receive text messages regarding the fallen, including some Marines he knew, he felt in his gut that the “failure” of the withdrawal in Afghanistan was never going to be addressed by senior leadership and that the conduct of the entire war would never be called into question.

“I sat there in my chair and thought, ‘I don’t think senior leaders get it,’” Scheller said. “I don’t think they understand the failures. I can’t think in military history, at least over the last 30 or 40 years has been such a monumental failure, and not one person has acknowledged it.”

Additionally, Scheller felt that the only way that there would be even an attempt at accountability for the withdrawal would be for him to speak out publicly just one time.

“I thought, ‘I’ll make one video,’” Scheller said. “I’ll explain some of the things that I think they should have done and demand ­accountability ­because that’s what I think we deserve.”

There has been much public speculation regarding Scheller’s decision to go public. He sacrificed his Marine Corps career, a retirement he spent 17 years working toward, and in his words, the move cost him his marriage. However, the Marines that spoke with Marine Corps Times didn’t see Scheller’s public call as such.

Barbita, who worked with Scheller until mid-2020, a little more than a year before Scheller went viral with his demands for accountability, described Scheller as very deliberate and calculated. Barbita described Scheller as someone who, when making decisions, would consult multiple opinions before making a decision.

“He was very, he’s very ­conscious of his thoughts and actions,” ­Barbita said. “He’s very, I mean very, ­methodical with his decisions.”

Underhill saw Scheller as an officer destined to be a career Marine, possibly rising to general or higher. Further, he described Scheller as a “stone-cold professional” who is very “calm, cool and collected.”

“Stu is not a hothead,” ­Underhill said. “So, if Stu is upset by the current situation and the lack of accountability — America needs to listen.”

Read Part 2: ”The unmaking of Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller.”

“I’m doing 90 [mph] doing a rescue in the middle of World War Three. That’s how it’s going,” Project Dynamo co-founder Bryan Stern told Military Times Thursday from Ukraine when asked how operations were developing.

The organization drove 24 people to safety on Thursday and evacuated another nine people on Friday, According to Matthew Herring, co-founder of Project Dynamo. Executing an evacuation in the middle of conventional war is no small feat, and as the situation deteriorates in Ukraine, Dynamo says the requests for help continue to mount.

In the last 24-hours, Herring says the “backlog” of Americans seeking Dynamo’s help securing an exit from Ukraine has grown to over 1,000 people.

“It’s just a matter of us getting folks organized,” Herring told Military Times. “Getting them to vehicles and getting them to safety.”

Herring and Bryan Stern created Dynamo as a non-governmental means of evacuating U.S. citizens from Afghanistan. According to Herring, Project Dynamo comprises some two dozen volunteers, many of whom are current and former members of the U.S. military.

According to a January press release from Dynamo, the organization has evacuated dozens of Americans from Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August. Now, the group is turning its attention to Americans stranded in Ukraine.

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine built to a boiling point in January, Project Dynamo began inserting volunteers into Ukraine to plan a potential rescue. Following the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy last week in the capital of Kyiv, Dynamo began to intensify planning and coordination efforts.

When the first explosions began to rock the Ukrainian capital Wednesday, signaling the start of a Russian invasion, Dynamo almost immediately launched its first evacuation run.

“If there are Americans that need help,” Herring said, “then we’re the Americans that are going to help them.”

The routes to safety, Herring says, are in constant flux as the situation on the ground in Ukraine continues to change. Additionally, all evacuation efforts are limited to the ground due to the ongoing air war inside Ukraine. Dynamo, according to Herring, is also coordinating with the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine’s four neighboring countries, often on the fly.

“Right now, we have folks waiting to get into Romania,” Herring said. “The border crossings into Poland are super backed up. So, we’re trying to adjust fires as necessary.”

U.S. troops in Poland are poised to assist with Americans leaving Ukraine, setting up assembly areas along the border.

While tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been fleeing, the Pentagon said that roughly several hundred have been American citizens or those with dual citizenship.

It’s unclear how many of those people, if any, wound up going through 82nd Airborne Division assembly areas or drove themselves out.

Also, the ever-changing ground truth in Ukraine is a challenge for Dynamo’s evacuation efforts. According to Herring, the Ukrainian government is sympathetic to Americans on the ground and has done nothing to hinder the evacuation efforts. Only long distances and heavy traffic generated by those fleeing the fighting have hindered Dynamo’s operations.

With an additional 1,000 Americans seeking an exit from Ukraine through a fluid and violent battlefield, Herring said that on the ground, flexibility will be essential for Project Dynamo moving forward. However, Herring says that no matter what happens, Project Dynamo will keep moving forward.

“We’re not going to stop. We’re going to keep going,” Herring said.

The seminar is part of the Global SOF Foundation’s Special Air Warfare Symposium, running from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24.

While the two-day seminar is much shorter than The Honor Foundation’s typical three-month program, Stevens says it’s essential to begin the transition process as soon as possible. Further, Stevens hopes that those attending the two-day seminar will eventually sign up for the more extended three-month program.

“You aren’t going to get everything you know in two days,” Stevens said. “But, we really want to expose these folks to what they need to start thinking about to have a successful transition. The earlier they can do it, the better they’re going to be prepared.”

Stevens spent 26 years on active duty as a Navy SEAL and successfully transitioned from the military to the private sector in 2017. After a stint in business, he took over as the CEO of The Honor Foundation in 2019.

Stevens says finding your “why” during the transition process is of the utmost importance.

“The folks have to think deeply about what their ‘why’ is, what their purpose on the planet is,” Stevens said. “Because it gets a little less clear when you take the uniform off.”

According to Stevens, a sense of purpose is effectively issued to servicemembers when in the military. They’re used to having a mission and serving a higher purpose. However, at some point, every servicemember leaves this military and finding what drives an individual is a key to success when the uniform comes off for the last time.

“The whole transition piece wasn’t really clear to them,” Richard Lamb a retired Army command sergeant major and current military liaison for the Global SOF Foundation, told Military Times in September.

Lamb’s comments followed a Global SOF survey in which only 29 percent of transitioning SOF members found the Defense Department’s Transition Assistance Program “helpful.” A further 90 percent of those surveyed said that DoD should design a TAP specifically for the SOF community. According to Lamb, a significant part of the transition process is starting it early so that soon the to-be civilians have enough time to adjust to the demands of civilian life and land on their feet.

“Because if you wait till the guy’s 24 months out [to begin TAP],” Lamb said, [The service member] may decide tomorrow, I’m getting out in 90 days, then you’re way behind the power curve.”

Stevens also says that those exiting the military from the SOF community have a more challenging time doing so. Another aspect to this transition, says Stevens, is that military personnel tie their identity to their job in the military. Identity, according to Stevens, is not a bad thing, and it just needs contextualization for success in the private sector.

“Your identity is always going to be tied to what you were doing [in the military],” Stevens said. “But, it’s not going to define you moving forward. It should be a strength for growth, but it shouldn’t be ‘I was a SEAL or a Marine Raider and the best years are behind me.’”

Those years spent serving in some of the military’s most elite units should be a “leverage point,” says Stevens. In particular, it’s the mindset that servicemembers applied to get into SOF units and endure harsh deployments with an unrelenting operational tempo.

“Use that, but then move forward,” Stevens said. “And find your next Elysium.”

After helping servicemembers figure out their “why,” the next step is to focus on how to get hired in the civilian world. While there is focus on what Stevens calls “tactical tools” such as building a resume, navigating LinkedIn, and salary negotiation, Stevens says the most important piece is “building out the narrative.”

“One of the things a lot of us in the military don’t like to do is talk about ourselves,” Stevens said. “But you have to develop that narrative about what value you’re going to bring to a company or investors.”

Stevens says that he hopes the two days of assistance that The Honor Foundation provides will drive attendees to attend the whole course and make them hungry to succeed in the private sector.

“We want them to have a graceful landing that’s successful, versus a hard [parachute landing fall],” Stevens said. “You don’t want a crappy landing. You want a smooth one.”

According to the DoD Inspector General report, as of Dec. 13, 2021, an information-sharing agreement had led to NGIC personnel reviewing approximately 58,455 of the 80,404 records it received. The report anticipated that the review of the remaining evacuees would be complete around next month.

The report, released Feb. 15, says that “derogatory information” is defined as information “that potentially justifies an unfavorable fitness or access determination,” requiring further investigation or clarification.

The issue was investigated in the wake of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. The report found that the inability to fully vet Afghan evacuees resulted from an international agreement between DoD’s NGIC and “foreign partners,” which prohibits DoD from sharing data with other U.S. government agencies.

As of Sept. 17, 2021, DoD’s NGIC identified 31 Afghans in the U.S. who had “derogatory information” and could only locate three Afghans. While this represents a fraction of the approximately 80,000 Afghans brought to facilities in the U.S., the 31 Afghans were identified prior to full information sharing began between agencies on Sept. 30, 2021.

Further, as of Sept. 29, 2021, 1,236 Afghans left bases in the U.S without completing the health screening, while another 1,358 left upon completion. There is no information in the report indicating that these individuals completed security screenings.

NGIC personnel also said that as of Nov. 2, 2021, 50 Afghan personnel were in the U.S. with information in DoD records that “indicate potentially significant security concerns.” The report did not indicate the current status or location in the U.S. of these Afghans.

Whether the number of Afghans with security concerns or derogatory information has changed remains unclear. DoD would not provide further details and suggested Military Times submit a Freedom of Information request.

Given the large amount of Afghans brought to the U.S., the numbers with questions about them or who cannot be found is not a huge issue, said one of the people who has been helping rescue Afghan allies.

“I don’t think it’s a scandal,” Shawn Van Diver, founder of #AfghanEvac told Military Times. “I think we’re lucky it’s not a scandal. Derogatory information doesn’t mean they’re terrorists. It means there are questions.”

Van Diver, a Navy veteran, has been working feverishly for months to bring Afghan partners and allies to the U.S. He says it’s important to keep this report in context.

“I think you’d be hard-pressed to find in a group of 80,000 Americans 31 that only had derogatory information,” he said.

Once again, Van Diver says, context is key.

“I understand security screening, I know security screening,” Van Diver said. “I know that behind every corner there isn’t a ‘boogeyman.’”

DoD does “not have a role in enrolling, screening, or overseeing” Afghan parolees housed at temporary facilities within the U.S., according to the report, which also notes that Afghan parolees “have the right to leave” at any point after completing compulsory vaccinations and health screenings.

Evacuees from Afghanistan are admitted into the U.S. in two categories: those issued a Special Immigrant Visa and those granted Humanitarian Parole.

Those granted an SIV must have worked on a U.S. base in Afghanistan or have served as a translator or interpreter off base for at least one year. They must also demonstrate an “ongoing threat” due to their employment by the U.S. According to the report, approximately 34,500 SIVs have been provided under this program since 2014.

“Parolees” are not enrolled in the SIV program but are admitted into the U.S. for two years for “urgent humanitarian reasons.” The report contains no data on the number of parolees admitted into the U.S. during an evacuation that flew some 120,000 people out of Kabul during the waning days of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

While Afghans who entered the U.S. during the evacuation from Kabul were not fully vetted before their entry, interagency partners took steps to mitigate this issue once it was fully identified. Beginning on Sept. 30, 2021, the NGIC entered into an information-sharing agreement with the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol to “complete the review.”

“I’m glad they figured this out,” Van Diver said. “It sounds like by the end of March they’re going to get through everybody, and that we’ve solved the problem now.”

Not only has China re-tooled its military into a force that can contend with the U.S., but it also has a “willingness to exercise” its growing power, presenting a “significant” challenge to the U.S. in the long term.

While China seeks to have a “world-class” military by 2049, the report says that Chinese capabilities, particularly within “the First Island Chain,” are already significant.

“The first island chain” refers to the initial line of archipelagos out from the East Asian mainland. The “line” stretches from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the northeast to the Malay Peninsula in the southwest. The chain includes major U.S. interests and allies such as Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

China now has the world’s largest navy and the world’s most extensive shipbuilding capability, along with mainland air defenses capable of hitting aircraft some 550 kilometers from the coast of China.

In particular, China’s development of Anti-Access/Area-Denial weapons systems represents a significant capability. That capability includes ballistic missiles capable of targeting U.S. ships, such as aircraft carriers, 1,500 kilometers from the Chinese mainland. But, the ballistic and cruise missiles that China has developed are not strictly for interdicting shipping.

According to the report, these missiles can reach Guam and the U.S. logistics and power projection assets stationed there and throughout the region, giving China the present ability to disrupt U.S. military operations west of Guam should China choose to do so.

Guam has “some of the most significant” ammunition and fuel storage capabilities in the Pacific, according to the Defense Department’s 2019 Indo-Pacific Strategy. Additionally, DoD is spending an estimated $8.6 billion, along with $3.1 billion from Japan, to bolster Guam’s position as a “strategic hub.” According to the Wall Street Journal, Guam currently hosts some 22,000 U.S. military personnel with at least another 5,000 on their way by the mid-2020s.

While China has seen a rapid advancement in weapons systems and conventional capabilities, it is also expanding this effort into the cyber and space domains, which it views as integral to success on a modern battlefield.

Currently, according to the report, China uses its cyber capabilities to not only “deter and degrade” adversarial operations but to “exfiltrate” information “from the U.S. defense industrial base.”

In the future, China seeks to be the “global leader in [artificial intelligence] by 2030,” which it views as a critical part of both their future military and industrial power. Also, according to the report, China views future space-based systems “as central to modern warfare.” As such, China is developing the ability to conduct anti-satellite strikes through physical and electronic means.

Although China’s military is rapidly modernizing and represents a “pacing threat,” it is still facing several challenges, many of them internal. Among these are international and regional turmoil, such as an ongoing border dispute with India, terrorism, natural disasters, and epidemics.

Additionally, according to the report, while rapidly modernizing its military, China has yet to integrate these upgrades into its operational forces fully. The Pentagon says this causes significant “gaps and shortcomings” in how China could wage war. Additionally, China has yet to fight a war with its “current suite of capabilities,” leaving them largely untested.

To account for and mitigate China’s growing military capability, the GAO recommends that DoD prioritize several areas.

Of primary concern is the readiness of the U.S. military. According to the report, which discussed domains, not individual services, the only DoD domain that increased in total readiness between 2017-2019 were ground forces. This finding is based on an annual GAO report, released in April 2021, analyzing DoD readiness across the five operational domains spelled out in the National Defense Strategy.

The current GAO report addressed three specific domains:

• The “ground domain” increased in both resource and operational readiness.
• Air, space, and cyber domains increased in resource readiness but decreased in operational readiness.
• The “sea domain” decreased in both resource and operational readiness. GAO cited limited shipyard capacity for maintenance as the primary challenge to readiness within the Navy.

In 2020, according to this week’s GAO report, the average U.S. Navy ship was undermanned by 15 percent, while attack submarines, a critical reconnaissance, and deterrent asset, lost some 10,000 operational days between 2008-2018. Additionally, the Navy is in “the early stages” of determining how to repair damaged ships should a war break out in the Pacific.

In addition to military readiness, the GAO offered policy recommendations to DoD so that deterrence can be maintained and “help prevent conflict.”

These include ensuring that DoD is poised to maintain supply chains across the Pacific, ensure that DoD cyber networks are protected from “key cyberattack techniques,” while protecting and updating space-based systems to “ensure warfighters have needed communications tools in the future.”

“For the U.S. to be poised for success in facing threats from China, DoD will need to take timely actions and congressional oversight will be important as these efforts proceed,” the report concludes.

But not all of the attention has been wanted.

Groberg, 38 of Frisco, Texas, said he has been targeted by online scammers who have impersonated him more than 100 times.

“They’re all scammers going out there going out there trying to scam these people from all around the world telling them like I’m stuck in Afghanistan,” Groberg told Military Times. “Or, I’ve divorced my wife, and she’s taken all my money. Or, like I’m going to come see you, But I need like $500 for a ticket.”

Groberg said that the reality is that he’s happily married and hasn’t been in Afghanistan since 2012. On Aug. 8, 2012, Groberg was seriously wounded after a suicide bomber detonated his vest while Groberg wrestled him away from his patrol in Asadabad, Afghanistan. His actions cost him nearly half of his left calf muscle, and ultimately led to his medical retirement in 2015.

Despite this reality, the impersonations persist, he said, including a situation currently being investigated by police in Florida. When individuals realize it’s a scam, they sometimes find the real Florent Groberg on the internet to vent their frustrations.

“Sometimes there are people who send me emails to my personal email calling me an [expletive], a content scammer,” Groberg said. “When that happens, I send it to the [Federal Bureau of Investigation].”

The FBI told Military Times it’s unable to comment on specific cases.

Troops and veterans frequently spoofed

Military personnel are increasingly impersonated online by those seeking to commit financial fraud, said Edward LaBarge, assistant director of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Cyber Directorate.

“We don’t see too many military members being the victims in this category,” LaBarge told Military Times in an email. “Rather, we see non-[Defense Department] members who fall victim to romance scams where the victim thinks they are talking to a service member, but they are really talking to a scammer who is posing as a high-ranking service member.”

According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation report, 12,827 online impersonations of government officials in 2020 cost victims more than $109 million. While the number of incidents is down slightly from 2019, it’s still up nearly 15 percent from 2018. Since 2017, according to a report from cyber security company ZeroFox, impersonations of government officials are up 40 percent overall from 2017, with that number is expected to rise.

“The data mentioned is just a slice of what has been collected, considering how many incidents go unreported,” the ZeroFox report on Military Scams says.

According to LaBarge, a favorite of online scammers are high-ranking military officials who scammers claim are overseas. The scammers replicate online profiles already in existence, stealing what pictures and biographical information that is unsecured, then scammers “cast” until they get a bite.

“They will talk to everyone in hopes that they will find someone who will be willing to help them,” LaBarge said. “They like to impersonate overseas service members and ask the potential victims to help them get back home by sending them money.”

A recent example of this kind of high-level impersonation occurred in January. Last month, Task and Purpose reported that U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe, commander of the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, had his account duplicated on Facebook.

The fake account, masquerading as Donahoe, reported the married general from New Jersey as single, living in Texas, and originally hailing from Syria.

In March, 2021, Stripes reported that former commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, retired Army Gen. Scott Miller, was impersonated nearly 900 times online in 2021 alone.

These instances are not the first instances of online impersonation by romance scammers, nor will they be the last, says LaBarge.

The issue is so prevalent that an entire U.S. Army CID web page is dedicated to providing information to those scammed by fake servicemembers. According to the Army, CID receives “hundreds” of such complaints a month.

Beware dating websites

According to LaBarge, victims typically encounter scammers and military imposters via dating websites. The reason for both using a dating website and posing as a service member, according to ZeroFox, is trust. Those frequenting dating sites seek to build a trusting relationship and connection, while the U.S. military has been the most trusted institution in America for decades.

Once establishing trust, scammers move on to their fundamental objective: money. Financial asks, says LaBarge, are a dead giveaway of a scam.

“An example is when the individual professes their love almost immediately or needs money,” LaBarge said. “Individuals should never send money, and it should be an instant red flag if money or other monetary instruments are brought up.”

A woman told Military Times she filed a police report in July 2021 in Florida claiming she was scammed out of money by someone claiming to be Groberg. According to the woman, who asked not to be named because she is the victim of a crime, their relationship began online in 2020 after the purported Groberg contacted the woman online.

The purported Groberg told the woman that his marriage was just for show and wanted to be with her.

After the woman felt that the purported Groberg had shared enough details to verify his identity, she says that he began to ask her for money. According to the woman, she eventually sent several thousand dollars in gift cards for items such as insulin shots for a child and eventually for flights so that the alleged Groberg and her could finally meet.

The woman filed a report with the Miami-Dade Police Department on July 21, 2021. The case is still open, police said Tuesday.

Groberg said that, as with the other incidents of being spoofed, he has never communicated with her.

Better protection needed

Groberg said there should be a remedy for online impersonations.

“I had to verify my own identity to get a blue checkmark,” Groberg said, explaining a verification process for Twitter and Facebook. “But people can go out there and put my name [to create an account] and not have to verify the identity? What system allows you to just create profiles on social media without having to prove who you are?”

Groberg said he believes that social media companies are probably overwhelmed with the volume of content that flows across their platform daily. However, Groberg says the technology exists to create an algorithm or check images already used on the platform.

“Doing that alone will probably eliminate 85 percent of fake profiles on social media,” Groberg said.

Until a fix is created to eliminate duplicate and fake accounts, the problem is not only likely to persist but get worse.

“As one account goes down, more pop up, creating a never-ending cycle,” LaBarge said.

The complaint, filed Monday, Feb. 7 in the U.S. District Court of Central California, alleges that California-based Burgerim charged upwards of $70,000 fees to prospective franchisees with assurances that if a franchisee could not open a restaurant, Burgerim would refund the fee. However, the “overwhelming majority” of the 1,500 consumers who purchased a franchise were never able to open a store, and “many” of them never received their refund.

The FTC alleges that Bugerim misrepresented “material facts” which constitute “deceptive acts” that are prohibited by Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, as well as “The Franchise Rule.”

Burgerim faces one count of violating Section 5 of the FTC Act. Additionally, Burgerim is charged with three counts of violating “The Franchise Rule.” These counts include multiple disclosure violations, among them allegations that Burgerim deliberately misrepresented financial information, such as the actual cost franchisees would incur and how well Burgerim franchises perform in reality.

Plaintiff’s request that the court award “monetary and other equitable relief” for each person impacted by Burgerim’s violation of the Franchise Rule. According to the FTC, each offense carries a financial penalty of up to $46,517.

Under the Franchise Rule, Burgerim is responsible for providing prospective franchisees a financial disclosure to have a clear picture of their total financial commitment, including potential operating costs once a location is open. The suit alleges that Burgerim not only withheld this information but deliberately misrepresented both the costs and the challenges associated with opening a location.

“Burgerim promised consumers, including veterans, the American dream, only to leave them in a nightmare of debt and deceit,” Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release.

Burgerim officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pending litigation at the time of publication.

According to the complaint, Burgerim lured “would-be entrepreneurs” into investing by touting their franchise as a “business in a box,” stating that would-be franchisees did not need any prior business experience.

To further assuage concerns about the significant up-front investment required by potential franchisees, Burgerim would speak as if the opportunity was a potential cash cow. One representative from Burgerim told a franchisee that the “break-even point” was $50,000 in profit per month, a number that the representative from Burgerim said open stores were “all hitting” in “two weeks or sooner.”

“All you need is the will to succeed,” Burgerim’s website reads. “Our international fast food franchising team paves the way for you to become a thriving business owner. We’ll help you customize your location, hire a small team, and generate wealth.”

The initial investment, according to the complaint, was hefty. These fees range from $50,000 to $70,000, with discounts given to those who purchased more than one franchise. Burgerim further enticed veterans through discounts of $10,000 and $15,000 on their initial fees.

A spokesperson for the FTC could not tell Military Times how many veterans were targeted or are currently part of the suit. However, the complaint states that Burgerim “incentivized veterans to purchase more than one location by offering a discount to veterans who purchased multiple locations.”

According to the complaint, these fees only provided investors with the right to open a franchise with the Burgerim name. The initial fee did not include other costs associated with opening a franchise, such as securing a location, building the restaurant, equipment, or supplies for running the franchise. The suit states that the actual cost for opening a restaurant cost at least one franchisee upwards of $600,000.

To further downplay the financial risks of franchisees, many of whom took loans from the Small Business Administration, Burgerim promised franchisees both verbally and in writing that the franchisees would have their franchise fees refunded should their location not open. In many cases, these refunds were never provided, enabling Burgerim to pocket tens of millions of dollars.

Although the FTC voted 4-0 to refer the case to the Justice Department, a trial date is to be determined, and the FTC hopes this case will enable others caught in similar predatory practices to come forward.

“For other franchisees facing predatory practices, we are making it easier for them to tell us about what happened,” Levine said. “Visit ReportFraud.FTC.gov and file a report to help us root out deception and other illegal conduct in the franchise industry.”

The base is one of eight domestic military bases responsible for resettling more than 75,000 Afghan evacuees in the U.S.

The report, released Feb. 2, says that the installation has incurred some $625 million in costs associated with “base operations support services contracts.” This includes approximately 500 contractor personnel responsible for “providing acute medical care” to the Afghan evacuee population. The remaining $1.5 million was spent on items that directly support the mission of evacuee resettlement, such as “office supplies, flashlights, safety vests, and winterization efforts.”

At the beginning of the Afghan evacuation, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst was initially supposed to host only 3,500 Afghan evacuees. However, on Sept. 1, it had expanded operations to accommodate 13,000 evacuees. By mid-November, the report states, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst had received 13,889 Afghans seeking a new life in the U.S. As of Nov. 20, 3,068 Afghan evacuees had departed Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Of these, 1,154 “departed voluntarily” without completing the resettlement process, while another 1,914 departed after completing the resettlement process.

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Feb. 2 the completion of resettlement operations located at Fort Pickett, Va. According to a DHS release, more than 10,300 Afghans were successfully resettled from Fort Pickett before operations concluded. Overall, more than 68,000 Afghan evacuees have been successfully resettled in the U.S. since operations began.

In November, Fort Lee in Virginia became the first domestic military base to be a destination for Afghans seeking resettlement, successfully resettled more than 3,000 Afghans in roughly three months.

Neither DHS nor D0D immediately responded to questions regarding the financial cost of resettlement operations.

Marine Corps Base Quantico concluded its resettlement program at the end of December when the last of 3,755 Afghans left the installation. A DoD Investigator General report noted that the resettlement cost that installation an estimated $188.4 million while it struggled to keep track of evacuees.

The Marines, according to the December IG report, “relied on Afghan leaders and interagency partners to inform the command when individuals went missing or did not show up for scheduled appointments.”

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst has not experienced similar issues and has implemented accountability measures from day one. These include a wristband for each evacuee and a database that keeps track of information ranging from passport numbers and photos to the room that evacuees are assigned.

According to DHS, there are still 7,000 Afghans in the resettlement process, spread between Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

As 120,000 people were flown to safety from Afghanistan during the last two weeks of August, DoD, at the request of the State Department, provided both domestic military bases to temporarily house Afghans fleeing a Taliban takeover of the country. Dubbed “Operation Allies Welcome,” the interagency effort has gradually moved more than 75,000 Afghans through a network of domestic and international DOD bases towards the goal of resettling them in the U.S.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst was selected, according to the report, because its location is only an hour from a Philadelphia International Airport, which serves as a primary point of arrival for Afghan evacuees heading to the U.S.

According to the report, Officials at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst anticipate that as resettlement operations continue to wind down, they will be consolidated aboard their installation. It will be the last base with the mission of settling Afghan evacuees.

The report comes amid a legal challenge to an emergency order suspending the Navy’s use of the Red Hill, Hawaii, fuel facility, which the state of Hawaii says is in disrepair and a “ticking time bomb.” About 14,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked into a Navy well in November 2021, contaminating drinking water on base while driving roughly 3,500 military families from their homes.

Released Jan. 31, GAO compiled the report at the request of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, which requested examination of DOD maintenance cost estimates, if it is receiving enough funding to conduct adequate maintenance, and if it has an established process for managing backlogged maintenance.

The report states that DOD maintenance estimates, while consistent with processes found at other agencies, fail to account for sustainment costs associated with aging buildings.

It was estimated that some 159,000 facilities maintained by DOD worldwide have exceeded their lifespan. As a result, DOD consistently requests and is allocated significantly less funding than is necessary to maintain these older structures.

Further complicating matters is the failure for DOD to implement the sustainment management system.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developed the sustainment management system in 2013 to replace and standardize multiple DoD methods, with a target date for completion of 2019. DOD now states it will not be fully operational until “at least” 2025, making it difficult for the department to estimate, prioritize and implement maintenance.

Impacting the welfare of troops

One facility detailed in the GAO report is Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Officials at the base stated to investigators that more than half of the base facilities date back to World War II and significantly exceed their lifespans.

These antiquated buildings impact the welfare of Marines on the base, as the report states that “maintenance is most often delayed for lower-priority facilities such as living quarters and childcare facilities.” That is because its redirected to facilities that directly support “the mission.”

Additionally, the average age of a “Navy wharf” is 73 years old, some 23 years beyond its expected lifespan.

Overall, the report stated that 29% of buildings across the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps were constructed more than 60 years ago and have exceeded their lifespans.

The GAO report comes amid controversy surrounding a recent fuel leak from the Red Hill storage facility near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The November 2021 leak is just one of many since construction began on the facility in 1940, according to the Washington Post.

In January 2014, some 27,000 gallons of fuel leaked from Red Hill’s tanks, followed by a 1,600-gallon leak in May 2021.

Hawaii Deputy Attorney General David Day wrote in a court finding that Red Hill’s facility is responsible for at least 76 leaks containing 200,000 gallons of fuel. The problem, according to Day, is the fuel tanks, which “have a serious corrosion problem that the Navy will be unable to address over time.”

The Navy said that it doesn’t believe that a leak caused the November contamination. Instead, it resulted from a jet fuel spill on Nov. 20, 2021, occurring inside an access tunnel within the storage facility.

Currently, DOD is appealing an emergency order from the State of Hawaii to drain the tanks at Red Hill and leave them empty, according to Navy Times, until the Navy can demonstrate the facility can be used safely.

DOD is suspending the use of Red Hill until an investigation into the cause of the leak is complete.

DOD had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

Singlaub, a native of Independence, California, commissioned as a U.S Army 2nd lieutenant, following his graduation from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1943. Singlaub was quickly recruited by the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to both the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Army Special Forces.

Will Irwin, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and author of “The Jedburghs: The Secret History of the Allied Special Forces, France 1944,” told Military Times that Singlaub parachuted behind German lines in Southern France as part of the OSS’ “Project Jedburgh.”

According to U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Singlaub was one of only 83 Americans selected for the program, along with 90 British, 103 French, 5 Belgian and 5 Dutch operatives. Jedburgh operatives, working in teams no larger than four men, helped organize French resistance while also providing intelligence on and harassment of German lines of communication.

Ultimately, Singlaub’s efforts helped Allied forces break out of Normandy during the summer of 1944.

Following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, Singlaub was transferred to the Pacific theater to continue OSS operations. On Aug. 27, 1945, Singlaub parachuted with an eight-man team onto the Chinese island of Hainan, where they rescued hundreds of Dutch and Australian prisoners of war. Following the surrender of Japan, Singlaub remained in the Pacific, continuing to report on the Chinese civil war.

In 1951, Singlaub, now a major, was again off to war in Korea. According to the Army, from 1951-52, Singlaub served as the deputy commander and chief of staff of the Joint Advisory Commission, Korea. “JACK,” as it was known, represented the first time the CIA formed a clandestine services field mission.

In addition to recovering downed pilots, the shadowy organization attempted to replicate aspects of the OSS missions during World War II. After his tour with JACK, Singlaub commanded a conventional infantry battalion in Korea, where he was awarded the Silver Star.

According to Sandboxx, in 1966, Singlaub once again returned to leading unconventional forces when he was selected to lead the Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group.

Commonly known as MACV-SOG or simply “SOG,” Singlaub was tasked with leading an organization comprised of special operators from all military branches as they fought North Vietnamese communist guerillas in both Vietnam and neighboring countries. A significant target of SOG was the Ho Chi Minh trail. This communist supply line existed mainly outside of Vietnam, thus technically off-limits, according to the rules of engagement of the day.

“As Chief SOG Jack fought the bureaucracy to get close air support for SOG teams. He fought with the State Dept. to have our teams better armed in Cambodia in the early days of the operation,” John Stryker Meyer, a SOG veteran and ex-Green Beret, told Sandboxx News. “He always cared deeply about the men who served under him.”

Irwin echoed Meyer’s comments about Singlaub’s dedication to those he served alongside. According to Irwin, in 1988, he received a call from Singlaub regarding Singlaub’s South Vietnamese counterpart from his time in SOG. After the war, the former South Vietnamese officer had settled in Los Angeles and had lost his house to a fire.

“[The RVN Officer] had lost everything,” Irwin told Military Times. “And one thing he lost that he cherished was his yearbook from the Command General Staff College.”

Irwin found a replacement for Singlaub, and the gesture was symbolic of the kind of person, and leader Singlaub was. “It just struck me at the time how much he valued that relationship,” Irwin said.

Singlaub’s last command in the Army was as chief of staff of U.S. Army forces in South Korea. In 1977, he was relieved from this position after publicly criticizing then-President Jimmy Carter’s proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from Korea.

Over his career, Singlaub received two Distinguished Service Medals, the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars, the Soldier’s Medal, two Purple Hearts, the Air Medal, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge and the Army Aviation Badge.

In 2006, Singlaub was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame, and in 2007 he was made a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment.

In 2016, the Army established the Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub and Jedburgh Award to recognize exceptional members of the Army commando community.