You can now call him \u201cMr. Scheller.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a Thursday Facebook<\/a> post<\/a>, the now former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr., who publicly called for accountability from the military and political leaders who led America\u2019s longest war, announced he had been discharged from the Marine Corps, effective Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An infantry officer with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Scheller crashed into the national dialogue following a now-viral Aug. 26 social media video <\/a>of him speaking out in uniform. His demands for accountability from military and political leadership, both current and past, for the conduct of the war in Afghanistan eventually saw him jailed and court-martialed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller\u2019s father, Stuart Scheller Sr., had taken to social media in November to lament how long the process of discharging his son from the Marine Corps had been taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCommandant David H. Berger talks about treating Marines as humans as opposed to inventory,\u201d Scheller Sr. wrote. \u201cBut 5 weeks to sign a resignation? Seriously!? They should be ashamed of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than a month later, and more than two months after accepting his resignation as part of a plea deal, the Marine Corps processed the resignation of the lieutenant colonel\u2019s commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller\u2019s post also stated that he had received a general discharge under honorable conditions, the lowest allowed under the conditions of his plea deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Marine Corps has yet to respond to questions asked by the Marine Corps Times regarding both the timeline and nature of Scheller\u2019s discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his announcement, Scheller thanked the Marines who \u201call the Marines who served, led, bled, and suffered\u201d alongside him over his 17-year career. Additionally, Scheller thanked the Marine Corps for \u201cforging him into a man.\u201d Scheller also compared his \u201cdefeats\u201d in demanding accountability from political and military leadership to early setbacks the U.S. faced during the Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut George Washington, undeterred, mobilized his force for a surprise attack over the holidays…as history shows, it was a turning point in the war,\u201d Scheller wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller went on to criticize his treatment by the Marine Corps. He stated that he had been \u201cslandered\u201d by the Marine Corps, \u201cimprisoned under false pretense as a \u2018flight risk,\u2019\u201d and \u201cheld illegally\u201d in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWas it worth it? Well… unfortunately for them\u2026 the war isn\u2019t over,\u201d Scheller wrote. \u201cI think we just arrived at a turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller noted a \u201ctelevision media blitz\u201d he is about to embark on, and his new website authenticamericans.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller first took to social media Aug. 26 shortly after 13 U.S. troops were killed<\/a> in an attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe reason so many people are upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down,\u201d Scheller said in August, noting that those service members always have risen to the occasion. \u201cPeople are upset because their senior leaders let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, \u2018We messed this up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller then asked if the secretary of defense or chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which includes the commandant, threw their rank on the table and said, \u201cHey, it\u2019s a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone? Did anyone do that? And when you didn\u2019t think to do that, did anyone raise their hand and say, \u2018We completely messed this up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The video led to Scheller\u2019s almost immediate firing<\/a> from his position<\/a> as the battalion commander of Advanced Infantry Training Battalion at School of Infantry-East at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy chain of command is doing exactly what I would do\u2026 if I were in their shoes,\u201d Scheller wrote in a post that followed his being relieved of command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite this disciplinary action from the Marine Corps, Scheller continued<\/a> to<\/a> post both videos and written statements<\/a> to social media. He called for accountability from multiple military leaders during these posts, both past and present, and in his chain of command. Additionally, Scheller criticized multiple U.S. presidents who had overseen the conduct of the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, Scheller\u2019s continued public demands for accountability landed him in a Marine Corps brig, without charge, on Sept. 27. Scheller remained <\/a>in confinement<\/a> until on Oct. 5, when he was charged, and his lawyers struck a plea deal with the Marine Corps, in which he pleaded guilty to all violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that the Marine Corps levied against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During an Oct. 14 court-martial, Scheller pleaded guilty to violating Article 88 (contempt toward officials), Article 89 (disrespect toward superior commissioned officers), Article 90 (willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer), Article 92 (dereliction in the performance of duties), Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) and 27 specifications of Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheller was directed to forfeit $5,000 of pay for one month for these violations. Additionally, part of Scheller\u2019s agreement with prosecutors was that he would resign his commission and receive an honorable discharge or general under honorable conditions as part of the agreement, so long as Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro signed off on the character of the discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Col. Glenn Hines, the Marine judge who oversaw Scheller\u2019s trial, sharply criticized the Marine Corps\u2019 handling of Scheller\u2019s case and rejected the prosecution\u2019s request for further punishment against the outspoken Marine Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hines described the combination of Scheller\u2019s pretrial confinement, along with alleged leaks to the press, as raising the \u201cspecter of unlawful command influence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen senior leaders [or] certain people decide to take certain actions like leaking medical records, like putting somebody in pretrial confinement [when there is] no risk of flight, there should be consequences,\u201d Scheller\u2019s attorney Tim Parlatore told reporters following the conclusion of the court-martial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than two months following the trial, Scheller remained on active duty and out of the public eye as part of the plea agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n