We have been closely following the case of Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller and his public objections to Joe Biden’s disgraceful surrender and retreat from Afghanistan. Though discontent with Biden is widespread among both the officer and enlisted military ranks, particularly in the Marine Corps, after Biden’s disastrous exfil resulted in the death of 13 uniformed American Patriots — the worst loss of American lives in a decade — Lt. Col. Scheller issued his very public expression of discontent with military leadership.

Scheller, a combat veteran, clearly understood the consequences of his actions and expressed his intent to resign and forgo any military benefits. Yet inexcusably and without adequate explanation, he was jailed. While we believe his resignation should have been tendered before his public rebuke of his chain of command, our sources close to the case indicate that Biden’s military brass, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, and head of U.S. Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie, were all concerned about a rising tide of discontent in the ranks — and indeed they should be — and thus jailed Scheller to sequester him and keep him quiet.

As I wrote previously, Scheller pleaded guilty to six Uniform Code of Military Justice charges. His sentence for those pleas was delivered by Marine Corps judge Col. Glen Hines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Hines docked Scheller $5,000 (about a month’s pay) and ordered a letter of reprimand for his file.

According to the Marine Times: “Hines said Scheller’s videos in their full context showed a man who appeared ‘to be in pain,’ ‘confused’ and ‘significantly frustrated,’ rather than a rogue and potentially-violent Marine, that his lawyers argued was depicted in the charge sheets.” Notably, Judge Hines “described alleged leaks to the press and the command’s pretrial confinement order as raising the ‘specter of unlawful command influence.’”

Scheller’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, declared, “When 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.”

According to the sentencing agreement, Scheller will also resign his commission and receive either an honorable discharge or general discharge under honorable conditions, assuming Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro signs off on the discharge agreement.

For the record, Scheller had already raised $2.5 million of his legal defense and other expenses through Pipe Hitter Foundation set up by former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. Those funds can also be used for emergency relief and relocation expenses, and to offset the loss of military health and retirement benefits to support his family — his wife and three children.

And for the rest of his story, link to this Ricochet profile.

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