When Stuart Scheller challenged his superiors a few days ago, that was seen as a very bad move. He was relieved of command forthwith. Then he started talking about resignation, walking away from it all, and it was thought by many he was mentally ill. He went in for a psych evaluation and now he’s talking about PTSD, suicide, and how “every generation needs a revolution.”
Rogue Lt. Col. Scott Scheller made another statement today: “I’m not going anywhere. Everyone is scared that the weight of the system is crashing down on me. But I know something they don’t. It’s the system that’s going to break, not me. pic.twitter.com/nIrGzpBnD0
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 30, 2021
Here’s the first part if it’s cut off on your view of the tweet.
“They only have the power because we allow it.” Ummm….aren’t leaders in office because they were democratically elected to be there? Scheller hasn’t mentioned anything about the Big Lie or anything too off the walls, but downplaying COVID as a menace to the military while citing suicide stats is a strange way to go.
This is starting to have a real Manchurian Candidate feel about it. He’s not going away, he’s saying, the system can’t break him because he’s going to break it. This is very strange.
Look for this to get weird as the days go by. Just an instinct. Read this post if you need the background on this saga. There are only two logical ways to go with this: either he’s a lunatic with grandiose delusions and he’ll be in a strait jacket before too long, or he’s the front man for something very strange and that gives him the confidence to make these veiled threats. He knows that something is coming down the road and so he’s teasing it out.
That’s my best thinking at this point. All I can add is that the QAnon crazies love to go on about how the military backs Trump and they’re really running the show. Maybe this display by Scheller is some outworking of that.
Semper Fi???
He’s likely to get a couple of weeks someplace while they do a mental-health evaluation. We don’t need people like him in the military, at least not above the level of corporal.
PTSD has something in common with addition to alcohol and other drugs in that many people don’t accept even the possibility of having those conditions and that they need some help. Even those who come around to seeking out help usually need either some prompting from others, or to hit rock bottom having destroyed the lives they once had.
Many things can bring about PTSD. Hell, for all I learned about it later in life it only hit me a couple of years ago that I experienced it in the wake of an auto accident that NO ONE thought I should have survived, much less with minor injuries. Hell, the first state cop on the scene didn’t believe me when I told him I’d been driving the car that was flattened by the huge truck fallen over on it and he threatened to handcuff me before someone else told him they saw me get out. Anyway, for some reason while recounting events of that day in an attempt to explain the memory gaps of Dr. Blasey-Ford (back during the Kavanaugh hearings) it hit me. I’d gone through PTSD back in the mid 1970s.
Anyway, just as in sports we were taught to “tough it out” when injured (unless it was really, really serious and even then…) in the armed services that attitude is instilled in a way no one who hasn’t been through training can fully appreciate. EVERYTHING about it (and for damned sure in my Marine Corps) is designed to tear you down physically and emotionally and build you back up to be able to withstand anything that doesn’t actually kill you. Admitting, even to yourself that your humanity can never be (for most people) driven out and that experiences have caused emotional trauma is believed by almost every trooper as a sign of weakness. And many a person in a position to decide on promotions feels the same way and everyone knows it.
THAT my friends is why there are people like this guy. Admitting that he’s emotionally wounded is for him the equivalent of admitting he’s got no dick or balls. So now he’s lashing out even more to show he’s a “tough guy” after all. People in his chain of command know better. Well, some of them do anyway. His career is done one way or the other. For his family’s sake they might find a way to shuffle him into some backwater admin job in some out of the way place like the supply base in Albany, GA so he can complete his twenty years but that would mean he’d still have to keep his mouth shut and remain under control. He might not be able to do so even if he wants to.
For all that however I have no sympathy for him. You simply do NOT challenge the CINC and the top brass in the very public manner he did. If any Marine under his command had done what he did, even if he privately agreed that jarhead would be in hack while an Article 32 investigation (into all his social media and general social history) was investigated pending a review for possible referral to Court Martial proceedings and a BCD.
I’m guessing but at this point I’d say he’s going to be offered two choices. The first would be to not only get counseling but convince those doing it he’s really working on repacking his shit. IF he does so then accept some type of logistics assignment like I already mentioned to complete his twenty so he, and more importantly his dependents get his benefits. The other will be to resign effective immediately or face Court Martial and wind up losing his benefits due to to a less than honorable discharge. He’s showing every sign of going for the second option so fuck him. My only sympathy is for his wife and kids, and that’s only because for a minute there it seemed like he was having “oh shit” thoughts due to his wife reading him the riot act and telling him to get help or they were GONE.
I’m just hoping he doesn’t end up hurting his wife and kids in this meltdown he’s having.