September 29, 2021 • 18 mins
Like all of us, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was outraged as he witnessed the debacle in Afghanistan. Our own government surrendered an entire country to terrorists, shamefully and incompetently leaving Americans behind as the Taliban seized power. So, he made a video, demanding accountability from our military’s senior leadership — the same accountability that’s expected of him and his men. And now Lt. Col. Scheller is incarcerated, awaiting a military hearing because he stood up for our troops. For this podcast, Anna has a heartfelt and truly can’t-miss conversation with Lt. Col. Scheller’s parents, who give the latest news on their son’s situation. They also call out our country’s leadership for getting Americans killed and leaving the Afghan people for slaughter without taking any responsibility themselves. To help Lt. Col Scheller and learn more about his story, you can visit the Pipe Hitter Foundation's website at https://pipehitterfoundation.org/who-we-support/lt-col-scheller/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Up next Luna Talks with Anna Paulina Luna part of
the gang which like all of us. Lieutenant Colonel Stewart
Sheller was outraged as he witnessed the debacle in Afghanistan.
Our own government surrendered an entire country to terrorists, shamefully
and incompetently, leaving Americans behind as the Talibansi's power. So
(00:21):
he made a video demanding accountability from our military senior leadership,
the same accountability that's expected of him and his men.
And now Lieutenant Colonel Seller's incarcerated awaiting a military hearing
because he stood up for our troops. Today we hear
from Lieutenant Colonel Scheller's parents in an exclusive interview with
Luna Talks. This is on a Paulina, Welcome back to
(00:45):
today's episode of Luna Talks. You know, you would figure
that the Biden administration would have wanted to put as
many degrees of separation from the failure in Afghanistan as
they could from their cur An administration. But last night
it then broke that Lieutenant Colonel Seller, who was the
(01:06):
Marine Corps battalion commander that went viral after he was
asking for accountability for his men and for what happened
in Afghanistan. It was announced actually on social media on
Monday evening that he was thrown into the brick, meaning
that he was thrown into military jail. And this is,
mind you, the same man that actually sat there in
(01:28):
a video and was saying that I am willing to
risk everything. I'm willing to risk my entire military career
because I believe that there needs to be accountability for
the actions that took place in Afghanistan. If you don't
remember that clip, I'll go ahead and play it for
you real quick. But this is what they're so mad about.
We have a Secretary of Defense that testified to Congress
in May that the Afghan National Security Force who would
(01:50):
stand the Talban advanced. We have Chairman's of Joint Chief
who the comment is a member of that we're supposed
to advise on military policy. We have a Marine combatant commander.
All of these people are supposed to advise. And I'm
not saying we've got to be in the in Afghanistan forever,
but I am saying, did any of you throw your
rank on the table and say, hey, it's a bad
(02:10):
idea to evacuate Bogram air Field the strategic air burries
before we evacuate everyone, Did anyone do that? And when
you didn't think to do that, did anyone raise their
hand and say we completely mess this up. I've got
battalion commander friends right now. They're posting similar things, and
they're saying, you know, wondering if all the lives were lost,
and if it was in vain, all those all those
(02:32):
people that we've lost over the last twenty years. And
he goes on to say that you were all part
of the chain. While every link may not be tested,
the strength of chain is only as strong as each
linkol and you've gotta be you know, good links, something
like that. And what I'll say is, and from my position,
potentially all those people did die in vain. If we
(02:55):
don't have senior leaders that own up and raise their
hand and say we did not do this well in
the end, Without that, we just keep repeating the same mistakes,
this amalgamation of the economic slash corporate slash political slash.
Higher military ranks are not holding up their end of
(03:19):
the bargain. I want to say this very strongly. I
have been fighting for seventeen years. I am willing to
throw it all away to say to my senior leaders,
I demand accountability. That is what they thought was so
(03:40):
terrible that they put a gag order on him for
basically took away his retirement and now he's in jail.
So I want to read a letter that his family
posted because they're asking from help from the American people,
from people listening to this series, from people listening online,
from people who have any access to social media. Listen
to what they say in this open Facebook posting that
(04:02):
was actually posted to Pipe Hitters Foundation. It was a
nonprofit that was actually started by Eddie Gallagher and his
family to help with exactly situations like this. It starts
out with standing with Stu is standing with our active
duty and veteran service members. It is with a heavy
heart that we his parents, are informing you that our son,
(04:23):
Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Sheller, has been incarcerated by the United
States Marine Corps this morning, September He was issued a
gag order, which he broke this weekend by posting on
social media. Like us, he is a proud American that
has honorably served his nation for seventeen years and was
simply asking the system that he dedicated his life to
(04:44):
the military to also support him. His command seems to
be concerned, but does not appear to have the tools
to support him. At this time, incarceration appears to be
the only solution. The lack of accountability for this botch
Afghanistan withdrawal has caused many issue and stressors for thousands
of service members who have asked was it all worth it?
(05:05):
In thirty days, our son, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Sheller, went
from being an exemplary marine, handpicked by the Corps and
placed in high prestigious position as a commander of the
Advanced Infantry Training Battalion, to a Marine that is being
incarcerated for demanding accountability and integrity from the military leadership.
All our son did was asked the question that everyone
was asking themselves, but too scared to speak out loud.
(05:28):
He did not deserve this treatment. Recently, Stu asked to resign.
The Marine Corps told us his parents that our son
serves at the pleasure of the President. They have not
accepted his resignation. He understood from his first posting that
he was risking his retirement, his medical benefits, and the
stability of his family by speaking out. He has indeed
(05:48):
lost all of these and now his freedom, Yet he
was willing to risk all of this for our country
he loves and to protect the men and women who
have served and continued to serve. By answering the much
needed questions was it all worth it? Accountability and honesty
are essential to answering this question. Many have asked, how
can we help? What can we do? He and his
(06:09):
family need your help, donations, prayers more than ever. Please
donate at Pipe Pitter Foundation at donor box dot org,
slash Lieutenant Colonel Sheller and contact your representative and continue
to demand accountability. You know, reading through this and then
seeing that they are having to resort to going to
social media to actually shed light on this and even
(06:30):
to demand accountability for the treatment of their son and
how representatives, many many Republican representatives are being quiet on this.
It's not okay, It's unacceptable, and that's exactly why we've
chosen to bring his family members on this show to
talk about it a little bit after the short break.
Stay tuned, we'll be right back. We are going to
(06:52):
be joined here in a few minutes with Stewart Sr.
And Kathy Sheller, the parents of Lieutenant Colonel Sheller, who
are now demand ending accountability and really representation for their
son who bravely came forward and was able to call
out the flaws that exists in our own military system
in regards to the failed withdrawal in Afghanistan, and now
(07:13):
the fact that this man is being silenced and really
treated the way that he is for simply doing his
job and doing it honorably as a battalion commander for
the United States Marine Corps. But before we bring them on,
I want to actually discuss with you about a quick
update that I got from a gold Star father who
was actually with one of the mothers of the marine
(07:36):
that was killed in Afghanistan. Cream And for those who
might not know what a gold star mother or father is,
it is a parent who has lost a son or
daughter in combat and so many times. In fact, just
this past weekend was actually gold Star Mother's Day, and
I think many people are unaware that that's actually not
only a holiday, but that it is very important, especially
(07:58):
to some of these family members that have lost their
sons and daughters. You know, it's disturbing though, because we're
seeing now in the increased age of the censorship that
it wasn't just Kareem's mother who had gone political and
basically said, you know, I do hold this administration accountable
for what happened to the death of my son. And
she posted that and then Facebook deleted that message. You know,
(08:22):
we have this posting up on Pipe hitter foundation Facebook page.
Who knows how long it will be till they actually
decide to remove that posting as well. So I will
be joined here by Kathy Sheller, who's Stewart Sheller's mother,
and Stewart Sheller Sr. Who's his father. Kathy and Stewart,
thank you so much for joining Luna Talks. Thank you
for having us. So. I actually was really moved by
(08:45):
the letter that you guys had posted actually through Pipe
Hitter's foundation and their Facebook page, and I was able
to read it to some of our listeners. But can
you tell me what is your family going through right
now with everything taking place before we go there, I'd
just like to let you know book just took that down.
Did they really they really did there censoring me? Oh
(09:05):
my gosh, you know, um, I actually it's not I'm
not surprised by it because I know that they actually
censored the mother of Kareem who was one of the
Marines that was actually killed in Afghanistan. But I will
be passing that information along because that's terrible. It's really awful.
So so how are we doing well? If we are
a family, we are standing strong, but it's been tough.
(09:27):
We we go from what we have, run the gamut
of emotions, from rage, just like our son two, being sad.
It's it's just a heartbreaking situation. It's disgusting what we
see the Marine Corps doing to our son, and it's
(09:47):
very frustrating. And we decided, since they put our son
in prison yesterday, we decided to break our silence and
say enough is enough, that the American people don't want
their seventeen year war heroes treated this way, thrown in
(10:09):
prison silence. Then we are asking the American people to
stand up and demand accountability along with Stewart. How can
people do that? Are they? Is it by contacting the representatives?
Is it by phoning the military? How can they do that?
You know, I've told people four or five things. I've said,
contact your representatives and demand accountability and ask where their
(10:32):
position or stances. We've had success with that. Obviously, we're
the parents, but we've had other friends that have had
success with that. I tell people to pray. We are
We believe we are here at this moment and time,
and so is Stewart for a purpose, and it's not
(10:53):
by accident. Um. I'm not going to get spiritual with you,
but we believe prayer is helpful for all of us.
I tell people to vote. If you don't like what's happening,
make sure you vote with your with your conscious I
tell people, so Stewart is going this is going to
(11:15):
be an ultra marathon and not a sprint. Stewart is
going to need legal fees to fight the system. We
are asking people to go to Pipe Hitters Foundation dot
org look for his length for Lieutenant Colonel Sheller and
donate and it would be much to appreciate it. So
you are obviously now dealing with this. I'm really glad
that you have made contact with Eddie On Andrea Gallagher.
(11:38):
I know that they went through something you know that
was similar, different in its own ways, but with everything
that we are currently seeing in the political climate, obviously
now you're being censored. Do you believe that this is
going to wake up the American people in regards to
really how politicized our military has become. It would definitely
take the blinches off of me. You know, I'm that
(12:01):
person that heard the stars Dingle Banner and cried, and
I am so proud of our son, and I just
cannot believe that our military is treating him this way.
And I have a hard time believing that the other
military members from his grade up have not stood up
for him. That has been a real surprise for me.
(12:24):
And I didn't realize a real disappointment in a real disappointment.
And I understand why. I understand why they have families.
They're protecting their future because the Marine Corps has them
an invisible change that if they speak out and stand up,
then they're screwed. Their future is squashed. Stewart, in principle, said,
(12:50):
I don't care what you did was wrong. You need
to be held accountable. Shame on you. You need to
admit your mistake, aks, you need to resign. You can't
just ignore it. It took them thirty days to even
go in front of a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee today
to begin to answer questions. Stewart did it on day one,
(13:12):
and on twelve hours after day one then believe him
of his command and began to apply pressure, lots of pressure.
You your family has done so much, I think, not
just for those families that lost their sons and daughters
in Afghanistan, but also too, I think, for the nation
(13:33):
to really show what's happening with our country. And I
know that your son is there right now, but I
do have faith that he'll be out and that the
American people will fight for him. We will fight for him,
and everything that your family has done is not in vain.
You are, obviously, you know, an American hero family and
doing what you're doing, and so thank you so much
for even now picking up the torch and really fighting
(13:54):
for this um. Is there anything else aside from reaching
out to representatives? I know you said people donate at
Pipe Peter's Foundation dot org make sure that they click
on your son's link, Lieutenant Colonel Sheller, But is there
anything else that you're asking the public to do? Is
it sharing your information? I know that you just got
your Facebook posting taken down? But how else can we help?
(14:15):
You can help the one post came down, there other
posts there they can UM, I mean there at Kathy
Sheller on Facebook I'm pretty easy to find at this point. Um,
I'm asking people to share on social media, on Instagram,
on what, Twitter, tweeter, what it seemed to be some messenger.
There are so many things now, I'm asking people to
(14:38):
get the information out. Um. I think if enough people
have it out there, the more that it is out
in the public, the better chance I believe he has.
I think they win if we're quiet. Here's the message.
They have quieted Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Sheller by giving him
(14:59):
a gag order, which he ignored, and now they've quieted
him by putting him in jail. I'm asking the American
people to not be quiet and to demand justice and
demand accountability. Well, we will make sure that we put
that out there. We're gonna be putting some representatives numbers
underneath of it too, because in my mind, yeah, you've
(15:20):
got to fight for the people that you're scorn to represent,
right and so you know, I guess people could do fundraisers.
We haven't gotten to that point yet. UM, just about anything,
make your voice be hurt. Someone asked me if they
could show up and and do picketing. I don't care.
I'm sure anything. So I'm mad, I'm angry, I'm hurt. Well,
(15:46):
I apologize because this is not the military I served in,
and I just I think that it's awful that the
families are now having to see their service numbers be
treated like this. And you know, ma'am, just everything that
your family is going through right now, you are in
all of our hearts and pray years and we will
be there with you every stuff of the way. Well,
thank you, ViRGE of encouragement like that help us get
(16:07):
through every day, and we appreciate it. Anna, Well, God
bless both of you. Thank you for joining us. We'll
be here obviously covering everything to do with your family.
And I know you guys have to run because I
know it's probably been a very hectic day, but we'll
be following everything that you're doing. Y, thank you so much.
That was a very very heavy interview. You know you
can hear it in his mom's voice, just so everything
(16:28):
that they're going through, it's it's a shame what has
become of our military. I have some closing thoughts, will
be right back after this quick break. You know, when
people asked me several years ago why I joined the military,
I obviously wanted to serve my country, and I looked
at it as a way of really, I think, helping
my family and leaving a bad situation. And it was
(16:51):
such an incredible thing to be a part of. You know,
you had that sense of camaraderie. It was knowing that
you were going to work and that you were all
contributing to a bigger thing, something bigger than you. That
whole idea notion of freedom. But when I see what's
happening in our country now, and you see the amount
of morale within the military community, especially whether people are
(17:12):
active duet to your veterans, to see what's happening in
our country, it's really sad. And I think that many
people after what happened with Afghanistan, they had their horse
blinders lifted. And I think that it's situations like this
that are only going to continue to I think shocked
the American people into realizing that this is it, guys,
this is there is no plan B to the United
(17:35):
States of America. It's either we fight for what we
believe in or we fold and we become another destroyed
republic in history's timeline. And I think that what we're seeing,
especially with this family, I mean, they're asking, they're telling
the American people that they need to speak out. It's
not just Lieutenant Colonel Sheller versus the United States Marine Corps.
(17:55):
We are all Lieutenant Colonel Sheller. And if we don't
use our voices, if we don't demand and accountability from
this administration and really from everything that's happening, we're next.
Before we go, I want to thank Kathy and Stuart
Sheller Senior again for such a great interview, and I
want to thank you guys so much for listening. If
you enjoy today's show, please leave us a review and
(18:17):
rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts. To hear more
of my episode and get my weekly newsletter, go to
Gingridge through six dot com slash on a. You can
also find me on Twitter, Parlor, Facebook, Instagram, and get
her at Real Ana Paulina And a special thank you
to producer Drew Steele, writer Aaron Kligman, and executive producers
Debbie Myers and Speaker New Gingridge part of the Gingridge
The sixty Network
Up next Luna Talks with Anna Paulina Luna part of
the gang which like all of us. Lieutenant Colonel Stewart
Sheller was outraged as he witnessed the debacle in Afghanistan.
Our own government surrendered an entire country to terrorists, shamefully
and incompetently, leaving Americans behind as the Talibansi's power. So
(00:21):
he made a video demanding accountability from our military senior leadership,
the same accountability that's expected of him and his men.
And now Lieutenant Colonel Seller's incarcerated awaiting a military hearing
because he stood up for our troops. Today we hear
from Lieutenant Colonel Scheller's parents in an exclusive interview with
Luna Talks. This is on a Paulina, Welcome back to
(00:45):
today's episode of Luna Talks. You know, you would figure
that the Biden administration would have wanted to put as
many degrees of separation from the failure in Afghanistan as
they could from their cur An administration. But last night
it then broke that Lieutenant Colonel Seller, who was the
(01:06):
Marine Corps battalion commander that went viral after he was
asking for accountability for his men and for what happened
in Afghanistan. It was announced actually on social media on
Monday evening that he was thrown into the brick, meaning
that he was thrown into military jail. And this is,
mind you, the same man that actually sat there in
(01:28):
a video and was saying that I am willing to
risk everything. I'm willing to risk my entire military career
because I believe that there needs to be accountability for
the actions that took place in Afghanistan. If you don't
remember that clip, I'll go ahead and play it for
you real quick. But this is what they're so mad about.
We have a Secretary of Defense that testified to Congress
in May that the Afghan National Security Force who would
(01:50):
stand the Talban advanced. We have Chairman's of Joint Chief
who the comment is a member of that we're supposed
to advise on military policy. We have a Marine combatant commander.
All of these people are supposed to advise. And I'm
not saying we've got to be in the in Afghanistan forever,
but I am saying, did any of you throw your
rank on the table and say, hey, it's a bad
(02:10):
idea to evacuate Bogram air Field the strategic air burries
before we evacuate everyone, Did anyone do that? And when
you didn't think to do that, did anyone raise their
hand and say we completely mess this up. I've got
battalion commander friends right now. They're posting similar things, and
they're saying, you know, wondering if all the lives were lost,
and if it was in vain, all those all those
(02:32):
people that we've lost over the last twenty years. And
he goes on to say that you were all part
of the chain. While every link may not be tested,
the strength of chain is only as strong as each
linkol and you've gotta be you know, good links, something
like that. And what I'll say is, and from my position,
potentially all those people did die in vain. If we
(02:55):
don't have senior leaders that own up and raise their
hand and say we did not do this well in
the end, Without that, we just keep repeating the same mistakes,
this amalgamation of the economic slash corporate slash political slash.
Higher military ranks are not holding up their end of
(03:19):
the bargain. I want to say this very strongly. I
have been fighting for seventeen years. I am willing to
throw it all away to say to my senior leaders,
I demand accountability. That is what they thought was so
(03:40):
terrible that they put a gag order on him for
basically took away his retirement and now he's in jail.
So I want to read a letter that his family
posted because they're asking from help from the American people,
from people listening to this series, from people listening online,
from people who have any access to social media. Listen
to what they say in this open Facebook posting that
(04:02):
was actually posted to Pipe Hitters Foundation. It was a
nonprofit that was actually started by Eddie Gallagher and his
family to help with exactly situations like this. It starts
out with standing with Stu is standing with our active
duty and veteran service members. It is with a heavy
heart that we his parents, are informing you that our son,
(04:23):
Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Sheller, has been incarcerated by the United
States Marine Corps this morning, September He was issued a
gag order, which he broke this weekend by posting on
social media. Like us, he is a proud American that
has honorably served his nation for seventeen years and was
simply asking the system that he dedicated his life to
(04:44):
the military to also support him. His command seems to
be concerned, but does not appear to have the tools
to support him. At this time, incarceration appears to be
the only solution. The lack of accountability for this botch
Afghanistan withdrawal has caused many issue and stressors for thousands
of service members who have asked was it all worth it?
(05:05):
In thirty days, our son, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Sheller, went
from being an exemplary marine, handpicked by the Corps and
placed in high prestigious position as a commander of the
Advanced Infantry Training Battalion, to a Marine that is being
incarcerated for demanding accountability and integrity from the military leadership.
All our son did was asked the question that everyone
was asking themselves, but too scared to speak out loud.
(05:28):
He did not deserve this treatment. Recently, Stu asked to resign.
The Marine Corps told us his parents that our son
serves at the pleasure of the President. They have not
accepted his resignation. He understood from his first posting that
he was risking his retirement, his medical benefits, and the
stability of his family by speaking out. He has indeed
(05:48):
lost all of these and now his freedom, Yet he
was willing to risk all of this for our country
he loves and to protect the men and women who
have served and continued to serve. By answering the much
needed questions was it all worth it? Accountability and honesty
are essential to answering this question. Many have asked, how
can we help? What can we do? He and his
(06:09):
family need your help, donations, prayers more than ever. Please
donate at Pipe Pitter Foundation at donor box dot org,
slash Lieutenant Colonel Sheller and contact your representative and continue
to demand accountability. You know, reading through this and then
seeing that they are having to resort to going to
social media to actually shed light on this and even
(06:30):
to demand accountability for the treatment of their son and
how representatives, many many Republican representatives are being quiet on this.
It's not okay, It's unacceptable, and that's exactly why we've
chosen to bring his family members on this show to
talk about it a little bit after the short break.
Stay tuned, we'll be right back. We are going to
(06:52):
be joined here in a few minutes with Stewart Sr.
And Kathy Sheller, the parents of Lieutenant Colonel Sheller, who
are now demand ending accountability and really representation for their
son who bravely came forward and was able to call
out the flaws that exists in our own military system
in regards to the failed withdrawal in Afghanistan, and now
(07:13):
the fact that this man is being silenced and really
treated the way that he is for simply doing his
job and doing it honorably as a battalion commander for
the United States Marine Corps. But before we bring them on,
I want to actually discuss with you about a quick
update that I got from a gold Star father who
was actually with one of the mothers of the marine
(07:36):
that was killed in Afghanistan. Cream And for those who
might not know what a gold star mother or father is,
it is a parent who has lost a son or
daughter in combat and so many times. In fact, just
this past weekend was actually gold Star Mother's Day, and
I think many people are unaware that that's actually not
only a holiday, but that it is very important, especially
(07:58):
to some of these family members that have lost their
sons and daughters. You know, it's disturbing though, because we're
seeing now in the increased age of the censorship that
it wasn't just Kareem's mother who had gone political and
basically said, you know, I do hold this administration accountable
for what happened to the death of my son. And
she posted that and then Facebook deleted that message. You know,
(08:22):
we have this posting up on Pipe hitter foundation Facebook page.
Who knows how long it will be till they actually
decide to remove that posting as well. So I will
be joined here by Kathy Sheller, who's Stewart Sheller's mother,
and Stewart Sheller Sr. Who's his father. Kathy and Stewart,
thank you so much for joining Luna Talks. Thank you
for having us. So. I actually was really moved by
(08:45):
the letter that you guys had posted actually through Pipe
Hitter's foundation and their Facebook page, and I was able
to read it to some of our listeners. But can
you tell me what is your family going through right
now with everything taking place before we go there, I'd
just like to let you know book just took that down.
Did they really they really did there censoring me? Oh
(09:05):
my gosh, you know, um, I actually it's not I'm
not surprised by it because I know that they actually
censored the mother of Kareem who was one of the
Marines that was actually killed in Afghanistan. But I will
be passing that information along because that's terrible. It's really awful.
So so how are we doing well? If we are
a family, we are standing strong, but it's been tough.
(09:27):
We we go from what we have, run the gamut
of emotions, from rage, just like our son two, being sad.
It's it's just a heartbreaking situation. It's disgusting what we
see the Marine Corps doing to our son, and it's
(09:47):
very frustrating. And we decided, since they put our son
in prison yesterday, we decided to break our silence and
say enough is enough, that the American people don't want
their seventeen year war heroes treated this way, thrown in
(10:09):
prison silence. Then we are asking the American people to
stand up and demand accountability along with Stewart. How can
people do that? Are they? Is it by contacting the representatives?
Is it by phoning the military? How can they do that?
You know, I've told people four or five things. I've said,
contact your representatives and demand accountability and ask where their
(10:32):
position or stances. We've had success with that. Obviously, we're
the parents, but we've had other friends that have had
success with that. I tell people to pray. We are
We believe we are here at this moment and time,
and so is Stewart for a purpose, and it's not
(10:53):
by accident. Um. I'm not going to get spiritual with you,
but we believe prayer is helpful for all of us.
I tell people to vote. If you don't like what's happening,
make sure you vote with your with your conscious I
tell people, so Stewart is going this is going to
(11:15):
be an ultra marathon and not a sprint. Stewart is
going to need legal fees to fight the system. We
are asking people to go to Pipe Hitters Foundation dot
org look for his length for Lieutenant Colonel Sheller and
donate and it would be much to appreciate it. So
you are obviously now dealing with this. I'm really glad
that you have made contact with Eddie On Andrea Gallagher.
(11:38):
I know that they went through something you know that
was similar, different in its own ways, but with everything
that we are currently seeing in the political climate, obviously
now you're being censored. Do you believe that this is
going to wake up the American people in regards to
really how politicized our military has become. It would definitely
take the blinches off of me. You know, I'm that
(12:01):
person that heard the stars Dingle Banner and cried, and
I am so proud of our son, and I just
cannot believe that our military is treating him this way.
And I have a hard time believing that the other
military members from his grade up have not stood up
for him. That has been a real surprise for me.
(12:24):
And I didn't realize a real disappointment in a real disappointment.
And I understand why. I understand why they have families.
They're protecting their future because the Marine Corps has them
an invisible change that if they speak out and stand up,
then they're screwed. Their future is squashed. Stewart, in principle, said,
(12:50):
I don't care what you did was wrong. You need
to be held accountable. Shame on you. You need to
admit your mistake, aks, you need to resign. You can't
just ignore it. It took them thirty days to even
go in front of a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee today
to begin to answer questions. Stewart did it on day one,
(13:12):
and on twelve hours after day one then believe him
of his command and began to apply pressure, lots of pressure.
You your family has done so much, I think, not
just for those families that lost their sons and daughters
in Afghanistan, but also too, I think, for the nation
(13:33):
to really show what's happening with our country. And I
know that your son is there right now, but I
do have faith that he'll be out and that the
American people will fight for him. We will fight for him,
and everything that your family has done is not in vain.
You are, obviously, you know, an American hero family and
doing what you're doing, and so thank you so much
for even now picking up the torch and really fighting
(13:54):
for this um. Is there anything else aside from reaching
out to representatives? I know you said people donate at
Pipe Peter's Foundation dot org make sure that they click
on your son's link, Lieutenant Colonel Sheller, But is there
anything else that you're asking the public to do? Is
it sharing your information? I know that you just got
your Facebook posting taken down? But how else can we help?
(14:15):
You can help the one post came down, there other
posts there they can UM, I mean there at Kathy
Sheller on Facebook I'm pretty easy to find at this point. Um,
I'm asking people to share on social media, on Instagram,
on what, Twitter, tweeter, what it seemed to be some messenger.
There are so many things now, I'm asking people to
(14:38):
get the information out. Um. I think if enough people
have it out there, the more that it is out
in the public, the better chance I believe he has.
I think they win if we're quiet. Here's the message.
They have quieted Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Sheller by giving him
(14:59):
a gag order, which he ignored, and now they've quieted
him by putting him in jail. I'm asking the American
people to not be quiet and to demand justice and
demand accountability. Well, we will make sure that we put
that out there. We're gonna be putting some representatives numbers
underneath of it too, because in my mind, yeah, you've
(15:20):
got to fight for the people that you're scorn to represent,
right and so you know, I guess people could do fundraisers.
We haven't gotten to that point yet. UM, just about anything,
make your voice be hurt. Someone asked me if they
could show up and and do picketing. I don't care.
I'm sure anything. So I'm mad, I'm angry, I'm hurt. Well,
(15:46):
I apologize because this is not the military I served in,
and I just I think that it's awful that the
families are now having to see their service numbers be
treated like this. And you know, ma'am, just everything that
your family is going through right now, you are in
all of our hearts and pray years and we will
be there with you every stuff of the way. Well,
thank you, ViRGE of encouragement like that help us get
(16:07):
through every day, and we appreciate it. Anna, Well, God
bless both of you. Thank you for joining us. We'll
be here obviously covering everything to do with your family.
And I know you guys have to run because I
know it's probably been a very hectic day, but we'll
be following everything that you're doing. Y, thank you so much.
That was a very very heavy interview. You know you
can hear it in his mom's voice, just so everything
(16:28):
that they're going through, it's it's a shame what has
become of our military. I have some closing thoughts, will
be right back after this quick break. You know, when
people asked me several years ago why I joined the military,
I obviously wanted to serve my country, and I looked
at it as a way of really, I think, helping
my family and leaving a bad situation. And it was
(16:51):
such an incredible thing to be a part of. You know,
you had that sense of camaraderie. It was knowing that
you were going to work and that you were all
contributing to a bigger thing, something bigger than you. That
whole idea notion of freedom. But when I see what's
happening in our country now, and you see the amount
of morale within the military community, especially whether people are
(17:12):
active duet to your veterans, to see what's happening in
our country, it's really sad. And I think that many
people after what happened with Afghanistan, they had their horse
blinders lifted. And I think that it's situations like this
that are only going to continue to I think shocked
the American people into realizing that this is it, guys,
this is there is no plan B to the United
(17:35):
States of America. It's either we fight for what we
believe in or we fold and we become another destroyed
republic in history's timeline. And I think that what we're seeing,
especially with this family, I mean, they're asking, they're telling
the American people that they need to speak out. It's
not just Lieutenant Colonel Sheller versus the United States Marine Corps.
(17:55):
We are all Lieutenant Colonel Sheller. And if we don't
use our voices, if we don't demand and accountability from
this administration and really from everything that's happening, we're next.
Before we go, I want to thank Kathy and Stuart
Sheller Senior again for such a great interview, and I
want to thank you guys so much for listening. If
you enjoy today's show, please leave us a review and
(18:17):
rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts. To hear more
of my episode and get my weekly newsletter, go to
Gingridge through six dot com slash on a. You can
also find me on Twitter, Parlor, Facebook, Instagram, and get
her at Real Ana Paulina And a special thank you
to producer Drew Steele, writer Aaron Kligman, and executive producers
Debbie Myers and Speaker New Gingridge part of the Gingridge
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