Episode 39: What the military doesn’t want you to hear: An Exclusive with Lt. Col Scheller’s Parents
October 20, 2021 • 21 mins
Following the fiasco in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller demanded accountability from our military’s senior leadership. He was quickly imprisoned as a result, thrown in solitary confinement. Since then, Lt. Col. Scheller agreed to a plea deal and should have been discharged, able to continue his life as a free civilian. But the Marine Corps didn’t live up to its word, and this story is tragically far from over. For this podcast, Lt. Col. Scheller’s parents, Cathy and Stuart Sr., return to the show to provide an update on their son’s situation. As they explain to Anna, the Marine Corps has imposed a gag order on Lt. Col. Scheller, hoping he breaks it so they can punish him further. The military also leaked Scheller's medical records to a blog prior to the trial in an effort to smear him. But Lt. Col. Scheller’s parents are not under a gag order. They’re ready to speak out and tell you about a shameful example of targeting a decorated Marine officer for political reasons. For more information on the military's mistreatment of Lt. Col. Scheller and how you can help, visit https://istandwithstu.com/.
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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, following the fiasco in Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel
Stewart Sheller demanded accountability from our military senior leadership. He
was quickly imprisoned, thrown in solitary confinement, and since then,
Lieutenant Colonel Sheller agreed to a plea deal and should
(00:20):
have been out by now, able to continue his life
as a free civilian. Instead, the Marine Corps post a
gag order hoping that he breaks it so he can
be punished further. They're here ready to speak out and
tell you about a shameful example of targeting a decorated
Marine officer for political reasons. This is Luna Talks with
Anna Paulina. Welcome back to today's episode of Luna Talks
(00:46):
with Me, your host on a Paulina Luna. As you know,
I have been covering what was happening with the military,
the politicization of the military, and then also to what's
happening with Lieutenant Colonel Sheller, and I was tacted a
few days ago by Kathy, his mother, who had actually
joined us on a previous episode, and she wanted to
(01:06):
talk with me to provide an update for her son,
because she said after the hearing, a lot of media
kind of fell off. They didn't want to cover kind
of the after effects that the family is dealing with.
But as you know, as an Air Force veteran, and
then also to someone who's very active within the veteran community,
not just online, but also to in my hometown here
in Panel's County, I can tell you that it's very
(01:29):
important that we keep eyes on this because Lieutenant Colonel Sheller,
whether or not you agree with his politics, what they
are doing to him is scary and it should be
scary for anyone who has a family member or a
significant other or a friend in the military as a whole,
you know. In interviewing her, and we'll get to that
interview in a second, it was alarming to me what
(01:51):
the military did in an effort to sabotage this man's
credibility prior to his trial, because there was so much
media attention on this, and I ask you to really
think about this for a moment. You know, they talk
about right now, especially what's happening with COVID nineteen and
you know, people's rights to health privacy. I mean, I
can tell you that in the next probably ten years,
(02:13):
we're going to see insurance companies probably pushing to see
if they can use people's d NA to give them insurance,
which is a completely separate, I think discussion. But the
point is is that people should have a right to
medical privacy, whether or not it covers down on mental
health or physical health. That should never be used or
exploited against someone, especially when they're obviously facing criminal charges.
(02:36):
You have to literally respect people's privacy in that sense.
And so it's very interesting to me the angle that
the military took with us, and I don't agree with it,
and I think a lot of people listening to this
will also say, well, you know, was he guilty of
these charges? You know, he pleaded guilty. He has a
statement that you can read and actually the u r
L that I posted in the description of this podcast.
(02:59):
But the point is is is that we really do
have to make sure that as a country, we are
keeping eyes on this, because how they treat him is
how they can treat anyone else that serves that might
not have the know how or the ability to stand
up for themselves. And I do believe that if we're
gonna say that we need full transparency in government, which
we need more of. Trust me, Um, we need to
(03:20):
do the same thing with the military, especially being that
your tax dollars, my tax dollars go to they should
actually be held accountable. So we have joining us again
Stu and Kathy Sheller, which are the parents of Lieutenant
Colonel Sheller, who is recently involved in some serious and
serious legal ramifications for basically standing up for our service members.
(03:41):
Now I'm so glad to have you guys back on
this show. If you can, what is the most recent update.
We saw that he was basically charged, but can you
explain some of those charges? So he was thrown in
the brig illegally under a gag order, but we all
thought it was a gag order. It was actually thrown
in as a flight risk, which which he was not.
(04:03):
He was held for nine days in solitary confinement. During
that time, he signed a plea deal saying that he
would take accountability and plead guilty to all of his
actions in a special court martial and if he did that,
the military would then UM signed his resignation and give
him either an honorable or a general discharge under honorable conditions. Yes,
(04:29):
which he has since gone to his court martial UM.
And of course the military has not signed those documents yet.
They're playing a waiting game, and he is still under
a gag order because clearly they don't want to hear
what he has to say. But during his court he
was able to read a statement, and in his statement
(04:52):
it describes in detail, which you can find at the
website I Stand with doo dot com and there you
see his charges, his answers to the charges, his statement,
and the closing statement made by the his attorney. But
under those statements you will see the pressure that the
military brought down upon him for thirty days, basically trying
(05:15):
to get him to crack, and some could say even
commit suicide. UM. It was really awful, and most everyone
didn't know what was going on. And we're here today
to say, if the military can do that to a
grade five officer who is a decorated war hero and
a lieutenant colonel, what can they do to a newly
(05:39):
enlisted person, Let's say a young woman crying rape or anything,
taking it up the chain, and they try to silence them.
So our son is still silenced. They have no time
limit as to when they will release him. They could
take it all the way up to the full three years,
and so we're asking people to get involved. Contact the
(06:00):
Secretary of Navy and the number and the email is
on that website. I stand with STU dot com and
asked them to expedite his release. Enough is enough? Can you?
I mean I got chills as you were saying that,
because you're saying that basically the military and I've seen it.
I remember actually when I was stationed at Whiteman Air
(06:20):
Force Base in Missouri. This is before the military repealed
that don't ask to intel policy, and a girl that
I was actually friends with, it must have been nineteen
at the time. Anyway, she was raped and she ultimately
ended up actually getting out because her chain of command
completely just brushed it under the rug. And ultimately she
ended up getting out because she said, well, like you
(06:41):
guys didn't believe me, but I'm gay, and she was
ultimately discharged because of that. But I mean, what were
some of this? Are you able to share what some
of the states mat our public record now so it
is on its on the website, can'th You mentioned Stewart's
statement to the judge during the courtmark. Sure, I mean
(07:01):
it is a compelling read. Yes. So it started off
with you know, they told him, you know, they brought
him in and said, you're not I'm hoping I can
get all of it straight. That we're not going to
you know, shuts you up, you can you can go home.
And then they called him in and within twelve hours
took him out of his chain or they command of
(07:22):
his command. Then they started doing an investigation and they
were using leading questions, and we know this because I
was interviewed. They were totally biased questions. They would say,
do you do you think that he's bipolar? Do you
think that he maybe is having a PTSD meltdown? Do
you think that maybe he's doing you know, subversive action,
(07:44):
you know, radical life, the leading questions in this investigation,
trying to smear his name with everyone else in the military.
Then they went and put a gag order on every
military member saying you cannot post, you cannot comment, you
cannot say anything about him Lieutenant Colonel Scheller. Then they
went on he had a small business and they shut
(08:05):
it down in the p x IS to try to
hurt him financially. They went on his wife, was it
was no longer a good place to live, had they
had reporters coming. It was an unfriendly military environment. His
wife separated and went to another state. He asked for
leave to go talk to his wife. They told him, no,
(08:26):
you may not leave. You had to stay here. And
you know you're our marine. We have you. So they
would not let him go to work on his marriage.
And and yet they labeled him by flight risk and
threw him in the brig in solitary confinement for nine days.
Let me let me talk about the criminal acts that
they did. In fact, this isn't just Dad talking. Colonel Hyns,
(08:52):
the judge that ruled and proceeded over the court martial,
admonished the prosecution and the government for the case they
you know, when he actually listened and listened to all
of Stewart's videos over that thirty day period and he
read all of his posts. He had monished the prosecution
(09:13):
for taking the charges out of context. He had monished
the prosecution. He said, in his twenty seven years of
being in a judge, he had never seen anybody detained
or put in prison for what Stewart had done. And
the worst and the criminal act that um you probably
(09:34):
won't hear the end of is that pre trial, they
released the entire investigative report, including his medical records, to
the media to again attempt to smear him. I am
here with Kathy and Stewart Senior, the parents of Lieutenant
Colonel Sheller, will be right back after this quick break.
(09:58):
So they released his medical of records because it's interesting.
They brought up his mental health right in in the
leading question in an effort to almost basically painted out
like he had post traumatic stress disorder. He's breaking. They
used the term bipolar with me. They said, you know,
Mr Schiller, all of his friends think he's bipolar. What
do you think? And I said, are his friends clinical psychiatrists?
(10:23):
Are you a clinical psychiatrist? I'm not. And we've known
this young man for forty years and he went to
our knowledge. All he did was served his country for
seventeen years in battle zones on five deployments. And Stewart's
statement that you will all read if you go to
the website. Stewart said, you know, you didn't question my
(10:46):
mental health when I couldn't come home for the birth
of my first child when I was on deployment. You
didn't question my mental health when you didn't let me
take leave to go bury my three grandparents, so you
know it's such. But when I questioned the authority and
ask for accountability, you question my mental health. You go
(11:08):
about leaving messages and calling me and saying we don't
want you to commit suicide. Um should you know, trying
to plant seeds in his head and pressure because the
military knows that a minimum of twenty two service members
commit suicide a day, twenty two a day, and that
is a very low estimate, so they would have liked
for it to go away. Yeah, of course. It seems
like what they're trying to do is they're trying to
(11:29):
basically either plant that idea and or basically coax him
into saying I'm suffering from a mental break and then
they can blame his reaction on that. I mean the
fact that you're telling me though, that they took his
medical records and released him to the media. Who did
they do? You know what media outlet they released that
there was Task and Purpose, Uh, you know, a a
military rag sheet that is aligned with the Pentagon, and
(11:52):
they reported it. You can you know, your listeners can
go google the Task of Purpose article they were. They
proudly reported that they were linked documents, and we were
astonished and outraged. But fortunately most of the other media
had the class not to report on it. And and
so you know, Task and Purpose owns that well. I mean,
(12:16):
I I do not. You know, I've the first person
to see that there are people that are usually pay
for play when it comes to smear campaign. So I
trust me. I believe you guys here that I know
how that works. So what is the next step then
for you, your family, for your son, because now what's
happening is I think that if if the military does
(12:36):
decide to move forward and accept his resignation, then he
can basically I think one become a civilian and have
his freedom back. But also too, I think he's really
ignited a fire though with Americans that said, look, we
have to hold our military leadership, regardless of party affiliation, accountable.
If you guys, are you able to talk about maybe
(12:56):
some next plans he might have coming up or you
don't know you because you know the very it's gonna
come full circle. They the military, the Marine Corps, agreed
to the Plea deal that they would release him, but
there was not a timeline on that. So they want
to sweat him out to see if they can get
him to break the gag order so they can do
punitive damages against him again, which I don't know, could
(13:18):
even lead to more prison time. So they're trying to
play a sweating game to sweat him out to see
if they can get him to do something. You know,
I and this is what I tell people. They technically
you know, in fact, his attorney said, you know, parents,
it's the military, it's the government. For for it to
go up the chain of command to the Secretary of Navy,
(13:39):
it could take months. And you know what I say
to that. It took them less than a day to
relieve him of command. It took them weeks to put
him in jail illegally. If they wanted to make this
go away within a day or two, they could. All
they need is a signature of the Secretary, maybe just
simply needs to sign off what they agreed to. What
(14:00):
he would do in the future. I don't know. There
there are so many options open to him, but he
is not free until he has the freedom of speech.
If you guys can real quick, We're gonna pause. I
have to jump to a commercial break, So sit tight.
We'll be right back with the parents of Lieutenant Colonel
Stewart Sheller. Has your family been able to reach out
(14:22):
and talk to anyone from the Pentagon or they've never
contacted any Early on, his commanding officer, Colonel Emil made
it very clear to me, you're not his next of kin.
He's ar marine. We've got this back off. They have never,
(14:43):
at any point in time given us any respect whatsoever. Wow. So,
I mean, you guys just I think dropped a bombshell here.
I did not expect you to say any of that.
I mean a lot of people were wondering and I
was kind of following the new cycle on this from
the last time I spoke to you that they wanted
to know he's in solitary confinement. They're saying, oh, it's
due to COVID nineteen. Meanwhile, they literally we can get
into that separately. But you know, you literally have Afghan
(15:06):
refugees on basis around the country that are not in
solitary confinement. So blows my mind. Or vaccinated exactly, And
that's actually something that you know, you're talking about what
they're doing to your son now, But that's actually and
part of the episode Last Time is focusing on how
the military has become politicized and that you know your
son was asking for accountability, something that everyone was asking for,
(15:29):
regardless of whether or not you're an independent Democrat Republican,
but ultimately ended up being silenced for. And yet they're
now I think, really leveraging and targeting. I think those
that are seeking religious exemptions. I know that you guys
believe in God. I believe in God too, and it's
like you have to respect people's religious beliefs. That's why
we're the United States of America. Well, I mean, I'm
(15:50):
blown away from that. I didn't expect you to say that.
So you're basically the only advocates he has now we
are the only advocates speaking hands because he can not
speak out. I mean, we've reached out to our senator,
our congressman, and we've asked Americans to reach out and
that was effective. We heard from Marjorie Taylor Green, representative
from Georgia, who said, my God in my little district
(16:12):
where we don't even have a military base. We heard
from over a million people. Uh, and so we know
that helped him get out of prison because Congress. People
were writing the Marine commandant. But so we're all we
have to ask Americans now is contact the Secretary Navy.
(16:32):
Let's put this behind us. You know, we have a
voluntary military and we have for the last twenty years.
You know, I had Glenn Beck asked me a couple
of weeks ago. I have a son who was thinking
about joining the Marine Corps. What do you think, Mr Shelder?
I would ask parents to reach Stewart's statement. You know,
(16:55):
we loved the Marine Corps as parents, and so does Steward.
But I gotta tell you, um, this is just disheartening
to see how when someone speaks up they can turn
on them and try to hurt and crush. They just
tried to hurt and crush and destroy him and he's
was mentally strong enough to withstand it. But I I
(17:17):
believe in my heart they were hoping he wouldn't be.
So his future is very bright. He has a lot
to say and guess what they would just assume him
not say right, So as long as they stall and
don't honor their commitment, he's under a gag er. Maybe
(17:38):
the Secretary of Navy, Carlos del Toro, who by the way.
You can find his phone number and email on the
ice stand with student dot com website. Guys, go check
it out. I'm hopeful that he will be tired of
hearing from US and and by delaye and not accepting
Stewart's resignation, all he is doing is hurting the reputation
(18:01):
and continuing to hurt the reputation of the Marine Corps,
the Navy, and the Armed services. And that is a
shame and that's a sad day for America. He needs
to step up and get this over with. I mean,
I agree with you. I think right now, like you said,
if they're trying to stall, they're basically doing it because
they don't want him to go to the press once
he gets out and to be able to actually put
(18:23):
a huge spotlight on this. I think I actually might
have told you this last time, but one of the
Marines that was killed in Kabul, actually his mom lives
out here and I called her and I was able
to talk with her. But that was just one and
that was one of the hardest phone calls I think
I've ever had to make in my life. And to
see really an officer come forward and ask for accountability
(18:44):
and then to be treated like this. You know, it's interesting,
a lot of people said previously, there's been other officers
that have made statements in the past against other administrations
and there hasn't been this type of action taken against them.
So you really look at it, like, I do believe
that this is political targeting. I hund percent believe that
they did not want if anyone a service member to
especially call out this administration on this, and that's why
(19:06):
this is happening, and it's and it's not supposed to
happen like that, but it is. And so obviously everyone
check out that website. What was the name of the
website again, it was I Stand with Stu, and that's
Stu dot com. I stand with Stu dot com. You
can read his statement, the charges against him, and his
reply to the judge, and you can also read his
(19:27):
attorneys closing argument. So it's it's very powerful stuff and
as Americans, you need to read it. And we just
set it up as his parents this morning. Suddenly we
look forward to putting this interview on that website. Well absolutely,
we'll make sure to get it to you as soon
as it's up and ready to go. But thank you
so much for joining us today here on Luna Talks,
(19:47):
and we look forward to continuing to cover this because
I don't think that this is going to be the
end for you guys. I think this is just the beginning.
It should be over, and everyone's reporting it as if
it's over, and everyone wants, everyone wants to to be
so we thank you for having us on so we
can tell the true story and our message to Secretary
of Navy is we will not stop until he signs
(20:12):
that resignation and honors his commitment. Well, don't stop. You
shouldn't in fact it right now, especially you are his
only advocates, So continue because I know how it can be.
And I feel like in general right now they're just
wanting to go away. But that's exactly when you need
to kick it into high gear. So thank you so
much for joining us. We look forward to having you
back on. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Before
(20:35):
we go, I want to thank Kathy and Stuart Sheller
Senior again for such a great interview and want to
thank you guys so much for listening. If you enjoy
today's show, please leave us a review and rate us
five stars on the Apple Podcast to hear more of
my episodes and get my weekly newsletter. Go to get
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find me on Twitter, Parlor, Facebook, Instagram, and get her
(20:55):
at Real Anna. Paulina and a special thank you to
producer Drew Steele, writer Aaron kleegan in An, 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, following the fiasco in Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel
Stewart Sheller demanded accountability from our military senior leadership. He
was quickly imprisoned, thrown in solitary confinement, and since then,
Lieutenant Colonel Sheller agreed to a plea deal and should
(00:20):
have been out by now, able to continue his life
as a free civilian. Instead, the Marine Corps post a
gag order hoping that he breaks it so he can
be punished further. They're here ready to speak out and
tell you about a shameful example of targeting a decorated
Marine officer for political reasons. This is Luna Talks with
Anna Paulina. Welcome back to today's episode of Luna Talks
(00:46):
with Me, your host on a Paulina Luna. As you know,
I have been covering what was happening with the military,
the politicization of the military, and then also to what's
happening with Lieutenant Colonel Sheller, and I was tacted a
few days ago by Kathy, his mother, who had actually
joined us on a previous episode, and she wanted to
(01:06):
talk with me to provide an update for her son,
because she said after the hearing, a lot of media
kind of fell off. They didn't want to cover kind
of the after effects that the family is dealing with.
But as you know, as an Air Force veteran, and
then also to someone who's very active within the veteran community,
not just online, but also to in my hometown here
in Panel's County, I can tell you that it's very
(01:29):
important that we keep eyes on this because Lieutenant Colonel Sheller,
whether or not you agree with his politics, what they
are doing to him is scary and it should be
scary for anyone who has a family member or a
significant other or a friend in the military as a whole,
you know. In interviewing her, and we'll get to that
interview in a second, it was alarming to me what
(01:51):
the military did in an effort to sabotage this man's
credibility prior to his trial, because there was so much
media attention on this, and I ask you to really
think about this for a moment. You know, they talk
about right now, especially what's happening with COVID nineteen and
you know, people's rights to health privacy. I mean, I
can tell you that in the next probably ten years,
(02:13):
we're going to see insurance companies probably pushing to see
if they can use people's d NA to give them insurance,
which is a completely separate, I think discussion. But the
point is is that people should have a right to
medical privacy, whether or not it covers down on mental
health or physical health. That should never be used or
exploited against someone, especially when they're obviously facing criminal charges.
(02:36):
You have to literally respect people's privacy in that sense.
And so it's very interesting to me the angle that
the military took with us, and I don't agree with it,
and I think a lot of people listening to this
will also say, well, you know, was he guilty of
these charges? You know, he pleaded guilty. He has a
statement that you can read and actually the u r
L that I posted in the description of this podcast.
(02:59):
But the point is is is that we really do
have to make sure that as a country, we are
keeping eyes on this, because how they treat him is
how they can treat anyone else that serves that might
not have the know how or the ability to stand
up for themselves. And I do believe that if we're
gonna say that we need full transparency in government, which
we need more of. Trust me, Um, we need to
(03:20):
do the same thing with the military, especially being that
your tax dollars, my tax dollars go to they should
actually be held accountable. So we have joining us again
Stu and Kathy Sheller, which are the parents of Lieutenant
Colonel Sheller, who is recently involved in some serious and
serious legal ramifications for basically standing up for our service members.
(03:41):
Now I'm so glad to have you guys back on
this show. If you can, what is the most recent update.
We saw that he was basically charged, but can you
explain some of those charges? So he was thrown in
the brig illegally under a gag order, but we all
thought it was a gag order. It was actually thrown
in as a flight risk, which which he was not.
(04:03):
He was held for nine days in solitary confinement. During
that time, he signed a plea deal saying that he
would take accountability and plead guilty to all of his
actions in a special court martial and if he did that,
the military would then UM signed his resignation and give
him either an honorable or a general discharge under honorable conditions. Yes,
(04:29):
which he has since gone to his court martial UM.
And of course the military has not signed those documents yet.
They're playing a waiting game, and he is still under
a gag order because clearly they don't want to hear
what he has to say. But during his court he
was able to read a statement, and in his statement
(04:52):
it describes in detail, which you can find at the
website I Stand with doo dot com and there you
see his charges, his answers to the charges, his statement,
and the closing statement made by the his attorney. But
under those statements you will see the pressure that the
military brought down upon him for thirty days, basically trying
(05:15):
to get him to crack, and some could say even
commit suicide. UM. It was really awful, and most everyone
didn't know what was going on. And we're here today
to say, if the military can do that to a
grade five officer who is a decorated war hero and
a lieutenant colonel, what can they do to a newly
(05:39):
enlisted person, Let's say a young woman crying rape or anything,
taking it up the chain, and they try to silence them.
So our son is still silenced. They have no time
limit as to when they will release him. They could
take it all the way up to the full three years,
and so we're asking people to get involved. Contact the
(06:00):
Secretary of Navy and the number and the email is
on that website. I stand with STU dot com and
asked them to expedite his release. Enough is enough? Can you?
I mean I got chills as you were saying that,
because you're saying that basically the military and I've seen it.
I remember actually when I was stationed at Whiteman Air
(06:20):
Force Base in Missouri. This is before the military repealed
that don't ask to intel policy, and a girl that
I was actually friends with, it must have been nineteen
at the time. Anyway, she was raped and she ultimately
ended up actually getting out because her chain of command
completely just brushed it under the rug. And ultimately she
ended up getting out because she said, well, like you
(06:41):
guys didn't believe me, but I'm gay, and she was
ultimately discharged because of that. But I mean, what were
some of this? Are you able to share what some
of the states mat our public record now so it
is on its on the website, can'th You mentioned Stewart's
statement to the judge during the courtmark. Sure, I mean
(07:01):
it is a compelling read. Yes. So it started off
with you know, they told him, you know, they brought
him in and said, you're not I'm hoping I can
get all of it straight. That we're not going to
you know, shuts you up, you can you can go home.
And then they called him in and within twelve hours
took him out of his chain or they command of
(07:22):
his command. Then they started doing an investigation and they
were using leading questions, and we know this because I
was interviewed. They were totally biased questions. They would say,
do you do you think that he's bipolar? Do you
think that he maybe is having a PTSD meltdown? Do
you think that maybe he's doing you know, subversive action,
(07:44):
you know, radical life, the leading questions in this investigation,
trying to smear his name with everyone else in the military.
Then they went and put a gag order on every
military member saying you cannot post, you cannot comment, you
cannot say anything about him Lieutenant Colonel Scheller. Then they
went on he had a small business and they shut
(08:05):
it down in the p x IS to try to
hurt him financially. They went on his wife, was it
was no longer a good place to live, had they
had reporters coming. It was an unfriendly military environment. His
wife separated and went to another state. He asked for
leave to go talk to his wife. They told him, no,
(08:26):
you may not leave. You had to stay here. And
you know you're our marine. We have you. So they
would not let him go to work on his marriage.
And and yet they labeled him by flight risk and
threw him in the brig in solitary confinement for nine days.
Let me let me talk about the criminal acts that
they did. In fact, this isn't just Dad talking. Colonel Hyns,
(08:52):
the judge that ruled and proceeded over the court martial,
admonished the prosecution and the government for the case they
you know, when he actually listened and listened to all
of Stewart's videos over that thirty day period and he
read all of his posts. He had monished the prosecution
(09:13):
for taking the charges out of context. He had monished
the prosecution. He said, in his twenty seven years of
being in a judge, he had never seen anybody detained
or put in prison for what Stewart had done. And
the worst and the criminal act that um you probably
(09:34):
won't hear the end of is that pre trial, they
released the entire investigative report, including his medical records, to
the media to again attempt to smear him. I am
here with Kathy and Stewart Senior, the parents of Lieutenant
Colonel Sheller, will be right back after this quick break.
(09:58):
So they released his medical of records because it's interesting.
They brought up his mental health right in in the
leading question in an effort to almost basically painted out
like he had post traumatic stress disorder. He's breaking. They
used the term bipolar with me. They said, you know,
Mr Schiller, all of his friends think he's bipolar. What
do you think? And I said, are his friends clinical psychiatrists?
(10:23):
Are you a clinical psychiatrist? I'm not. And we've known
this young man for forty years and he went to
our knowledge. All he did was served his country for
seventeen years in battle zones on five deployments. And Stewart's
statement that you will all read if you go to
the website. Stewart said, you know, you didn't question my
(10:46):
mental health when I couldn't come home for the birth
of my first child when I was on deployment. You
didn't question my mental health when you didn't let me
take leave to go bury my three grandparents, so you
know it's such. But when I questioned the authority and
ask for accountability, you question my mental health. You go
(11:08):
about leaving messages and calling me and saying we don't
want you to commit suicide. Um should you know, trying
to plant seeds in his head and pressure because the
military knows that a minimum of twenty two service members
commit suicide a day, twenty two a day, and that
is a very low estimate, so they would have liked
for it to go away. Yeah, of course. It seems
like what they're trying to do is they're trying to
(11:29):
basically either plant that idea and or basically coax him
into saying I'm suffering from a mental break and then
they can blame his reaction on that. I mean the
fact that you're telling me though, that they took his
medical records and released him to the media. Who did
they do? You know what media outlet they released that
there was Task and Purpose, Uh, you know, a a
military rag sheet that is aligned with the Pentagon, and
(11:52):
they reported it. You can you know, your listeners can
go google the Task of Purpose article they were. They
proudly reported that they were linked documents, and we were
astonished and outraged. But fortunately most of the other media
had the class not to report on it. And and
so you know, Task and Purpose owns that well. I mean,
(12:16):
I I do not. You know, I've the first person
to see that there are people that are usually pay
for play when it comes to smear campaign. So I
trust me. I believe you guys here that I know
how that works. So what is the next step then
for you, your family, for your son, because now what's
happening is I think that if if the military does
(12:36):
decide to move forward and accept his resignation, then he
can basically I think one become a civilian and have
his freedom back. But also too, I think he's really
ignited a fire though with Americans that said, look, we
have to hold our military leadership, regardless of party affiliation, accountable.
If you guys, are you able to talk about maybe
(12:56):
some next plans he might have coming up or you
don't know you because you know the very it's gonna
come full circle. They the military, the Marine Corps, agreed
to the Plea deal that they would release him, but
there was not a timeline on that. So they want
to sweat him out to see if they can get
him to break the gag order so they can do
punitive damages against him again, which I don't know, could
(13:18):
even lead to more prison time. So they're trying to
play a sweating game to sweat him out to see
if they can get him to do something. You know,
I and this is what I tell people. They technically
you know, in fact, his attorney said, you know, parents,
it's the military, it's the government. For for it to
go up the chain of command to the Secretary of Navy,
(13:39):
it could take months. And you know what I say
to that. It took them less than a day to
relieve him of command. It took them weeks to put
him in jail illegally. If they wanted to make this
go away within a day or two, they could. All
they need is a signature of the Secretary, maybe just
simply needs to sign off what they agreed to. What
(14:00):
he would do in the future. I don't know. There
there are so many options open to him, but he
is not free until he has the freedom of speech.
If you guys can real quick, We're gonna pause. I
have to jump to a commercial break, So sit tight.
We'll be right back with the parents of Lieutenant Colonel
Stewart Sheller. Has your family been able to reach out
(14:22):
and talk to anyone from the Pentagon or they've never
contacted any Early on, his commanding officer, Colonel Emil made
it very clear to me, you're not his next of kin.
He's ar marine. We've got this back off. They have never,
(14:43):
at any point in time given us any respect whatsoever. Wow. So,
I mean, you guys just I think dropped a bombshell here.
I did not expect you to say any of that.
I mean a lot of people were wondering and I
was kind of following the new cycle on this from
the last time I spoke to you that they wanted
to know he's in solitary confinement. They're saying, oh, it's
due to COVID nineteen. Meanwhile, they literally we can get
into that separately. But you know, you literally have Afghan
(15:06):
refugees on basis around the country that are not in
solitary confinement. So blows my mind. Or vaccinated exactly, And
that's actually something that you know, you're talking about what
they're doing to your son now, But that's actually and
part of the episode Last Time is focusing on how
the military has become politicized and that you know your
son was asking for accountability, something that everyone was asking for,
(15:29):
regardless of whether or not you're an independent Democrat Republican,
but ultimately ended up being silenced for. And yet they're
now I think, really leveraging and targeting. I think those
that are seeking religious exemptions. I know that you guys
believe in God. I believe in God too, and it's
like you have to respect people's religious beliefs. That's why
we're the United States of America. Well, I mean, I'm
(15:50):
blown away from that. I didn't expect you to say that.
So you're basically the only advocates he has now we
are the only advocates speaking hands because he can not
speak out. I mean, we've reached out to our senator,
our congressman, and we've asked Americans to reach out and
that was effective. We heard from Marjorie Taylor Green, representative
from Georgia, who said, my God in my little district
(16:12):
where we don't even have a military base. We heard
from over a million people. Uh, and so we know
that helped him get out of prison because Congress. People
were writing the Marine commandant. But so we're all we
have to ask Americans now is contact the Secretary Navy.
(16:32):
Let's put this behind us. You know, we have a
voluntary military and we have for the last twenty years.
You know, I had Glenn Beck asked me a couple
of weeks ago. I have a son who was thinking
about joining the Marine Corps. What do you think, Mr Shelder?
I would ask parents to reach Stewart's statement. You know,
(16:55):
we loved the Marine Corps as parents, and so does Steward.
But I gotta tell you, um, this is just disheartening
to see how when someone speaks up they can turn
on them and try to hurt and crush. They just
tried to hurt and crush and destroy him and he's
was mentally strong enough to withstand it. But I I
(17:17):
believe in my heart they were hoping he wouldn't be.
So his future is very bright. He has a lot
to say and guess what they would just assume him
not say right, So as long as they stall and
don't honor their commitment, he's under a gag er. Maybe
(17:38):
the Secretary of Navy, Carlos del Toro, who by the way.
You can find his phone number and email on the
ice stand with student dot com website. Guys, go check
it out. I'm hopeful that he will be tired of
hearing from US and and by delaye and not accepting
Stewart's resignation, all he is doing is hurting the reputation
(18:01):
and continuing to hurt the reputation of the Marine Corps,
the Navy, and the Armed services. And that is a
shame and that's a sad day for America. He needs
to step up and get this over with. I mean,
I agree with you. I think right now, like you said,
if they're trying to stall, they're basically doing it because
they don't want him to go to the press once
he gets out and to be able to actually put
(18:23):
a huge spotlight on this. I think I actually might
have told you this last time, but one of the
Marines that was killed in Kabul, actually his mom lives
out here and I called her and I was able
to talk with her. But that was just one and
that was one of the hardest phone calls I think
I've ever had to make in my life. And to
see really an officer come forward and ask for accountability
(18:44):
and then to be treated like this. You know, it's interesting,
a lot of people said previously, there's been other officers
that have made statements in the past against other administrations
and there hasn't been this type of action taken against them.
So you really look at it, like, I do believe
that this is political targeting. I hund percent believe that
they did not want if anyone a service member to
especially call out this administration on this, and that's why
(19:06):
this is happening, and it's and it's not supposed to
happen like that, but it is. And so obviously everyone
check out that website. What was the name of the
website again, it was I Stand with Stu, and that's
Stu dot com. I stand with Stu dot com. You
can read his statement, the charges against him, and his
reply to the judge, and you can also read his
(19:27):
attorneys closing argument. So it's it's very powerful stuff and
as Americans, you need to read it. And we just
set it up as his parents this morning. Suddenly we
look forward to putting this interview on that website. Well absolutely,
we'll make sure to get it to you as soon
as it's up and ready to go. But thank you
so much for joining us today here on Luna Talks,
(19:47):
and we look forward to continuing to cover this because
I don't think that this is going to be the
end for you guys. I think this is just the beginning.
It should be over, and everyone's reporting it as if
it's over, and everyone wants, everyone wants to to be
so we thank you for having us on so we
can tell the true story and our message to Secretary
of Navy is we will not stop until he signs
(20:12):
that resignation and honors his commitment. Well, don't stop. You
shouldn't in fact it right now, especially you are his
only advocates, So continue because I know how it can be.
And I feel like in general right now they're just
wanting to go away. But that's exactly when you need
to kick it into high gear. So thank you so
much for joining us. We look forward to having you
back on. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Before
(20:35):
we go, I want to thank Kathy and Stuart Sheller
Senior again for such a great interview and want to
thank you guys so much for listening. If you enjoy
today's show, please leave us a review and rate us
five stars on the Apple Podcast to hear more of
my episodes and get my weekly newsletter. Go to get
groag k six dot com slash Anna. You can also
find me on Twitter, Parlor, Facebook, Instagram, and get her
(20:55):
at Real Anna. Paulina and a special thank you to
producer Drew Steele, writer Aaron kleegan in An, executive producers
Debbie Myers, and speaker New Gingridge part of The Gingridge
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