UPDATE: 7-30-2023
The jury handed down their decision with a finding of not guilty on all counts except the disobeying of orders prohibiting Marine drill instructors from calling people bad names. When we were in officer candidate school, I wish I had a nickel for each time the drill instructor called one of us a bad name starting with the word maggot.
Any conviction at a general court martial is a felony conviction. Consequently, SSgt. Steven T. Smiley is now a convicted felon for calling recruits bad names. The jury handed down no punishment, which means no Dishonorable Discharge. Convening authority, Brigadier General Walker M. Field, still has cards up his sleeve.
BG Field will most likely convene an administrative board, like a BOI (Board of Inquiry) so that under-the-color-of-law he can bestow upon SSgt. Smiley an OTH (Other-than-Honorable) Discharge. But, what if the officers he chooses for the BOI are independent thinkers failing to get the message the BG wants Smiley gone. What if the BOI officers fail to provide the OTH the general wanted? What then?
That’s easy, BG Walker M. Field can reject the determination of the BOI and order that Smiley be escorted off the base with an OTH. Congress in their infinite wisdom has given convening authorities in the military all the tools they need to get rid of anyone they want, for any reason. It’s the way the entire system is set up, heavily slanted in favor of the government.
Why in the world the military even wastes the time with such formalities is unknown. The generals and admirals should just say, I don’t like you. The way you brush your teeth is disturbing. These two Marines are going to escort you off the base. You are out of the service starting today with an OTH. Take him away!
This court martial system and the administrative boards are all for the benefit of the American people, to make them think the military fairly applies their regulations to all members. It’s all one big joke, only it’s not a joke. There are innocent people right now in American military gulags suffering because of this terribly flawed system.
Were it not for UNITED AMERICAN PATRIOTS (UAP) who provided SSgt. Smiley with competent legal representation, he would be in Ft. Leavenworth right now. UAP and the lawyer they provided did an incredible job representing this young man, even with the cards stacked against them as they were.
We will keep you informed about the day SSgt. Smiley becomes a civilian with an OTH for calling people bad names.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Even after receiving the exculpatory autopsy report, the commanding general was still hell-bent on destroying the life and career of one of their top drill instructors.
The court-martial jury will deliver their verdict a couple of weeks from now. We provide our readers with some of the backstory on this case and will include any additional information that comes our way.
Sham, corrupt, prosecutions have sadly become a routine occurrence in the United States military. The term; “military justice” is a classic oxymoron. The court martial of Marine Staff Sergeant Steven T. Smiley is shaping up to be just another sham prosecution that is occurring right now under our very noses.
MilitaryCorruption.com has highlighted many cases of corruption that have led to sham trials and outrageous convictions. Two that come to mind are the cases of Air Force Major Clarence Anderson, and Marine Colonel Daniel H. Wilson.
Our last information indicates SSgt. Steven T. Smiley, Senior Drill Instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina was being charged with the following…
- Negligent Homicide – one count
- Obstruction of Justice – one count
- Cruelty, Oppression or Maltreatment of a Subordinate – one count
- Failure to Obey Orders – four counts
Smiley was charged in November 2021 in the death of Marine recruit PFC Dalton Beals, who died in June 2021, while attempting to complete the boot camp training 4-day (54-hour) event called “The Crucible.” PFC Beals succumbed during the training as the Marines were pushing themselves to the maximum in 90 degree temperatures.
Permit us to pause here to offer our condolences to the family of Dalton Beals. Any young person who choses to defend America is a treasure. The loss of that person is a deep loss for all of us. We loved him, even though we never met him, simply because he was an American who chose to enter the service of his country.
The Crucible is the culmination of boot camp where recruits become United States Marines. The “Crucible” test of both mental and physical endurance psychologically gives the achievement of becoming a Marine an almost euphoric feeling of accomplishment. The level of intensity of Crucible training event is directly proportional to achieving this extraordinary sense of accomplishment. That’s the purpose of it all.
Becoming a Marine is where young men and women become part of an elite fraternity that will provide strength to each Marine for the rest of their lives. Most people cannot explain it, and few people outside of the Marine Corps can understand it.
Highly skilled Marine Drill Instructors are carefully selected and trained to push our young Marines up to but not beyond their breaking points. Unfortunately, in June 2021, things went terribly wrong when recruit Dalton Beals’ heart stopped during the Crucible training event.
That’s when the Marine Corps when head-hunting. Marine brass had to find someone to blame for the tragic loss of this young recruit’s life and zeroed in on SSgt. Steven Smiley. If you know nothing about the Marines, know this… they bring all guns to bare on a perceived target of opportunity. They make sure you are dead; not just a little bit, but a whole lot dead.
In Washington no one is ever held accountable for anything they do whether it lying, cheating, stealing, murder or doing lines of cocaine in the White House. On the other end of the scale, the Marines will do almost anything to exact accountability on someone that makes them look bad. All they need is a clear target to aim at.
NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS
A DIFFERENT REASON FOR DEATH
The trial was temporarily delayed to give lawyers more time to review new evidence that involved a second autopsy of PFC Beals’ body. Turns out that the young recruit who died (PFC Dalton Beals), had a pre-existing heart condition which may have contributed to, or caused his death during Crucible training.
For you Marines out there, Staff Sergeant Smiley was a Senior Drill Instructor with Hotel Company, Second Recruit Training Battalion. Only the finest Marines are selected to be Drill Instructors, and only the best of the best Drill Instructors are selected to be Senior Drill Instructors.
In the opinion of one retired Marine colonel, Staff Sergeant Smiley is one of the finest Marines in the Marine Corps today. Smiley was also selected to be on the Marine Corps’ “All Marine Wrestling Team,” which is testament to his physical prowess and discipline – in that world, he’s a legend!
Aside from being a tough, no nonsense drill instructor, Staff Sergeant Smiley is a devoted family man. This fact will all fall on deaf ears of a Marine Corps jury who could care less about how much Smiley loves his wife and children.
A big player in this story is the Commanding General of Parris Island, Brigadier General Walker M. Field who ordered that Smiley be sent to a general court martial to be judged not by a jury of his peers as guaranteed in the Constitution, but by senior ranking members of the Marine Corps who owe their careers to the general who put them on the jury.
BG Walker Field received information from Dr. Feigin who performed an autopsy saying, “I find it reprehensible that anyone is charged with a crime in this case!”
Unfortunately, the doctor’s conclusion wasn’t good enough for Brigadier General Walker Field for him to consider other scenarios. Instead, Walker Field disregarded the fact that Sgt. Smiley could be innocent and ordered him to by tried by a general court martial. Welcome to the world of military jurisprudence.
Brigadier General Field has several cards up his sleeve he can play to ensure a conviction, regardless of whether the accused is innocent or not. The Marines go by “objectives” and the objective here is to hang someone’s hide to the wall and justify your actions by calling it “justice.”
Card #1
Brigadier General Field signs off on the entire jury pool. You heard me right, he can “hand-pick” his own jury pool, selecting individuals he knows will “hammer” anyone he sends before them. He selected Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley to be burned at the stake.
The Brigadier General is thinking that if he makes Staff Sergeant Smiley the “fall guy,” then he won’t be forced to make structural changes in the Crucible training that will guarantee no other recruits die in training.
The Marines should be addressing the core of the problem, like having entrance screeners ensure that proper medical testing is done on new recruits entering Boot Camp to identify, and screen out, those with pre-existing heart conditions.
Nope! He wants to throw one of his best Marines under the bus, as a sacrifice on the alter of appeasement to family members of the deceased recruit. He also want’s to send a signal to his chain of command in Washington, that he has all this under control.
Card #2
The “general” picked jurors in his direct subordinate chain-of-command. This is clearly wrong as it sets up an incestuous relationship that many times is rife with “undue command influence.”
Jurors enter the courtroom knowing that if they don’t find the accused guilty of something, the commanding general who convened the court will undoubtedly remember their “failure” on their next officer fitness report or OER.
The generals know they are telegraphing a “subliminal” message that they want some’s head on a platter. By their mere selection as a juror, they get this message “loud and clear.”
Jurors know their careers will suffer, if Brigadier General Field finds out that any of them ever voted something other than “guilty.” The Staff Sergeant is “presumed” guilty from the get-go, and they know their mission is to find him “guilty” regardless of the facts. Jurors are subtly intimidated to find the accused guilty of as many charges as possible.
Sometimes the unlawful command influence isn’t as subtle as all that. Sometimes it more direct. The general (or one of his minions) might see one of the prospective jurors in the officer’s club and say, “Major Jones, you’ve got a great career going in the Marine Corps, don’t blow it during this court martial.
Card #3
The “general” doesn’t have to encourage his sycophantic prosecutor to “stack” as many additional charges on the Staff Sergeant as possible. Marines normally say it like this, “throw whatever shit you can at the wall, and I hope it all sticks!”
Each conviction, no matter how trite the charge, becomes a felony, based on the fact that it occurred at a general court martial. One insane, minuscule, “stacked” charge against Staff Sergeant Smiley is that he demeaned his recruits by calling them “war pigs.”
It’s rather tame in Marine jargon, but looks bad in print. Heaven forbid our Marines from using bad words. It might offend our enemies. And, we certainly don’t want to offend our enemies.
The “war pig” is not only Hotel Company’s mascot, it is featured in their company logo. The charge specifies that Staff Sergeant Smiley also referred to recruits as “sweet bacon” and “pigs,” allegedly violations of the recruit standard operating procedure “SOP.”
An additional charge accuses Staff Sergeant Smiley of making recruits conduct excessive physical exercises. Everyone familiar with Marine Corps Boot Camp knows how ridiculous these charges are, but they will be become “felony” convictions, if Staff Sergeant Smiley is convicted of any. A charge of jay-walking can result in a felony conviction, as long as the matter was before a general court martial.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
Here’s something to consider and something to investigate. PFC Dalton Beals entered the Marine Corps at the height of the Covid Pandemic. Before anyone could enter the military during that time, they were required to first get their Covid shots.
We don’t know this for a fact, but we presume that all recruits in all branches of the service were first required to have their Covid shots before going on active duty, especially during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Medical professionals have discovered there appears to me a link between the Covid shots and various aliments that have caused death in many people, in fact, many young people. It’s possible that PFC Dalton Beals’ heart was damaged by the Covid shots he received in order to enter military service?
PFC Dalton Beals may have died from the scaring in his heart caused by the Covid shots. An inordinate amount of people have died from myocarditis that is now believed to be related to Covid shots people received during the pandemic.
Myocarditis is usually caused by a viral infection. A severe case can weaken the heart, which can lead to heart failure, abnormal heartbeat, and sudden death.
This primary question needs to be answered; did recruit Beals die of the searing summer heat during his last week of basic training, or did he die from a preexisting condition of a damaged heart that is connected to the way his body reacted after receiving his Covid shots prior to entering the Marine Corps?
Or, did Dalton Beals suffer heart damage from a virus he may have contracted before entering the service. Viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections can cause heart inflammation. While there appears to be a link between myocarditis and Covid vaccinations, viral infections are the most common cause of myocarditis and pericarditis.
Did inflammation from a viral infection cause scaring in Dalton Beals heart which resulted in his death during the last week of boot camp? We do know for a fact the administration of the second Covid vaccination was associated with a greater risk of pericarditis and/or myocarditis.
Has Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley been sent to a general court martial for something he did not do? Will Smiley’s life be ruined over something he had nothing to do with? It’s awfully stupid to destroy one man, over the loss of another when neither one was at fault for anything.
Comparison of Hyperthermia and Myocarditis Symptoms
| Hyperthermia | Myocarditis |
|---|---|
| Heavy sweating. | Trouble Breathing |
| Cold, pale, and clammy skin. | Heart palpitations (pounding or fast-beating heart) |
| Dizziness. | Light Headedness |
| Fast, weak pulse. | Chest Pressure |
| Headache. | Shortness of Breath |
| Muscle cramps. | Swollen legs, ankles, feet and hands |
| Nausea or vomiting. | Sudden loss of consciousness |
| Tiredness or weakness. | Fatigue |
THEY WILL GET THEIR POUND OF FLESH,
THEY ALWAYS DO
The “general” will likely achieve the result he desires, which is the destruction of Staff Sergeant Smiley and his career in the Marine Corps. The likelihood that SSgt. Steven T. Smiley is fully exonerated of all charges is less than one percent. He needs to be packing his bags right now.
Only in Russia, China, or North Korea, would he possibly fare worse. A military member has better odds hitting big money jackpots in Las Vegas than in being found “not guilty” of all charges in a general court martial. MilitaryCorruption.com has been observing these sham trials for decades, and they never end well for defendants, regardless of their guilt or innocence.
Another little know fact about the military legal system is that it only takes three-quarters of the “jury” to convict Staff Sergeant Smiley on any of the charges. If he has twelve “jurors,” which is highly unlikely, it only takes nine of them to convict him on any of the charges.
This is a recent change the government made to ensure those conviction rates remain above 95%. The military discovered that occasionally some jurors reject the pressure to find someone guilty. Consequently, the military changed the rules so that only 75% of the jury is needed to convict.
In the extreme unlikely event that Staff Sergeant Smiley is found innocent of all charges, Brigadier General Field possesses other methods to ruin Smiley. Field can “weaponize” the administrative discharge process ensure Staff Sergeant Smiley is thrown out of the Marines with an “Other-than-Honorable” discharge.
You see, admirals and generals don’t even need a court martial to ruin someone. They can do it administratively. The effect is pretty much the same, in that it will tarnish his entire record with an ugly smear and deny him benefits from the Veterans Administration.
By “hook or crook,” and likely both, Brigadier General Field will exact his “pound of flesh” and crush the Staff Sergeant under the full weight of his authority. How do we know that Brigadier General Field is hell-bent on railroading Staff Sergeant Field?
MARINES ARE ALSO TARGETING
THE CEO FROM UNITED AMERICAN PATRIOTS (UAP)
WHO ARE SUPPORTING SSGT. STEVEN SMILEY
The CEO of United American Patriots UAP arrived to lend his support. UAP is an organization (www.uap.org) dedicated helping America’s war fighters.
As funds allow, UAP may provide legal assistance to military members being railroaded by the military’s judicial system. UAP is currently providing legal assistance to Staff Sergeant Steven T. Smiley and the commanding general doesn’t like it.
The commanding general (Brigadier General Walker M. Field) is attempting to banish the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UAP from Parris Island. At the very least, the Marines want to send a clear signal that all friends of SSgt. Steven T. Smiley they are not welcomed to South Carolina.
United American Patriots (UAP) is funding the lawyer defending SSgt Smiley. Unfortunately, Smiley’s lawyer could be Clarence Darrow, and it wouldn’t make much difference.
BG Field is angry because UAP had the “unmitigated gall” to bring the SSgt. Smiley case out in the open, giving the American people a glimpse into what “military justice” is really like. The military prefers to control all aspects of their closed judicial system through concealment in order to produce the results they desire.
Brigadier General Field is purportedly upset the UAP CEO took videos about the case, while visiting Parris Island. There may be transparency somewhere in the universe, but it certainly is nonexistent on Parris Island. The commanding general wants to railroad SSgt. Smiley quietly so no one knows what really happened.
The top brass in the Marine Corps should have stepped in to prevent this case by directing an investigation into what structural changes should be made to avoid future training deaths from recruits with pre-existing heart conditions.
Major General Bill Bowers, the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, or the “acting” Commandant, General Smith, can step in and do the right thing.
We doubt Marine brass has the courage to do the right thing. It’s so much easier to just destroy on young Marine, then say, “nothing to see her folks. Someone died and we destroyed the man responsible for the death. Again, nothing to see her folks, let’s keep the line moving.”
RECRUITING IS THEIR ACHILLES HEEL
Recruiting is the “Achilles heel” of the military. MilitaryCorruption.com urges all of our readers to NOT recommend military service to anyone you love or care about. The military needs to reform their so-called judicial system before anyone seriously considers signing up.
It’s clear the American military legal system is not predicated on fairness or justice. It needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch to embrace a more fair and balanced approach to justice.
Imagine any organization with its own judges, its own courts, its own appeals judges, its own prisons, and its own hand picked jurors; what can go wrong?
Change will only be made by Congress. Unfortunately, Congress will not act until recruiting numbers suddenly plummet. We have numerous ideas and thoughts regarding a new system that will restore rights to defendants which are now tangled up in unjust prosecutions by “woke” convening authorities.
The core of the problem is the fact that officers more concerned about their own careers and not the guilt or innocence of a lower ranking individual. Many military jurors are willing to ruin any subordinate, especially to avoid any action potentially detrimental to their own career path and promotions.
Brigadier General Field, like so many others, politically decided to use Staff Sgt. Smiley as a scapegoat in the hope that PFC Dalton Beals’ death does not prevent him from becoming a Marine major general.
To Marine Staff Sergeant Steven T. Smiley we say this, do not allow this to destroy your inner core. You could not have predicted what happened, regardless of what the Marine Corps will conclude. Already assume you are already convicted and move on with your life as soon as possible.
Immerse yourself in the love of your family and remember, they and United American Patriots (UAP) were among the very few who loved and supported you during this entire ordeal. Always remain faithful is the motto, but now give your loyalty and faith only to your family. Best wishes, and as they say, Semper Fi!
OUR PREDICTION:
MilitaryCorruption.com predicts the Marines will get their convictions against Staff Sgt. Smiley, but might toss out the charge of negligent homicide convicting him on one or more of the lesser charges. It’s beyond the realm of comprehension that he will be exonerated, even though he should be.
We believe Smiley had virtually nothing to do with the death of PFC Dalton Beals, but he will be crucified for it anyway.
Those who want to help Staff Sgt. Steven T. Smiley may do so through the following website… www.uap.org.
Photos of the family…
