Marcus was enlisted for 13 years, from the time he graduated high school in 2005 until his general discharge in 2018. The latter years of his enlistment were fraught with controversy. Even before the drowning of Ali, Marcus was generating controversy and facing reprimands for inappropriate use of social media. Marcus’ posts are often conflicting and the dates are often out of order when he discusses events, so to the best of our ability we are presenting his posted statements about his discipline history. Any errors are completely unintentional
Breaking the Rules?
Originally posted in the “Confusion and Controversy” Section of the blog
Throughout his internet preacher days in the Army, Marcus made frequent posts about Army life. Sometimes proselytizing in uniform, sometimes preaching about controversial topics and sometimes using his military weapons and equipment as props for his sermons. He even made live videos from extended training exercises. Other military personnel and veterans watching online raised questions and he was reported to his superiors. But since he didn’t divulge locations and only posted during “down” time, it wasn’t serious enough to bring any charges.
Army Regulation Information About Social Media Posting
No formal charges were filed at that time but complaints were still coming in when the drowning incident occurred.
Drowning of Ali- Court Martial
In July 2016. Marcus Rogers posted pics on Facebook of a baptism he performed and the news that the man who had been baptized, Dhaifal Ali, had drowned. Rogers was court-martialed for disobeying orders to stay out of the restricted area (the river) He was demoted a rank and given a short period of hard labor. Read about that here
In these Instagram posts Marcus explained his demotion/ hard labor sentence.
More Violations
Update: After Marcus returned to duty following the death of Ali, he posted in March of 2017 saying he was going on another FTX, During this FTX, he posted live during an actual live drill. This time was more serious and because he was just returning from a court martial for his role in the death of Ali, the chain of command was more strict when assessing his conduct. After posting the live video, he posted again saying that he left the FTX early, apparently because his wife had a medical emergency, which was seemingly resolved miraculously by prayer once Marcus got home.
He posted about a week later that he had been verbally warned about his rhetoric about LGTB issues. He posted again in April and May that his social media was being examined by his superiors for possible violations. He did not get charged with any UCMJ violations at that time.
Posts that he left the FTX after that video because his wife had a medical emergency
Posts that he got reprimanded about posting about LGBT issues
Soon after, he announced he was being investigated
Below he says the charges for inappropriate social media posting were cleared. So then, why was he discharged?
Army Career Ends
Several months after being acquitted of the social media infractions, Marcus began posting again about leaving the Army “soon”
The following posts on the blog were originally posted November 17, 2017 It was difficult to determine at the time what was happening. His posts were vague.
On October 11 2017, Marcus posted about his upcoming court martial date (he said he had to go before his superiors). He states that in December of 2016 he was demoted for his unauthorized baptism of Dhaifal Ali which resulted in his death. He states he is now being disciplined/discharged for his religious views. he never called it a court martial. His posts seem to imply he was negotiating a voluntary discharge- or a mutual agreement, so that he could be free to preach the gospel.
UPDATE: That is not true, he was already disciplined for his inappropriate posting on social media. Those charges were eventually dropped. So why was he discharged?
No word yet from Marcus about his departure from the Army. For over a year he has been posting frequently how he will “soon” be out and is looking forward to being free to join God’s Army. But now he is free, and silent about it. (On 11/14/17 Fort Campbell confirmed Rogers is no longer in the Army) Last night he was hanging with a friend and arguing on Facebook.
Update: Dec 21st 2017, Marcus posted this video explaining he has been on leave from the military and is now returning. Commenters expressed confusion about the facial hair, his uniform rank showing E6 after he had been demoted, and that he was still in his base housing. It’s possible that he had had one hearing and that a second one was slated for December, or he posted this at a later date.
Marcus posted this video in October 2018 about his discharge. It was months after the Facebook post above. It may have been posted earlier, deleted then reposted.
For several months Marcus continued to post as if he was still in the Army, business as usual.
Update: Marcus posted this about his discharge on April 3 2018. Possibly it was a repost since he had been discharged several months before but mentions still waiting for an exit date, which had happened in late 2017. Due to the timing of his social media posts, it’s unclear when he actually left.
General Under Honorable means there were discipline issues and some benefits are lost
More about Army discharge policies here. He also mentions getting disability payments in his latest Go Fund Me, which he launched immediately after leaving the Army.
What really happened:
Rogers was court-martialed twice. The first was in December 2016 for entering an off-limits area. The result was a demotion from E6 to E5 and a short period of hard labor.
The second court martial in October of 2017 was for domestic abuse causing serious physical harm to his wife and other discipline issues, including an FBI investigation into fake profile social media scamming. While Rogers had been reprimanded for inappropriate posting on social media, and proselytizing in uniform, it was not the primary reason for his court-martial. The domestic abuse occurred in August or September of 2017. In September, he announced he would be both leaving the Army and getting a divorce- all in order to do God’s will.
This Facebook post appeared in September 2017 about the same time as a story in the Christian Post
Marcus’ ex wife describes the abuse she experienced
In November of 2017, he was placed on a QMP administrative leave, so from that time on he was no longer considered active duty. His permanent separation was completed on April 3, 2018. He was given a general discharge with a 14-12c designation, the judge remarking that he was unfit for service in the US Army. He told followers he was let out of his contract for his religious views.
Marcus describes the outcome of his court martial.
Final Discharge papers
Final discharge papers
A Soldier Who Served with Marcus
Most people who serve in the Armed Forces leave with lifelong friends. They consider each other brothers and sisters in arms. Marcus seems to not have made or kept any friends in the Army with the possible exception of Trevor Smolinksi, the cameraman from the baptism. His wife made remarks that they never attended events on the base because Marcus told her that everyone hated him. This is how he was described by a man named Jason who says he served with Marcus.
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL! #RECEIPTOLOGY