A Marine Corps leader at Parris Island was arrested for alleged felony cruelty toward a child and battery over the weekend, and was reassigned from his position as executive officer at the South Carolina installation’s recruit training regiment.
Lt. Col. Michael Masters was booked into a Florida county jail on Saturday morning and charged with felony-level “abuse of a child without great bodily harm” and domestic battery by strangulation, according to county police records obtained by Military.com. He was reassigned after his arrest, according to the Marine Corps.
With Masters’ reassignment, the regiment’s top three positions have turned over in almost exactly two months. Altogether, five top Marine leaders have been dismissed or reassigned within the Corps’ Training and Education Command since June, a three-month stretch that has brought increased attention to the entity responsible for molding new troops but provided few answers as to why some leaders were relieved.
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“The investigation is ongoing and additional details are unavailable at this time,” Maj. Philip Kulczewski, a spokesperson for Parris Island, told Military.com on Tuesday. “Lt. Col. Masters has been reassigned pending charges. Any questions related to the investigation may be directed to the Santa Rosa County authorities.”
On Sept. 2, an officer with the Gulf…
