Marines Discharge Sgt. for Anti-Obama Facebook Postings

The Marine sergeant who posted comments critical of President Barack Obama on Facebook will be discharged, the Marine Corps announced Wednesday.

Sgt. Gary Stein will be given an other-than-honorable discharge for violating Pentagon policy limiting speech of service members, the Associated Press reported.

The government said Stein posted anti-Obama comments and images on one Facebook page he created called Armed Forces Tea Party, including an image of the president on the “Jackass” movie poster. Among the comments was one that stated: "Screw Obama and I will not follow all orders from him." The page had more than 29,000 "likes" as of Wednesday afternoon.

Stein has maintained he was exercising his right to freedom of speech and that he put a disclaimer on the page saying his views did not represent the Marine Corps.

Stein, a San Diego-area Marine, served for nearly 10 years, according to the AP. The discharge means he will lose all his benefits.

The discharge comes after a military board recommended earlier this month that Stein be dismissed.

According to a posting on the Armed Forces Tea Party page, Stein's actual discharge has been postponed pending test results for a medical condition Stein was diagnosed with Monday.