WASHINGTON — Gen. Robert Neller, the 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps, is on a mission to stamp out online misconduct in the ranks — a topic he feels well-qualified to discuss despite never having owned a social media account or posting to an Internet message board.

Neller, who was 32-years-old when the classic video game Oregon Trail was released for the Apple IIc, recently spoke to an audience of Marines who were five-years-old when Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook.

"When you're out there on the AOL Instant Messenger or the Myspace or the ClapSnap or whatever, you gotta behave yourselves. No poking, Pokemon, enough...poking each other is what got us into this mess," Neller said, according to two sources who were present.

Critics have asked if Neller, who like most generals did not maintain any social media presence due to fears it may hurt his career, was qualified to talk about matters related to the Internet.

"People ask me if I'm down with Internet lingo or if I'm some new...noob…