The US Navy was mocked for posting a photo online of a sailor firing a rifle with a forward-facing scope, which social media users said showed America was “going to lose a war major”.
The Navy’s official Instagram page posted a photo of Commander Cameron Yaste, captain of the guided-missile destroyer USS John S McCain, firing a rifle with a rear-mounted scope.
The image, also sent as an official press release, was captioned: “Whether training firing, maintenance, fuel purity testing and participation in sea details and anchor, the #USNavy is always ready to serve and protect. »
Social media users and other branches of the U.S. military quickly mocked the image, in which Commander Yaste also used a scope with the lens cap still attached.
The US Marines released a separate image of a Marine properly holding and firing a rifle.
One X user joked: “We’re going to lose a major war,” while another said: “Dear US Navy. The bezel is upside down. That’s why we have Marines on ships.
A third added: “Is this a joke or has this guy never fired a gun before? »
Others pointed out that Commander Yaste was in an unusual position for target practice and that his grip was placed too far to the rear of his rifle.
Mike Collins, a Republican congressman from Georgia, posted a photoshopped photo of a gun with the barrel upside down.
The US Navy photograph has been removed and the press release recalled.
A spokesperson said: “Thank you for pointing out our scope error in the previous post. The image was deleted until the NDE was completed! »
The Navy defines IME as “training in a phase of military service in which an individual has impairments, and which is intended and directed toward the correction of that impairment.”
The caption of the original image from the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service stated that the captain was shooting at a “killer tomato”, the nickname given to a naval target balloon.
He said he was “observing the live fire exercise” while on board the ship “conducting routine operations.”
Commander Yaste attended the Naval Postgraduate School and earned a master’s degree in astronautics, according to his official biography.
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