If you follow our armed forces on social media, you might have noticed a most embarrassing photo recently. But the reason it’s most embarrassing isn’t just for the obvious reasons.
On Tuesday, April 9, a photo of Commander Cameron Yaste was posted to the official US Navy’s Instagram account. The experienced military leader was shooting a rifle on the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer warship.
The caption read, “From engaging in practice gun shoots, conducting maintenance, testing fuel purity, and participating in sea and anchor details, the US Navy is always ready to serve and protect.” added to the post was the hashtag “readiness.”
For anyone with an untrained eye, the image, along with its caption, invoked just that: a Navy ready and willing to defend its country.
However, a closer look, or by someone like the commander himself, shows some pretty embarrassing details.
For starters, the rifle scope the leader was supposedly looking down was mounted onto the gun backward.
This is the state of our Navy👇Featuring an instagram post (left) about #readiness with a man shooting a rifle while looking down a Trijicon scope that is mounted BACKWARDS.
This is so embarrassing 😑 pic.twitter.com/aYIql99Qgx
— Frankly Frank (@CastiglioneFrnk) April 9, 2024
Secondly, the foregrip of the weapon was also put on wrong.
Naturally, social media everywhere who noticed were quick to point out the errors and make fun of not only the commander himself but the entire military branch.
Take the US Marines, for example. Their official social media quickly shared a picture on their account of their Marines firing the same rifle, only this time all the settings were correct.
Clear Sight Picture#Marines assigned to the @15thMEUOfficial conduct a live-fire deck shoot aboard the @usnavy amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, April 6.
The 15th MEU is currently embarked aboard the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group conducting routine operations.#BlueGreenTeam pic.twitter.com/NJqe4mLdmh
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) April 10, 2024
However, as embarrassing and egregious as these mistakes are, there is one that is far worse.
The worst part of the whole thing is that you know this photo had to have gone through multiple people to make its way to an official US Navy post. And yet, apparently, no one caught these glaring mistakes, not even the commander, a man who should have the training and experience to notice them right away, possibly before even being handed the weapon.
Plus, the weapon, as seen in the photo aboard a fully crewed military vessel, with what was probably tens if not hundreds of other trained military service members. But, again, the mistakes weren’t noticed.
The question this should cause us to ask is just how “ready” is our military really?
