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Hey we all make mistakes. However, several official U.S. military accounts have been caught lacking recently, which gives us something to feel better about the next time our brain decided 2am is the perfect time to remind us how we fumbled or posted something we shouldn't have on social media.
Tradition of Service… To Whom?
In a since retracted advertising poster for the Montana National Guard, a Command Sgt. Major is pictured, holding a photo of his veteran grandfather. The visual is supposed to instill a sense of family honor and tradition of service. Unfortunately for the Montana National Guard, no one seemed to have recognized the Nazi soldiers used for the background art. Clearly a stock photo search gone bad, but how many people had to say yes before these got printed?
Ah, I See You're a Man of Culture As Well
On to the U.S. Navy, which have had a few recent gaffs. The favorite so far has been the hull maintenance technician close up shot, where the knuckles of his work gloves clearly read “I EAT @SS.” The internet did what the internet does, supporting the young servicemember in his culinary endeavors, as well as roasting the Navy for letting this one slide.
Scope-gate
Riding right on the heels of that social media brown note was the now infamous shot of the Commander of the USS John S. McCain firing a rifle with the scope on backwards. The skipper is pictured holding an M4 carbine with the VCOG optic mounted backwards, also had an interesting shooting stance and an oddly mounted broomstick grip (at least in the opinion of this firearms instructor.) Luckily there was plenty of water to apply to the online burns.
There’s Wrong, And Then There’s Army Wrong
Fort Liberty had a bit of an issue back in 2020, when it was still Fort Bragg, where one of the Twitter admins for the official base account posted a series of… saucy tweets. Initially the command staff of the Public Affairs Office claimed to have been hacked, but further investigation found the insider threat. “The employee exchanged a number of tweets with a woman who posts nude photos and pornographic content to the subscription-based service OnlyFans, according to Stars and Stripes.” The other services did get a chuckle out of that fiasco.
Honestly, any time I need a laugh, I type “military deletes funny social media posts” and I am rarely disappointed. Give it a try and you’ll never go back.
