A commanding officer of the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was mocked online after he was photographed holding an assault weapon with its scope mounted backward as he took aim at a target known as a "killer tomato."
Cmdr. Cameron Yaste "observes the live-fire exercise event. The ship is in U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations," read a caption posted by Defense Visual Information Distribution Service alongside an image of him holding up the weapon with the Trijicon VCOG scope installed backward while pointed at a large target balloon.
It noted that the "7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific Region."
One user fired off the first salvo on X, where he wrote: "US Navy just killing it on Instagram," alongside laughing and cringing emojis.
"Man. The scope is annoying, but that grip placement is downright WILD," another responded.
A third said: "lol it's completely pointless. You may as well just grab the mag."
And yet another took aim at the Yaste's leadership bona fides.
"Boat captain of a guided-missile destroyer is the chef's kiss," he wrote.
One user on X wrote: "US Navy just killing it on Instagram," alongside laughing and cringing emojis.
Soon after eagle-eyed viewers spotted the tactical blunder, the Navy yanked the embarrassing image from the official Defense Department database.
"Thank you for pointing out our rifle scope error in the previous post. Picture has been removed until EMI is completed!" the US Navy said after removing the photo.
Yaste earned a commission through the Navy ROTC in 2006, according to his official bio. He also attended the Naval Post Graduate School, where he earned a master's degree in astronautics.
He was previously the combat systems and weapons officer aboard the USS Hopper.
The Post has reached out to the US Navy for comment.
If I might wager a guess, that man holding the rifle isn't even a soldier, but a model serving as stand-in. Not part of our school, but I did that during army basic training.
We had to re-assemble a field-stripped AK-47 clone in less than 15 seconds. Not too difficult after a few rounds of training.