The U.S. Navy has relieved the destroyer commander, who was pictured firing a rifle with the scope mounted backward, of his duty because of the incident and the resulting backlash.
According to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Cmdr. Cameron Yaste was removed Friday, more than four months after the incident.
The Navy said Yaste was relieved of duty “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command the guided-missile destroyer” that is currently deployed in the Gulf of Oman. The statement didn’t elaborate about why Yaste was replaced.
In early April, the Navy posted to its official Instagram account a now-deleted photo of Yaste, skipper of the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain, holding an AR-style rifle and looking through a scope that was clearly mounted backward. The gun’s forward grip was also mounted strangely, positioned much closer to the gun’s center than its barrel.
“From engaging in practice gun shoots, conducting maintenance, testing fuel purity and participating in sea and anchor details, the #USNavy is always ready to serve and protect,” the original post said.
Internet hilarity quickly ensued, with everyone from the U.S. Marine Corps to everyday citizens taking verbal shots at Yaste and the Navy. The USMC quickly took a dig at the Navy, sharing a photo on its social media accounts of a Marine firing a weapon aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. The caption read, “Clear Sight Picture.”
Not unexpectedly, our faithful readers at thetruthaboutguns.com weighed in with some great observations of their own, totaling a whopping 94 comments.
“At least they had a safety officer supporting him against the brutal recoil of the M4,” wrote TTAG reader Sam Carmichael, referring to the hand on Yaste’s shoulder in the post.
Reader strych9 had a different take on it: “He got played by some guys in the ship’s armory who knew this was a photo op and that the Commander didn’t have a clue.”
And reader Slapshot tried to find the destroyer commander a way out of the jam.
“The optic wasn’t installed backwards, the rifle was installed backwards on the optic,” he wrote. “Although I assume you can’t install the props backwards on the boat either.”
Rather than considering it funny, other TTAG readers saw it as a more ominous warning of an underprepared military.
“If the Navy had wrecked fewer ships in recent years (see: USS John McCain, USS Fitzgerald, USS Bonhomme Richard, USS Connecticut), I’d be inclined to cut some slack,” wrote reader napresto. “As it is, I have my doubts that our ‘top men’ are much better at commanding ships than shooting rifles. We are going to pay for this at some point.”
And reader Johnny LeBlanc posted: “The DEI Navy. After the photo he changed into his dress. We’re going to lose a major war.”
The post featuring Yaste was ultimately deleted. “Thank you for pointing out our rifle scope error in the previous post,” the Navy later wrote on social media. “Picture has been removed until EMI (extra military instruction) is completed.”
According to the Associated Press, Yaste has been temporarily replaced by Capt. Allison Christy, deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21, which is part of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group that’s also in the Gulf of Oman.
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