Commander Cameron Yaste firing a rifle with the scope mounted backward.
Commander Cameron Yaste of the USS John McCain, a guided-missile destroyer tasked with protecting the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, has been relieved of duty.
Yaste was removed from his position on Friday and now faces a potential demotion to Naval Officer.
Commander Cameron Yaste (Credit: LinkedIn)
He has been temporarily replaced by Capt. Allison Christy, the deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21, which is currently operating as part of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group in the Gulf of Oman.
Capt. Allison Christy (Credit: LinkedIn)
Commander Cameron Yaste’s career took a nosedive after a photograph emerged showing him firing a rifle with the scope mounted backward.
The Navy’s official statement cited a “loss of confidence in his ability to command” as the reason for Yaste’s dismissal from his position as the commanding officer of the USS John McCain, currently deployed in the volatile Gulf of Oman, according to AP.
However, the statement notably omitted any specific details regarding the reasons behind this decision, leading some to speculate that it might be related to his embarrassing rifle blunder.
The controversy began in April when the Navy’s social media team posted an image of Commander Yaste in a firing stance, gripping a rifle with a scope inexplicably mounted backward.
The Navy eventually deleted the post, but not before it was widely shared and ridiculed.
The Navy’s response to the uproar was to delete the original post featuring Yaste, stating, “Thank you for pointing out our rifle scope error in the previous post. Picture has been removed until EMI (extra military instruction) is completed,” according to Newsweek.
The Marine Corps wasted no time on the Navy’s mistake of sharing a photo on its social media channels. The image, showing a Marine properly firing a weapon aboard the USS Boxer, was captioned with a pointed “Clear Sight Picture,” clearly aimed at highlighting the Navy’s gaffe.
A post shared by United States Marine Corps (@marines)
The post Navy Destroyer Commander Relieved of Duty After Unbelievable Photo of Backward Rifle Scope appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.