The commander of a United States Navy destroyer that’s helping protect the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Middle East has been relieved of duty about four months after he was seen in a photo firing a rifle with a scope mounted backward.
It can be recalled that the Marine Corps schooled the Navy over social media last April 2024 after the sea service uploaded a photo of an officer firing an improperly configured rifle. The Navy posted to its official Instagram account a now-deleted photo of Cmdr. Cameron Yaste, skipper of the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain, holding a rifle and looking through a scope that was clearly mounted backward.
According to Stars and Stripes, the weapon’s foregrip was also mounted strangely, positioned 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 post said.
The image brought the Navy considerable ridicule on social media. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Cameron Yaste, commanding officer of the destroyer USS John McCain, was removed last 30 August.
The Navy said Yaste was relieved of duty "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command the guided-missile destroyer" that's currently deployed in the Gulf of Oman. The statement didn't elaborate about why Yaste was replaced.
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.
The Pentagon sent the carriers to the Middle East to be in position should Israel need help repelling an attack by Iran or other countries, if such a thing happens, military officials said.
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