Navy commander relieved of duty after photo showed him firing rifle with scope backward

It's never one thing.

The picture brought attention to him, and most Captain's have done some shit. When they're out to sea they're pretty much the final authority. Like no one is ever going to hear about what they do from UCMJ cases.

Until something like this. Then you have an investigation and they look thru everything and talk to everyone.

That's what gets them kicked out.

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.

I expect it was something other than the picture due to the four month gap, but the pic could be part of an overall pattern of incompetence.

It was also a relief of command, not a court martial, not non-judicial punishment, not a demotion or and not a punitive action. It happened because it affected the image of the force, but not necessarily anything that is terribly bad. Relieving someone of command can be a precaution or a temporary measure, not always leading up to anything drastic. He will probably get additional training and a small mark on his record that will go away in a short time as long as the trend doesn't continue. He may even still get to keep his command or just move somewhere else to command.

Meanwhile sexual abusers practically get a free pass in the military. Still an ol' boys club.

you command one of the most destructive forces ever devised by man, if you're dumb enough to make the mistake of accepting a lethal weapon without inspecting it, it can be assumed you do that with all things. this is just not embarrassing, it goes to show what this man is able to miss, and naval command doesn't want someone like that at the helm of one of their destroyers. it's an easy call.

Firearms are a responsibility not a joke.

He picked up a rifle and fired it with a scope that would show everything very tiny. If he didn’t notice then he shouldn’t be in command of a naval vessel since he doesn't notice small details. If he did notice and didn't say anything that shows that he isn't confident in his own knowledge. That is the reason the navy lost confidence in him.

All valid concerns, but the fact is if you accept the weapon and anything happens, you are at fault.

We've had people get issued, and immediately, check and clear their weapon in the presence of an armorer in the bucket, and get in trouble for it misfiring, despite the fact that it should have been checked and cleared prior to change of hands and in addition to the fact that you hadn't been issued ammo yet. It's dumb, but people die over this, so they are very strict, even when it sometimes seems unnecessary.

How would someone who isn't a master at arms and probably qualifies on a weapon once, maybe twice a year going to know that someone else installed the sight on his weapon backwards?

Well, in the photo he's looking through it. You ever look through a telescope or some binoculars backwards? Scope supposed to make things bigger, not smaller, good clue. And tbf he should know that.

Yep, but everyone is an expert right.

I mean, at the very least, trying to use the scope would have immediately made it extremely obvious that it was backward. And he was looking straight down the scope.

He was either a moron who'd never shot ever in his life, or knew it was wrong and didn't care because he was just posing for a photo (but should have known people would know it was backwards and comment on it en masse, hurting the image of the Navy if only by "this looks stupid" by a chorus of a million armchair sharpshooters).

You never touched your optics? What service were you in? I constantly adjusted my ACOG and red dot while i was in the army in iraq.

He would know the instant he looked in the scope and everything was tiny.

This was not in any sense an act of senility. You can be 100 years old and legally blind but still know you're looking in the wrong side of binoculars. Scopes no different. I have no idea the backstory but I would guess he was ridiculing someone for mounting it backwards or something like that. There is no way this was done by mistake like he had no idea he was shooting through the wrong side.

If he were shooting something bigger than 5.56, then you'd want to try to seat it more firmly in your shoulder. An AR-15/M16 generates pretty negligible recoil, so it's fine. I used to compete in across-the-course service rifle when I was much younger (before I grew up enough to realize I hated the culture in that community), and I'd have the butt even higher up in my shooting coat's shoulder if I needed to do so in order to get a good cheek weld. At a glance, his technique looks okay. I've no experience with the front grips like that (my AR-15 had no rails for mounting shit), but the rest of his stance seeeeems okay.

I'm guessing that he was a dipshit in other ways and this bad publicity brought the other badness to light.

You can shoot an AR-15 pattern rifle, including the military versions, with the stock up against your nuts and it won't hurt. The recoil is very low because the power is very low and the system of operation absorbs a lot of the energy, combined with the weight of the rifle means it is soft shooting. The stock doesn't need to touch your shoulder for you to be accurate with effect out to 50 yards or more so long as you do your part.

Honestly, just having it pulled against any part of your body with a decent view of the sight is enough to ring steel or put holes in paper.