This past month had to be painful for the Department of Defense’s social media efforts with tremendous angry pushback on their pride month posts:

—A US Air Force post had an airman saluting a rainbow flag, instead of an American flag

—The US Navy with their drag queen recruitment ambassador and their banner graphic of a warship, fighter jet and sub trailed by the rainbow

—The “intersex” rainbow/transgender flag used on an Army Special Operations Command pride post

—DoD, suffering from a recruitment crisis, using the hastag #WhyWeServe in a post saying a male US Army Major who thinks he’s a women is “inspiring”, while many commenters saw this as a sign we’re going to lose the next war.

And now, the US Pacific Fleet posting a Happy July 4th graphic with Russian Su-27 fighter jets flying over a Russian Navy Kashin-class destroyer! Ooops! One wag said it was a graphic from the future. Another said the Navy was too busy worried about pronouns while someone else said the ship and jets identify as American.

And oddly (for the Independence Day holiday), on the bottom left there are modern-day soldiers paying respect to a fallen soldier’s grave. With the somber colors, it’s more like a Memorial Day graphic.

After getting roasted on the internet, the graphic was replaced:

Happy Independence Day! Celebrating life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for 247 years, and those who stand to protect. 🇺🇸#IndependenceDay #4thofJuly #USNavy pic.twitter.com/9hTMqmKJCc

— U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) July 4, 2023

Except that people have a long memory and the comments continued.

Live shot of PacFlts N3 office when the PAO arrives. pic.twitter.com/8pPVuf9nPA

— S (@flynavy99) July 4, 2023

Maybe they could have used our graphic:

US Navy Posted, Then Deleted, Graphic Of Russian Warship And Planes In July 4 Celebration (Daily Caller, 5 JUL 23)
By Micaela Burrow, The Daily Caller News Foundation

The U.S. Navy posted, then deleted, a celebratory Independence Day image featuring Russian aircraft and a warship against an American flag background on Twitter, becoming the subject of mockery from social media users.

The image showed the silhouette of a saluting soldier in the foreground and the words “Happy 4th Of July,” while a silhouetted warship loomed in the background and five fighter jets flew in V-formation toward the top edge of the graphic, imposed over a faint rendering of a waving U.S. flag.

Blake Herzinger, a defense researcher at the University of Sydney and a Navy Reserve officer, spotted the error and gave accolades to those of his followers who correctly identified the Russian assets featured in the photo.

“US Pacific Fleet Don’t Post Russian Ships and Aircraft on Independence Day Challenge 2023: Failed,” he wrote, captioning a screenshot of the image.

US Pacific Fleet Don’t Post Russian Ships and Aircraft on Independence Day Challenge 2023: Failed. pic.twitter.com/fG1YEjTeYM

— Blake Herzinger (@BDHerzinger) July 4, 2023

By 9 a.m. on July 4, the image had been viewed more than 13,000 times, according to the screenshot Herzinger shared.

Herzinger explained the warship resembled a a Kashin-class DDG, a Soviet-era guided missile destroyer that is no longer in service in Russia but can still be found among the Indian navy’s fleet. The aircraft appeared to be the Soviet-origin Sukhoi Su-27 fourth-generation fighters.

The Su-27, nicknamed the “Flanker,” currently serves the Ukrainian air force to intercept and deter Russian-operated Su-27s and other fighter jets, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

By Tuesday evening, dozens of Twitter users had commented on Herzinger’s post mocking the flub. However, others noted that public affairs troops of all the military service branches as well as those of other countries, including Russia, often make similar mistakes.

City officials and politicians have also shared images of Russian weapons while intending to promote the U.S. military, according to Task and Purpose, which first reported the incident.