Did the rifle just miracle itself into the Captain’s hands with scope on backwards, or did he draw it from the weapons locker, where it was in the keeping of the master at arms, and one or more gunner’s mates, whose job in the Navy is to maintain in a functioning condition the very limited selection of small arms issued to Navy ships?
Perhaps the explanation is not incompetence at a core job function. Perhaps it was a joke that got out of hand. Perhaps a gunner’s mate solemnly handed the rifle to “Old Man” while inwardly laughing his/her/xher a@@ off because the scope was on backwards.
Perhaps.
I wonder if he's laughing now.
Rationalization about the scope mounted wrong is actually right makes no sense, and the guy obviously didn't know. If one checks out the position of the stock (not) on his shoulder, it's obvious he was just posing anyway.
My speculation is that the photo got modified for public release, and whoever made the edit, probably some photoshop nerd in the office of public affairs, didn’t know anything about firearms and pasted in a backwards scope. Maybe.
My first thought when I saw the photo was, "I wouldn't want to be that Chief Gunner's Mate (GMC) who was responsible for this..."
I have no doubt there was a very unpleasant one-way discussion with the CO/XO/CMC following this event in the Captain's quarters.
1. As a trainer of the Ship's Self Defense Forces for the Atlantic fleet, I was sent to a cruiser to inspect and test their SDF. When I fell them out on the fantail to inspect their M14 rifles, the sailors didn't know how they worked or how to present them for inspection. While I was wrestling with a young sailor to look at his rifle, the flash suppressor fell of his rifle (!) and fell into the sea. After this happened, I asked for a show of hands of how many of those men had handled their rifles before and none of them had. The Gunner's Mate handed them to them about 5 minutes before I got there, and they were very oily and that rifle I had tried to take was missing its entire Castle Nut.
2. I was called to investigate an incident that occurred on a minesweeper in the mid-Atlantic where a sailor was seriously wounded by brass fragments in his upper thighs and groin by an exploding .50 caliber cartridge. That sailor's life was saved by surgeons aboard a Soviet spy ship in the neighborhood. It turned out that the Gunner's Mate had screwed the barrel into the .50 most of the way into the receiver and mounted it on the pedestal and loaded it - but told a sailor to fire it. It was between 3/4 of an inch out of battery, and when the trigger was pushed, all that unsupported brass sprayed back and downward into the hapless sailor.
Some have indicated that this was a deliberate comm, perhaps it was a way of saying that the military has been infiltrated and being run by a pack of the DEI inspissated communists who will fold in any real fight leave the U.S. defenseless, so and they need Citizens to vote and help to remove Biden and the deep state. Or, that when commanded to fire on American Citizens they will only make the pretense of obeying any illegal commands along this line. Could be, but probably not.
My first thought-CO was butt of maa or armorer payback. As former navy in my entire career I fired a 38 ( victory model) one time. 10 shots and do not think I struck the paper. That was total small arms requirement. Gunny did not smirk nor did I get snide or gratuitous remarks.