The Defense Video Imagery Distribution System, or DVIDS to defense and military journalists, is overflowing with pictures, videos, and news briefings, and serves as an indispensable archive for all the Pentagon’s media going back decades.
But every so often, you come across a photo that just makes you shake your head and go, “wait, what the fuck?”
After an exhaustive search, we compiled some of our favorites, and needless to say, you really need context to understand what these images have to do with the U.S. military.
Where’s Waldo? Oh, he joined the Air Force.
USAF photo
Airman 1st Class Austin Jeanneret crawls through a mud puddle during a ‘Tuff Mudder’ challenge at Lajes Field, the Azores, Portugal, Sept. 17, 2012.
What a waste of cheerios.
DoD photo
Maj. Rodney Lambert, 50th Contracting Squadron commander, pours breakfast cereal into the grog during the 2016 Combat Dining Out at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, Friday, April 15, 2016.
This guy definitely got lost on his way to rob a bank.
DoD photo
Cpl. Felipe Martinez, a reconfigurable transportable consolidated automated support system technician with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 13, prepares to throw a ball at the opposing team during the “Dodge of The Dead” dodgeball tournament at the gymnasium aboard Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015.
Is this what happens when you drop acid and watch Smokey Bear?
DoD photo
Sparky the fire dog and Earl the safety squirrel, prepare to race during a children’s bicycle safety event at the Balfour Beatty Community Center, Oct. 17, 2015.
The only way to take down a zombie is to stab it in the brain. But try to do it with a smile.
DoD photo
Aaron Marshall (right), a Maryland University professor, interacts with a local Okinawan in the 6th Annual Okinawa Zombie Walk at American Village, Okinawa, Japan, on October 30, 2016.
Is this what happens when you try to make a garden salad in theater?
DoD photo
Fresh cucumbers are cut and placed on serving dishes for Afghan National Army soldiers and Sgt. Christopher Scott, a logistics advisor with the Embedded Training Team, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, April 29, 2012.
These guys went native on deployment. Really, really native.
DoD photo
Sailors attached to the U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), pose for a photo on the main deck during a steal beach picnic and family day cruise.
Do I really want to know what you’re doing to that orange?
DoD photo
Sgt. Anthony Bradley eats an orange after a training day, May 12, 2016, at Camp Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, South Korea.
Drop and give him a dozen doughnuts.
DoD photo
Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Moeller, U.S. Army Reserve drill instructor and the 2016 U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officer of the Year, jokes around by biting into a donut during a marketing photo shoot organized by the Office of the Chief of Army Reserve at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Feb. 14, to promote the U.S. Army Reserve.
I didn’t know they let bubble boys join the military. Oh wait, this is the Air Force.
DoD photo
A group of Airmen collide during the start of a bubble soccer game April 22, 2016, during a tournament inside the Freedom Hall Fitness Center on F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.
HOW MANY WALDOS ARE IN THE MILITARY?
DoD photo
Competitors goof around before the start of the 17th Annual Combat Logistic Battalion-3’s Swamp Romp aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Feb. 26, 2011.