---
title: "We Salute The Public Affairs Officer Who Simply Tagged This Photo As ‘Fire Mortar Boom’"
description: "That's really all you need to know about what's happening in this photo."
date: "2019-01-09"
modified: "2019-01-09"
authors:
  - name: "James Clark"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/james-clark/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/army-photo-fire-mortar-boom/"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Mandatory Fun"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "Weapons"
---

# We Salute The Public Affairs Officer Who Simply Tagged This Photo As ‘Fire Mortar Boom’

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/19074472-1.jpg>)

Fire. Mortar. Boom. That's really all you need to know about what's happening in this photo, and based on the tag, that's about all you get. For those who aren't familiar with PAO parlance: A "tag" is how you identify a photo so it shows up when you search for it.

And really, what else *should* you search for if not: "fire mortar boom."

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-481.png>)

The incredible image, and the even more awe-inspiring tag was surfaced by [Defense News' Aaron Mehta on Twitter](<https://twitter.com/AaronMehta/status/1083077495459639296>), and shows soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division lobbing 120 mm rounds from an M121 mortar during a live fire exercise at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The photo was taken by Army Capt. Justin Wright — if his bosses are reading this: Promote ahead of peers — along with a number of similarly tagged images, like "[security](<https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4973848/do-you-see>)" and "[fire mortar hang it](<https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4973863/hang>)."

The tag on this photo beats out my [previous favorite from the Marine Corps](<https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1353190/1st-marine-division-desert-scimitar-2014>), which included the well placed tags "boot" and "pog."

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-1257.jpg>)
*Capt. A. Hudson Reynolds, 1st Marine Division Public Affairs Officer, and Houston native, continues to work as a simulated chemical attack begins in the command tent during Desert Scimitar 2014 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., May 15, 2014. (U.S. Marine Corps/Cpl. Robert J. Reeves)*

## Author
James Clark is the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose. He is a former Marine and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/JamesWClark>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jclarkjournalism/>)