We talked to the unsung hero behind all those Military Giant Cat memes

Not the hero we deserve, but the one we needed

By Rachel Rakoff

Posted on Sep 6, 2019

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Raise a glass in celebration, because the internet finally has given us something besides a soul-crushing comment thread.

If you have a pulse and an internet service provider, you’ve seen your fair share of memes. And if you’ve spent any time perusing military Twitter over the past week, you’ve seen these works of art from the Military Giant Cats Twitter account, which is, well, exactly what it sounds like:

Since the beginning of September the account has accrued more than 24,000 followers, so given Military Giant Cats’ near-overnight celebrity, Task & Purpose got in touch with the person behind all these absurdly wonderful cat memes.

“I am from western Europe,” the manager of the account, who goes by Thomas, told Task & Purpose. “I have worked in defense industry for several years. At the present time, I have a leg in plaster and a lot of free time for Twitter… Some people think I am a Russian bot or something like that…pretty funny.”

While Thomas declined to provide any additional personal or identifying information, he told us the gag started as just that: “An old joke with my coworkers, photoshop giant cats in senseless situations (not only military).”

As for the page’s overnight Twitter fame, it seemed to have come as a surprise.

“I know that Twitter loves the absurd accounts (and the cats!), but I am surprised by the impact on the #milTweet community,” Thomas said.

After all, who doesn’t like to make paws-itively purrrfect puns?

And the account’s fanbase seems to stretch across the whole military Twitter community.

If only everything on the internet was this pure.

From U.S. military bases…

And military allies…

To news agencies…

And defense reporters…

Quite a few, actually…

As well as service members and veterans…

But not everyone was “feline” it.