---
title: "The State Department wished the Air Force a happy birthday with a photo of the Navy’s Blue Angels"
date: "2020-09-18"
modified: "2020-09-18"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-birthday-state-department-tweet/"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Humor"
---

# The State Department wished the Air Force a happy birthday with a photo of the Navy’s Blue Angels

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/screen-shot-2020-09-18-at-111002-am-5.png>)

Today, September 18th, marks the 73rd birthday of the U.S. Air Force. While it's a great opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of a service branch that's no longer the youngest in the U.S. armed forces, it's also a great opportunity to make sure that you actually use a photo of Air Force aircraft to wish the service a happy birthday and not, say, a Navy plane.

This is a tough challenge! And unfortunately, the State Department failed miserably in a now-deleted tweet that featured the Navy's Blue Angels in it's birthday message to the service instead of, well, literally any other Air Force jet:

Look, we get it: social media is hard! In March, the Pentagon [tweeted a photo of "tanks](<https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/paladin-tank-dod-fail/>)" that were definitely not tanks. In May, the Army's chief of staff shared a video of a German Army tank [when he meant to share an M1 Abrams. ](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-tank-video-mcconville/>)It's not like there's[ a huge database of explicitly-labeled photos to search through or anything](<https://www.dvidshub.net/>). And just this week, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign [dropped an ad that featured Russian soldiers and aircraft instead of American troops](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/trump-campaign-military-stock-photo-fail/>).

But for an executive department that, among other things,[ approves the sales of billions of dollars in military equipment to foreign countries every year](<https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/09/16/state-department-defends-firing-of-ig-who-probed-saudi-arms-sales/>), you'd think that communication staff would have the attention to detail to tell the difference between an Air Force jet and an aircraft that *very clearly has the words 'NAVY' painted on it.* Then again, perhaps the State Department has other things to worry about given the United States' [plummeting reputation](<https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/09/15/us-image-plummets-internationally-as-most-say-country-has-handled-coronavirus-badly/>) among its international partners and allies.

Anyway, [the jokes abound](<https://twitter.com/HopeSeck/status/1306975902799200258>), but at least this facepalm-worthy flub gave us [this gem of a response](<https://twitter.com/chinfo/status/1306973564583714820>) from the Chief of Naval Information.

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/screen-shot-2020-09-18-at-111014-am-3.png>)

This is almost as good as the time the Navy [trolled the Army over finally getting its hands on Tom Hanks](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/tom-hanks-greyhound-navy-tweet/>). Almost.

***Related: [Army 3-star general vows to ‘hunt down’ internet trolls in hilarious video](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/ted-martin-hilarious-video-internet-trolls/>)***

## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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