--- title: "Conspiracy theorists are convinced there’s a secret message hidden in this Army photo" description: "A photo from the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) garnered outsized attention on Twitter from followers of the QAnon movement" date: "2020-08-08" modified: "2020-08-08" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-special-forces-qanon-tweet/" categories: - "Army" - "Military Branches" - "News" --- # Conspiracy theorists are convinced there’s a secret message hidden in this Army photo ![]() On Friday night, the official Twitter account for the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) did something relatively innocent: it posted a photo of a pair of Army special forces soldiers conducting night operations. https://twitter.com/3rdSFGroup/status/1291934147532005376 U.S. military social media accounts, manned by public affairs officers, frequently post photos of various training exercises and operations to showcase their capabilities. Indeed, this particular photo is [sourced]() to a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter exfiltration exercise at Hurlburt Field in Florida that took place on August 15, 2019. But this particular tweet went especially viral for all the wrong reasons: it garnered outsized attention from devotees to the QAnon conspiracy theory who saw a secret message hidden within. I can't even begin to explain the batshit insane intricacies of the QAnon phenomenon, but the gist of it is this: President Donald Trump is secretly waging a campaign against a global network of elite pedophiles while a "storm" of revelations about the nefarious role of Democrats and deep state operatives in undermining the United States is on the horizon — all of which is becoming public knowledge thanks to a gaggle of keyboard detectives following the "bread crumbs" of intel from "Q," an anonymous poster who claims high-level security clearance and prophetic insights into America's coming apocalypse. Here's a small sample of folks who thought they saw a sign from 'Q' in the 3rd SFG (A)'s tweet: https://twitter.com/TheCaptain808/status/1291938917755781120 https://twitter.com/RitaJune69/status/1291945479190740992 https://twitter.com/PhilBee20/status/1291946153903378432 https://twitter.com/j_vigeant/status/1291955128971403265 https://twitter.com/saltyjewel/status/1292056392019447808 The entire QAnon phenomenon isn't just a harebrained internet fable. Adherents have shown up in force at Trump rallies [in recent months](), and terrorism experts even see the [movement as a threat to national security](), according to a new report from West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center that [places the conspiracy theory in the context of the recent rise of violent domestic extremists in the United States](). “QAnon ... represents a militant and anti-establishment ideology rooted in an apocalyptic desire to destroy the existing, corrupt world to usher in a promised golden age,” [the report says](). “This position finds resonance with other far-right extremist movements, such as the various militant, anti-government, white nationalist, and neo-Nazi extremist organizations across the United States.” But here's the thing: while QAnon fanatics may see 'Q' everywhere, sometimes a photo is just a photo. When reached for comment, a 3rd SFG(A) PAO direct Task & Purpose to this response to the outpouring of conspiracy theorists on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rickdicksonreal/status/1291955818032779264 There you have it, folks. When the 'storm' does arrive, don't expect the 3rd SFG(A) to be on your side. ## 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. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]()