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Both a woman and her boyfriend are under fire in a Reddit post about his reaction to her putting on his military uniform for Facebook pictures.
Writing for the infamous r/AmITheA**hole subreddit, u/SanAnt3559 asked if she was in the wrong for posting a picture of herself wearing her boyfriend's uniform, earning over 7,500 upvotes and 3,400 comments.
She says that she's not sure if she was in the wrong, but that it's a "bad situation so bear with me." She said her boyfriend came to visit two days before the post.
"We've been dating for 6 months and we live in different towns. He comes over to visit on weekends but I never been to his hometown and whenever I try to visit he's always busy," u/SanAnt3559 wrote.
On this particular trip, he brought his military uniform with him. Before hopping in the shower, he laid it out on the bed. She says she decided to put it on due to boredom, and took a picture of it and posted it to Facebook as a "story."
Once he got out of the shower, however, he "blew up" at u/SanAnt3559, saying she should never touch his "work stuff," and that she was being "reckless" towards his career. But when he found out she posted a picture while wearing the uniform, he got even angrier, accusing her of putting his job at risk for "s**ts and giggles."
When she told him he was overreacting, he started "mumbling" that due to the nametag staying on the uniform, that she "screwed him over," and that she doesn't "get to f**k with his job and sabotage it." They had a fight, and he went home after making her remove the post and delete the picture from her phone. He hasn't contacted her since.
The military has many rules about uniforms, who should wear them and what someone wearing them should do while in uniform. Only people who are either in the military or have been honorably discharged from the military can wear them, according to the U.S. Code.
The only time a civilian who has never served is allowed to wear the uniform is if they are attending a course of military instruction or if they're an actor performing in a play or film—as long as "the portrayal does not tend to discredit" the military.
In addition, outside of a homecoming or deployment, personal displays of affection—like hugs and kisses—are not acceptable while in uniform. Hand-holding is not allowed either. And as the boyfriend was worried, it is possible for a person in the military to get in trouble if their spouse wears the uniform in a photo, or if others see it—and is often thought of as disrespectful, according to Veterans United.
In the comments, the general consensus is that both parties were in the wrong. A number of posters also suggested that u/SanAnt3559's boyfriend might have another relationship, since she has yet to visit him, and he only visits her.
"Dude. He got p**sed because he has a wife lmao. The military has a strict dress code, but they REALLY hate adultery. That's what this is really about," u/UnderbridgeTollman wrote in the top-rated comment with over 30,000 upvotes. "[Everyone sucks here]."
"Oh definitely. Even if she's not the other woman, he can get in quite a LOT of trouble with his ranking superiors. It's cute if she wore just his hat without his name badge showing [as] they're available at any army surplus store as well as the uniform. But his rank, unit, deployment badge etc are all on the uniform and he can get the chewing out of his life if it's caught," u/LittlestEcho said. "Doubly so if he's actually committing adultery. S**t can get them canned lol."
Not everyone thought that the boyfriend was seeing someone else.
"It might not be adultery, it could instead be he's in the intelligence field," u/SiroccoDream wrote. "I've known soldiers that lost their Top Secret clearances over crap like this. It's a whole can of worms that can even lead to dishonorable discharge."
"However, because of what I have witnessed, I am going to go with [You're the A**hole], [u/SanAnt3559]. A military uniform is not a Halloween costume, and treating it so disrespectfully is really s**tty of you," they added.
Newsweek reached out to u/SanAnt3559 for comment.
About the writer
Matt Keeley is a Newsweek editor based in Seattle. His focus is reporting on trends and internet culture. He has ... Read more