US military cops hammering over ‘grotesque’ bomb tweet

The internet has lost it over a bizarre, controversial US military tweet to welcome in the new year — which has now been deleted.

There was widespread condemnation of the arm of the US military responsible for nuclear strike capabilities on New Year’s Eve when it tweeted a strange message about dropping a bomb.

In the tweet, the United States Strategic Command said the nation was “ready to drop something much, much bigger” than the New Year’s Eve bedazzled ball which famously drops in New York’s Times Square.

It was posted as revellers around the country were preparing to ring in 2019 — and was deleted three hours later, reports Fox News.

The strange tweet has now been deleted. Picture: Twitter

A video shared as part of the tweet reportedly included footage of a B-2 stealth bomber soaring across the sky before releasing two GPS-guided bombs which exploded into a ball of fire before hitting the ground.

In the background, pulsing music could be heard and the words “STEALTH”, “READY” and “LETHAL” flashed across the screen in block letters, reports The New York Times.

Later, the account sent out another tweet apologising and said the previous one was in “poor taste”.

Our previous NYE tweet was in poor taste & does not reflect our values. We apologize. We are dedicated to the security of America & allies.

— US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) December 31, 2018

A spokesman for the Strategic Command told The Times: “(The post) was part of our Year in Review series meant to feature our command priorities: strategic deterrence, decisive response and combat-ready force.

“It was a repost from earlier in the year, dropping a pair of conventional Massive Ordnance Penetrators at a test range in the United States.”

Stratcom is one of 10 unified commands in the Department of Defence providing a range of capabilities including strategic warning, missile defence, global command and communications, and intelligence and reconnaissance.

The tweet prompted a backlash from some users on social media.

At first, I did not believe this could be real. But it is. It is an industry ad doubling as a sick, bragging joke by our Strategic Command. Disgraceful. https://t.co/bmxtT3fWw7

— Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione) December 31, 2018

A very late entry for worst tweet of 2018 from @US_Stratcom (it has been deleted) pic.twitter.com/fP0D2c7EEW

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 31, 2018

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you @US_Stratcom, the stoic guardians of several thousand nuclear missiles who definitely don’t think raining death and destruction from above is some kind of joke. pic.twitter.com/4OWcGMtfCj

— Derek Johnson (@derekjGZ) December 31, 2018

Apologies for this grotesque tweet are insufficient. This is simply inexcusable.
Someone should be fired and senior officials should be making g official statements.

— Susan Schaffer (@susanschaffer) December 31, 2018

Still, some Twitter users didn’t see a problem with the tweet.

I can't stop laughing. @US_Stratcom, a command responsible for blowing stuff, tweeted something about blowing stuff up and people got the vapors

They got weak kneed and deleted the tweet, which is too bad. It was worth it for the replies alone.

— John Noonan (@noonanjo) December 31, 2018

Screw that... it was funny. Why does everyone have to get so offended that our military is the biggest and baddest in the world. To the Officers and Airmen of StratCom. Thank you for your service

— Abu Reid (@abureid1) January 1, 2019

This isn’t the first time a government Twitter feed has come under fire. In May last year, the US Air Force apologised and deleted a tweet that tried to link fighting against the Taliban to a viral debate on the internet.

This article originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced with permission