There’s a viral photo that’s been going around for quite some time of a Sergeant Major taking the plates off a Jeep, leaving a note. Here’s the real story of what happened.

There’s a viral two-panel photo that’s been circulating for at least two years now showing what some keyboard warriors are calling downright illegal and puffing themselves up how they’d call the real deal police on a superior officer for this blatant act of breaking the law. Well, after a quick reverse image search and some scrolling, here’s what really went down and it’s a lot less dramatic than some of the stories commenters are making it out to be.

Doom(ed) Marine.

According to one Private who was actually at this Marine Corp Base, which, by the way, was at Marine Corps Base Camp LeJeune,

This Jeep was parked in front of the barracks that is a fire lane. Everyone knows they aren’t supposed to park there, Sgt Maj’s intent was to keep it inside the BN (Battalion) and fix it, rather than have PMO (Provost Marshall Office) come and give his Marines tickets and tow their vehicles during a field Op.

Simply put, the Sargeant Major could’ve let the PMO slap the Private with a $2,300 fine tacked on to having his Jeep towed away in violation of on-base parking rules but he decided to cut the Private a break.

Here’s some followup on what happened next.

SgtMaj told PMO not to tow it cause it would’ve been like 2300 bucks in fees by the time we got back. Some little s*** who didn’t know the story took the picture and sent it around. The Marine helped with BN Duties the next week and it was over.

If you, like me, are wondering what exactly are Batallion Duties, according to an ROTC handbook I looked up, the duties of a Battalion Command Duty Officer mainly involves keeping areas they are responsible clean.

The Battalion Command Duty Officer (BNCDO) maintains the
designated midshipman spaces at a high level of order and
cleanliness.

Presumably, this means scrubbing floors, organized everything, clean tables and the like.

A bit of cleaning for a week is a lot better than shelling out hard-earned dough because of a parking oversight.

And while it’s true that, in civilian life, what SGTMAJ did wasn’t exactly legal and some commenters thought they’d be tough enough to call the police in that situation, that’s not exactly how logic in the Marines probably goes.

One simply doesn’t go over a superior officer’s head without major repercussions. Not only would you be calling out someone above your pay grade, but you’d also probably get your Jeep towed and would have to do BN duties on top of your fine.

So there you have it, the real story behind that viral photo of plates missing off a Jeep.

Do you think that Sargeant Major did the right thing or do you think he should’ve let PMO have at it and tow that Private’s Jeep? Let me know in the comments below.