The US Army's April Fools Joke Includes A Photoshopped Hybrid Cat Soldier
Tametrius Walker/US ArmyWith April Fools' Day upon us, the U.S. Army is joining in the fun with an update to their already successful military working dog program.
In a post on the Army website, Staff Sgt. Megan Garcia writes about the 'Military working cat' program being unveiled at the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment:
Officials hope to capitalize on cats' olfactory and hearing prowess. While most people think of dogs as having sharp senses, cats actually have more acute senses.
For example, dogs can hear five times more acutely than humans, and cats about twice as acutely as dogs. Also, a domestic cat's sense of smell is about fourteen times as strong as a human's.
Soldiers around the regiment have been doing their part to support the program by capturing stray cats in their neighborhoods and bringing them into the detachment located on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va. More than 100 cats have been collected since the program started earlier this month.
While the post has an obvious Photoshop of a cat wielding a rifle, it surprisingly has some truth to it. 'Military working cat' was used in a real headline from Aug. 3, 2007 on the Air Force website, highlighting a cat named 'Wizzo' that was helping get rid of rodents at Edwards Air Force base.
Writing at the end, "Happy April Fools!," the Army made it much more obvious than last year, when they released a story saying that all soldiers would have to wear Stetson hats. Despite the official adoption date for the new headwear being "April Fools Day, 2012," there were still many that didn't get it.