The former wrestler, current actor, and avid supporter of U.S. servicemen and women has dealt with backlash after sharing his pride for a U.S. Army tank with his namesake.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is an avid angler, has a sense of humor about the outdoors, and always makes time to show his support for the men and women who protect our freedoms and rights as part of the United States Armed Forces.
So when he took to Instagram recently with intentions of "Sending a salute," he probably wasn't expecting the reaction he got from some of those who he considered fans.
Here's the Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvDYWe5hkIN/
The post seemed to come from a place of respect and pride, since The Rock is someone who doesn't hide his affinity and support for our troops.
The words Johnson used to describe both himself and the tank weren't exactly mature, genuine ways of expressing yourself, but terms like 'bad ass' and 'sexy AF' are common (and quite frankly mild) in today's age of internet-speak.
The Rock's post was highlighting this article from the El Paso Times that shared news of the latest tank from Fort Bliss to receive a unique name given by the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment. In fact, the 1st Armored Division tweeted out their pride for the tank as well.
"If you smell what America's Tank Division is cooking!"
Shoutout to the #IronSoldiers assigned to the @Blackhawk_SQDN for naming one of their tanks in homage to the @TheRock.
Hopefully the "People's Champ" will see it and give you guys a shoutout and a retweet!#TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/xMm2aKBArS— 1st Armored Division (@1stArmoredDiv) March 12, 2019
The Blackhawk Squadron, as it's also known, is the oldest cavalry squadron and regiment in the Army. The squadron's history goes back to March 2, 1833.
The post got a strong reaction from some of The Rock's online followers, many of whom declared their intentions of unfollowing him. There have been more than 11,000 comments on the individual post since it was published. His total following sits at 135 million Instagram fans.
Initially the opposition hit the comment thread, with this as one of the few clean examples we can share:
We love and respect you for all the charity and humanitarian acts you have done as well as being the hardest and hardest working actor in Hollywood. It gives me no pleasure to see your name associated with a weapon used for destruction and death.
Another comment agreed, asking:
Why would you want to have your name on a mass destructive weapon where its only purpose is to kill other people?
But a bounce back of support from those who found the post respectful and patriotic has now begun to turn the situation around. Positive comments of support now vastly outnumber the negativity.
Dude this Veteran salutes you, Honor this tribute and don't let the cry babies persuade you otherwise.
Fair play dwayne. People all have opinions it's freedom of speach.fact of the matter is people that are but hurt by this and niave and misguided. War happens. War is not avoidable. This is weapon yes but who on earth would think that it is out to target innocent people. Jeez! Head up stay strong what an honour to have it named after you x [sic]
Johnson has yet to come out publicly with anything else to say about the matter, but odds are he's smiling at the reinvigorated support he has seen as a result.
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