The Rise of Soldier-Influencers: Army Eyes Policy for Troops with Millions of Online Followers

For Capt. Michael Villahermosa, the Army made him the man he is.

"I went from having no college education to being an officer," Villahermosa, a company commander at the service's bomb disposal school, told Military.com. "I have a wife, the kid, the two-car garage, picket fence. ... The Army gave me all of that."

Now, Villahermosa, an Afghanistan War veteran, wants to give back to the Army -- and he's using his online influence to do it.

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Going by the moniker "EOD Happy Captain" on social media, he's been sharing tidbits for years about daily Army life, usually with a glass-half-full approach to service. He also has a podcast on which he has interviewed service members, journalists and other key stakeholders in the Army community.

"When all that's out there is the negative, you know, people start to believe that is the status quo, and that is the standard within an organization," he said. "But it's not the case."

The Army is now eyeing influencers like Villahermosa to help shape its digital presence, but it aims to do so with a notably hands-off approach. Service planners are working on a policy for influencers they aim to be as flexible as possible.

"The Army doesn't have a policy on social media engagement; it's sorta the wild west," Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said. "What I don't want to do is [for] it to become an Army reg that tightens things so much that it sucks the life out of their posts."

For now, the rules on social media use and what is considered appropriate remain largely subjective, and those decisions are left up to commanders. But Wormuth noted new efforts need to balance capitalizing on those online personalities and their messages about Army service while not burdening them with too many rules or too much oversight.

"The Army has not leveraged those folks in any kind of systemic way," Wormuth said.

Some soldiers in the force, including some junior enlisted troops, have millions of followers online. But a soldier having an online audience larger than the Army itself is not something the service has got its arms around yet, especially when it comes to how it governs its formations.

The Army's digital landscape is a battleground of sorts -- a mix of the military's signature gallows humor, meme accounts that lambaste service leadership, and a civilian press corps publishing stories that top brass might prefer are left unreported.

Against that backdrop, the service has long wrestled with how to cut through the noise and promote a more positive public narrative.

In the private sector, companies have increasingly turned to influencers to sidestep traditional advertising. Leveraging influencers -- often with massive followings across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, brands are tapping into a more personalized approach to marketing to avoid a commercialized and inauthentic feel.

In some cases, it's as simple as companies giving major podcast personalities their products without any formal endorsement deal and banking on the hope the influencers will genuinely enjoy the product and mention it in passing during a show.

Service planners met with some Army influencers early this month for their feedback on how a policy should be developed. Wormuth did skits and interviews with some, but the aim wasn't landing any formal Army-endorsed influencer.

Instead, the upcoming policy could set basic guardrails and effectively tell commanders that soldiers have a greenlight to share their Army life online -- assuming it's in good taste. The service may also have those influencers at key Army events or share information with them to distribute to their followers if they choose to do so, as it does with the press.

Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Butterworth is a National Guard recruiter with more than 2 million followers on Instagram. Known for his signature mustache and family friendly skits, he's supercharged a recruiting platform with more reach than the Army's official recruiting presence. For comparison, the Army's recruiting page on Instagram has just under 73,000 followers.

"I realized that social media is a very effective tool to help with recruiting, and that's kind of why I started it in the beginning," Butterworth told Military.com. "I've had thousands of messages of people looking for military service, not just for the Army National Guard, but also active-duty Army, Army Reserve and other branches."

The Army’s interest in influencers and the new policy push come amid the service's persistent recruiting challenges. A key issue: The service's marketing still leans heavily on traditional cable TV-style ads, which have limited impact on younger audiences.

Complicating matters further is the federal prohibition on paid advertising on TikTok, the Chinese-owned platform where Gen Z spends much of its screen time, leaving the Army struggling to engage the demographic it needs most. But influencers can be on the platform. 

The policy is also part of a broader effort to open up the historically cloistered Army. For example, Wormuth also called for service leaders to engage more with the press.

"We need to talk to the press about what we are trying to do and why it is important," she said in an address to the force at an Association of the United States Army, or AUSA, conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. "If we do that, real change is possible."

However, some of the particulars of working with and encouraging Army influencers, such as monetization, can quickly get tricky. Troops leveraging the uniform for personal gain can run afoul of Defense Department rules. Moreover, when troops venture into posting about non-military issues -- especially political topics -- the stakes grow. Such activities can test the boundaries of military guidelines.

The timeline for finalizing Army guidelines for soldiers with significant online followings remains uncertain, but some military officials are already working with troops who have large audiences.

Tim Kennedy, a Green Beret in the National Guard, spent much of the AUSA conference with Gen. Randy George, the top officer in the service, and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer, the service's top enlisted leader. Kennedy made several posts online commentating on the show and touting some of those officials' announcements.

Known for his outspoken political views, Kennedy is a firebrand within the gun culture community and an avid jiu-jitsu enthusiast. His unapologetic partisan commentary has garnered him a significant following, particularly through his guest appearances on Fox News and blockbuster podcasts big in the military community, including those hosted by Joe Rogan and Jocko Willink. 

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