An Army National Guardsman has made it big on TikTok for joking about Gen-Zers on the battlefield — and now wants to desert his dreams of a military career in exchange for a life in the limelight.
When he’s not fulfilling his responsibilities as a petroleum supply specialist at Fort Chaffee, a US National Guard training center in Arkansas about three hours west of Little Rock, Anthony Gonzales, 21, passes the time between battery refills by filming himself being “dramatic” in the field.
“We’re getting attacked? Oh, that’s not really my thing, you know what I’m saying? Hey, Siri, call an Uber,” he jokes in one video.
“And then he took off his mask, and he wasn’t cute. So then I shot him,” he continues.
The schtick has killed, earning the rising social media star more than 367,000 followers and brand deals with liquor and swimwear companies.
For each TikTok he posts, Gonzales pockets up to $1,500 from the app, he said.
“I feel like I was born to be a star,” Gonzales told The Post.
After his first Army-themed TikTok went viral in August 2021 – amassing more than 22 million views and 5 million likes – a stunned Gonzales realized his lifelong dream of becoming famous might be within reach.
“Although I didn’t anticipate gaining a lot of followers and views and stuff like that, I feel like I was meant for it, to be honest, and I have, still, so much more potential,” he said.
“People always ask me, like, ‘How do you come up with these things?’… It’s stuff that I do. Like, those are things that I would say,” Gonzales explained with a laugh.
With only two more years left in his Army contract, Gonzales – who had previously planned on pursuing a long-term career in the military – now foresees a future of living luxuriously among other influencers, in a city like Los Angeles, he said.
“I would love to be an influencer. I would love to just keep making videos and, like, I would love to model, also,” said Gonzales, and added his goal is to have his “name known.”
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