Another soldier has been accused of being an undercover Army recruiting agent as part of an “Army PSYOP campaign” to recruit Gen Z coomers.
34-year-old Ellie Ensley has served in the Army Reserves for over 11 years now but says she no longer is required to show up for duty, nor does her duty uniform fit.
During a live-streamed Q and A, that led to her being accused of being a secret recruiter, she said she was supposed to wear her ASUs but the top didn’t fit so she wore a modified PT shirt.
She admitted she liked the “new” black PT shirts, which have been around since 2017, and referred to the old grey PT shirts as “dingy.”
It’s not clear where she obtained the “new” shirt but she acted as if it was her first time wearing it despite rejoining the Reserves in 2020 after getting out in 2017.
Ensley, who goes by Ellie The Empress online, says she joined the Army Reserves in 2008 when she was 17 years old but has not shown up for duty since 2022.
“They’ll call me if they need me,” she said.
Her best friend in high school was in JROTC and pushed her to join the military with her after graduation.
She admits the promise of college being paid for and a $20,000 bonus was very enticing, but she knew very little about the military at the time.
“We had no idea about joining the military,” she said.
The first recruiter they spoke to was in the National Guard, the branch they thought they wanted to join because all they do is “guard graveyards and buildings.”
After speaking with the recruiter, she still believed that was all she would do and it was more akin to a civilian job.
“He acted like the National Guard was just a job…he should have probably been under investigation,” she said.
After going home and doing her research, she found the National Guard is part of the military.
An Army Reserve recruiter was more straightforward with her and offered her the same offer from the Army Reserves.
“They are going to pay for our college and give us $20,000 to do it,” she said.
She ended up joining the reserves and went to Fort Jackson for basic training and then AIT to become a supply specialist.
“It’s really because they had that $20,00 bonus,” she said when asked why she joined.
After finishing training, she was assigned to an Army Reserve military police unit where she said she did conduct some training with them but was not an MP.
“[I] really didn’t do a lot, I’m not going to lie,” she said.
During her time in that unit, she admits she wasn’t a great soldier and barely got by.
“I can probably only do 20 push-ups,” she said.
During the Army Physical Fitness Test and the Army’s range qualification test, she would score just high enough to pass.
When it came to traveling, she said she only went to places with bad food, tents, and dirt.
Her deployment to Afghanistan was the most interesting place she went but “it was still just tents and dirt and rocks,” she said.
As a supply specialist, the deployment was similar to her workload stateside, so she had a lot of free time.
She spent her days going to the gym, eating at the chow hall -especially midnight chow with her friends– and attending organized events.
“Me and my friends used to love dancing at hip hop night,” she recalled.
Being in an active warzone was not what she expected and said she was surprised by how quiet it could be.
Ensley credits her military police unit’s assignment of working at an on-base prison as the reason why their area was so quiet.
“You’re not going to bomb where your family is staying but we did get bomb threats.”
Besides her comment about what she was “supposed” to wear during her Q&A, nothing else stood out to suggest her comments about her military experience were intended to recruit others.
If anything, she might have steered some to the Air Force. If she could do it all over again, she said she would join the Air Force.
“I wouldn’t suggest the Army…for any adults who are already in a professional job to go into the military now,” she said.
“Unless you’re going in as an officer, don’t do it…because a lot of the new leaders are a joke,” she added.
Young people, right out of high school, who could use the discipline and benefits are the only people she encouraged to join.
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