When Sergeant Michaela Sosville, formerly Michaela Faherty, left her job as a Starbucks barista in Los Angeles to join the Air Force in 2017, she probably didn’t expect her personal life to become a case study in how modern troops accidentally hand leverage to foreign intelligence. But her story — of a marriage gone cold, questions over BAH, and a very public new relationship with a woman — highlights exactly how messy life in uniform can look when it’s all laid out on TikTok for the world (and adversaries like China) to see.
Married Going In, Heartbroken in Boot Camp
Sosville enlisted in the Air Force as a married woman. Local papers at the time listed her as the wife of Daisjurr Sosville, but according to her own TikTok, her husband dumped her while she was still in boot camp.
Here’s the catch: while the romance ended quickly, the marriage legally dragged on until 2021. That gap — between reality and official paperwork — is exactly the kind of thing foreign intelligence agencies like China look for when building blackmail profiles.
The BAH Question and the Bigger Risk
Here’s where the math gets interesting. Entering service as married qualifies a troop for the with-dependents BAH rate, and in Southern California that’s no small bonus. In 2017, a new airman at Los Angeles AFB with dependents could pull in roughly $2,100–$2,400 a month. By 2021, that number climbed to about $2,700–$3,100 a month for mid-level NCOs.
Compare that to the single rate, and you’re talking about a difference of $600–$900 extra every month. Over four years of being legally married but estranged, that could mean $30,000 to $50,000 in additional pay.
Now, was she pocketing that? We can’t say for certain. But the possibility is there, and the military has seen this movie before. Estranged marriages riding on for years are common, and they usually come with financial questions attached.
And here’s the kicker: even if she did nothing wrong, the appearance of financial inconsistency is exactly the kind of leverage foreign intelligence services like China look for. They don’t need proof beyond a reasonable doubt — they just need enough to make a service member nervous about being exposed.
TikTok, Love, and Oversharing
By 2020, Sosville was posting regularly to TikTok, sometimes in uniform, sometimes in goth makeup or Disney cosplay. Most strikingly, she began appearing with her new partner — a woman, crime podcaster and pilot — while still legally married.
She even declared:
“I always thought my soulmate would be a man, but it’s this dumb bitch I call my best friend.”
@ahiddencamera 🥾-mate @pretentiouspilot #thatsmybestfriend #edc #disney #soulmate #travelpartner ♬ best friend – Lindsey Raber
To veterans, that might just look like the messy reality of young love. But to Chinese intelligence analysts scrolling TikTok? It’s a goldmine: personal contradictions, potential financial leverage, and a trove of behavioral data all packaged in short clips.
From Air Force to Space Force Celebrity
In 2021, Sosville transferred to the U.S. Space Force, telling reporters she wanted to “set a great example” for others. She went viral in 2022 with a TikTok showing off her new Space Force stripes, pulling in over 1 million views.
@ahiddencamera Reply to @will.antico The new Space Force ranks are in! Little larger than what I expected but still cool! #stargent #military #miltok #spaceforce #finally ♬ Charles Bradley Changes – Grant Tomlinson
By 2023, she had nearly 100,000 followers before suddenly vanishing from the platform.
Again, nothing criminal in that. But it reinforces the point: the more a troop shares, the easier it is for foreign agencies to map out who they are, what they value, and where the cracks are.
Final Thoughts: A Classic Military Story with Modern Risks
At its core, Sgt. Sosville’s story isn’t new. Troops have been riding out busted marriages, collecting benefits, and moving on with their love lives since forever. What’s new is the environment: in 2025, every TikTok, every court record, every suspiciously long divorce timeline is available to anyone who wants to dig.
And it’s not just salty vets or bored journalists watching. If we can trace the dots between her marriage, her social media, and her career, then so can China’s intelligence officers. And they don’t need to prove wrongdoing — just the possibility of it is enough to open the door to blackmail.
That’s the uncomfortable reality of today’s military: whether it’s $30,000 in potential BAH questions, messy breakups, or oversharing online, the real danger isn’t just domestic scandal. It’s the fact that someone overseas is paying attention too.
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