A Florida Army recruit who has leaned into social media comparisons to Megan Fox shipped out for military training Monday, less than three months after signing a six-year contract and calling her enlistment the start of a “new chapter.”
Hannah Rhoden, a 2021 graduate of Baldwin Middle-Senior High School outside Jacksonville, raised her right hand and swore into the Army on April 9.
“Today I swore in and signed my 6 year contract with the Army,” Rhoden wrote after the ceremony. “I’m so grateful for God opening this door and guiding every step into this new chapter.”
The 23-year-old’s path to the Army includes competitive cheerleading, years in the weight room, motherhood and work in Jacksonville’s emergency communications system.
But on TikTok, where Rhoden has built a modest following, another comparison frequently follows her around.
Megan Fox.
Rhoden has used the #MeganFox hashtag herself, while users have made similar comparisons in her comments.
“Megan Fox+Maphra,” one commenter wrote.
Now, the Florida native is trading TikTok, gym sessions and civilian life for the Army.
A State Champion Before the Army
Long before Rhoden signed an Army contract, she was already competing in a physically demanding team environment.
Rhoden was a member of Baldwin’s competitive cheerleading program during a successful period for the Jacksonville-area school.
Baldwin competed in the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A cheerleading ranks, and its cheer program captured the 2020 state title in Small Coed competition. The FHSAA maintains official competitive cheerleading championship results, while Baldwin also competed at the 2020 UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship.
Rhoden graduated from Baldwin in 2021.
Cheerleading remained part of her identity after high school, but her athletic focus increasingly shifted toward weightlifting.
Videos dating back years show Rhoden training with barbells, squatting and documenting her time in the gym. The themes attached to those posts were often less about appearance and more about persistence.
“The ONLY way you can fail is if you QUIT,” text over one training video read.
Another cheerleading video carried a similar message: “YOU CAN NEVER SUCCEED IF YOU NEVER FAIL!!”
That athletic background now follows Rhoden into a very different physical environment.
Emergency Calls, Restaurant Work and a New Direction
After high school, Rhoden entered the civilian workforce in Jacksonville.
She worked for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department as a dispatcher and has not exactly made it a secret that she likes firemen.
“Hannah stop messing with fireman with BIG biceps & mustaches,” text over one of Rhoden’s TikTok posts read.
“I JUST CANT DO IT,” Rhoden wrote in the caption, adding #firemen and #toxic.
Rhoden also appears to have worked in the restaurant industry as a Tilted Kilt waitress.
By late 2025 and early 2026, however, the life Rhoden documented publicly appeared to be entering a period of significant change.
She wrote about heartbreak, independence and trying to heal after difficult relationships.
“When someone asks me what’s the hardest thing I’ve done I say, I had to walk away from someone I still loved with my whole heart,” Rhoden wrote in December.
In February, she described healing as the “hardest and bravest thing you can do.”
Rhoden also increasingly referenced her faith.
By March, she had publicly discussed being baptized while reflecting on relationships and uncertainty over where her life was headed.
Less than a month later, she was inside an Army recruiting office.
Six Years and a Field Artillery Contract
On April 9, Rhoden signed a six-year Army contract.
Her social media profiles identify her as “U.S ARMY (13U).”
The Army uses 13U as the Field Artillery Recruit enlistment option, placing new Soldiers into the Field Artillery career field before assignment into a specific qualifying 13-series military occupational specialty.
For Rhoden, the enlistment marked a sharp turn from the uncertainty she had written about only weeks earlier.
She called it a “new chapter.”
Then she started counting down.
On May 28, Rhoden told her TikTok followers she would leave for the Army in 39 days.
“POV: when you leave in 39 DAYS for the Army..” the post read.
Thirty-nine days from May 28 landed on July 6.
On Monday, Rhoden posted again.
“Before I leave for the military today I just wanted to show you guys that my GSP has the Disney/Mickey ears on his back,” Rhoden wrote while holding a puppy.
The post included #bootcamp.
It was an understated final post before leaving for the Army, particularly for someone whose social media has documented years of competition, fitness, relationships and major personal changes.
Her social media biography now simply identifies her with the Army and 13U.
The former Baldwin cheerleader who once wrote that people “can never succeed” if they never fail is now beginning a six-year commitment to the service.
And after months of publicly wondering where life would take her next, Rhoden appears to have found her answer.
The Army.
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