When Jon Lynch joined the National Guard during college, his decision was largely driven by the financial benefits of enlisting — namely, no student loans. In the years since, Lynch, a member of the Air National Guard based in New Hampshire, learned about even more discounts and benefits available to members of the military and their families, on things like theme parks and credit cards, as well as government-funded programs like VET TEC, which offers technology training for veterans. Realizing that most people in the military community weren’t aware of these valuable resources, Lynch started sharing them on his TikTok channel, which has grown a following of 150,000 people interested in information about everything from free concerts and sports tickets to discounted stays in Hawaii. With his channel, Lynch hopes to help military members save money and afford experiences they didn’t think they’d be able to, like a once-in-a-lifetime vacation with their family.
How this service member is using TikTok to help the military community
Jon Lynch spotlights under-utilized discounts and benefits for members of the military on his TikTok channel.
Though it’s become what he’s known for on TikTok, Lynch’s interest in personal finance and budgeting began long before he joined the National Guard. His father’s small business was affected by the economic downturn in 2008, and Lynch watched his father take on a second job to be able to afford Christmas for the family that year. “It made me come to the realization of how important it is to be financially aware and to be resourceful,” Lynch said.
Lynch was homeschooled growing up, and said his worldview expanded even further when he studied abroad in Scotland in college: “I realized I could either go back and continue to live my life the way it was, or I can keep searching and be curious and learn about other people, other communities.” After joining the military, Lynch saw how many benefits were available to service members and wanted to share what he had learned. “I started doing a lot more research in my free time and I realized there’s a lot more behind the doors than people realize,” he said. “And it can be very advantageous if used appropriately.”
Lynch didn’t know much about TikTok initially, but in 2021 one of his friends suggested that he make a video about military benefits. His first post, about student loans and the military, didn’t get more than a handful of views, but he remained persistent. Eventually, he made a video about a program that provided free vacations to service members. After posting it, Lynch woke up the next morning to discover the video had gone viral and had over 300,000 views — 10 times more views than his previous videos had gotten, combined, over the previous few months.
“I was floored,” Lynch said of waking up to realize he had gone viral overnight. “I felt like a little kid on Christmas, which is really cliche to say, but I turned on my phone and it had 99-plus notifications. I didn’t even know it did that.” He added that it felt “incredible and overwhelming” to know that his video had reached hundreds of thousands of people in the military community, and had the potential to help improve their lives for the better.
“Most things I talk about, I don’t see a lot of military communities talking about. It wasn’t a gap that I think I truly was made aware of until I saw how many people started following my channel.”
Many of the comments on that first viral video asked Lynch to share more military benefits. From there, he decided to keep talking about the topic on his channel, and his audience kept growing. His posts include information on how military members can get free wedding dresses, a free streaming bundle, and discounts on rental cars and flights. Now, with over a year of experience on TikTok under his belt, Lynch said he believes he’s filling an information gap that existed on the side of TikTok known as #MilitaryTok. “Most things I talk about, I don’t see a lot of military communities talking about,” he said. “It wasn’t a gap that I think I truly was made aware of until I saw how many people started following my channel once I made that first viral video. And I was like, there’s so much more I can offer than just one benefit.”
In the months since, the community that Lynch has found on TikTok — mostly composed of people in the military or those with relationships to someone in the military — has been enthusiastic about his videos and also offered suggestions for other benefits and programs for future videos. “People will privately DM me and be like, ‘Hey, seriously, thank you. I can’t wait to look forward to going on vacation, getting a free wedding dress’ and things like that. The other type of comment that I get is people commenting, ‘Hey, I used this program years ago. It was awesome. You have to check it out.’” He said he’s gotten views and comments from people all over the world, from South Korea to Europe and the Middle East.
Those TikTok comments have also occasionally spilled over into real life: “There was a girl at the gym recently,” Lynch laughed, “and she came up to me and she’s like, ‘Hey, do you have a TikTok channel?’ And she’s like, ‘I watch your stuff.’ That’s pretty cool. I’ve never spoken to this girl. I have no idea where she’s from. But she recognized me in real life from watching me on TikTok. That’s crazy.”
Lynch says he’s always conscious of the fact that his audience is made up of real people, who might have limited time and resources. He makes sure to keep his videos short because he’s thoughtful about how he’s spending their time. “People’s time is the most valuable thing that they can give me,” Lynch said. “I give you this information in a quick video, you give me your time. Time’s the one thing you can’t get back — every second matters. They gave me thousands of hours of their lives to watch the stuff that I make, and it’s something I try to be very aware of.”
“You’re always gonna love what you see on TikTok because it’s made for you. You can’t beat it.”
One of his videos, about a program where members of the military can attend theme parks with a discount, was one of his most popular. (Lynch said that videos about more “exciting” benefits like vacation and travel discounts typically perform better than others.) He said it ended up with over 343,000 views and 856 hours of playtime even though the video is only 16 or 17 seconds long. He credits TikTok with being the ideal platform to distribute his informational videos to reach the largest audience possible. “TikTok is one of the best platforms because of how extraordinary their algorithm is,” Lynch said. “You’re always gonna love what you see on TikTok because it’s made for you. That’s awesome. You can’t beat it.”
Overall, Lynch feels thankful that he’s able to share beneficial information on a platform that helps him reach as many people as possible. He plans to continue posting videos and expand his channel, including by connecting and collaborating with other military-related creators on TikTok. “Military members and their families have to sacrifice so much,” he said, “[so] if my videos can help benefit their lives by giving them financial freedom or allowing them to go on vacation, why wouldn’t I share that information?”
To learn more about Jon Lynch and the benefits he shares, watch his story for TikTok Sparks Good, a video series highlighting the life-changing opportunities and meaningful connections happening on TikTok.
The views presented are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense or its components.