U.S. Soldier's Investment Chronicles: Missiles and K-lines in Tandem, Military Bases Become America's Frenziest Crypto Trading Hubs
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U.S. Soldier's Investment Chronicles: Missiles and K-lines in Tandem, Military Bases Become America's Frenziest Crypto Trading Hubs
He said, "I can earn $7,000 in three or four days, and then lose it all on the fifth day."
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Konrad Putzier, WSJ
Translated by Azuma (@azuma_eth), Planet Daily
On the Wednesday night of the mission, U.S. Space Force Captain Gordon McCulloh sat aboard a military propeller plane hovering over the quiet, dark skies of New Mexico when his squadron’s group chat suddenly exploded.
Members of the unit—some on the ground, others in the air—were collecting data related to electronic warfare, but they were also keeping tabs on their investments. Google’s stock had just surged during after-hours trading.
After landing, McCulloh saw the messages: one ground officer posted a news screenshot; another replied “To the moon.” It was turning into an exceptionally profitable day for McCulloh and his brothers-in-arms.
The U.S. military might be the world’s most lethal “investment club,” and they’re cashing in big during this bull market.
Active-duty service members are making substantial gains from tech stocks and Bitcoin, exchanging obscure crypto investment tips on aircraft carrier decks. As markets keep hitting new highs, more and more new Porsches and Hummers are appearing in base parking lots. And social media influencers in uniform are telling their followers they too can get rich.
McCulloh, a flight test engineer, has heavily invested in companies tied to nuclear energy. He’s betting that the AI data center boom will drive up electricity demand even further. So far, it’s been smooth sailing. Some of his stocks have doubled or more since spring, though the 27-year-old officer is starting to wonder how long this rally can last.
“I have to admit, I don’t understand why the market keeps rising without any obstacles,” he said. Despite recent volatility, overall stock prices have continued climbing since April, boosting soldiers’ net worth.
Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix ranked among the top U.S. regions with the highest proportion of cryptocurrency declarations on tax returns in 2021.
Service members helped fuel the cryptocurrency price surge that began in fall 2020 and peaked in 2021. According to The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of IRS data, eight of the 25 U.S. ZIP codes with the highest rates of reported crypto income or disposal in 2020 were located near military bases. Bitcoin’s price roughly quadrupled that year. By 2021, that number rose to 11 out of 25.
IRS data shows that in 2021, 16.3% of individual tax returns near Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico reported receiving, selling, exchanging, or disposing of cryptocurrency; the figure was even higher near Luke Air Force Base in Arizona (19.4%) and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California (18.1%). In contrast, only 4.1% of tax returns nationwide checked the same box.
Military bases lost this dominance in 2022—the latest annual data available from the IRS. That year, cryptocurrency prices crashed, and the number of people declaring crypto transactions plummeted both on and off base. But the crypto craze of that year—and the concurrent meme stock frenzy—hooked a whole generation of service members on investing.
While many service members are long-term investors focused on index funds, others engage in short-term speculation or place large bets on just a few stocks or cryptocurrencies. They tend to be young, having experienced only rising markets, and often lack tools to hedge risk.
“If there’s a major market correction, they’ll definitely suffer,” said Brian O’Neill, a financial advisor and former Air Force officer.
Some already have experienced such pain, suffering significant losses from bad bets, but service members are more inclined to talk about their wins than their losses. “There’s a culture of bragging here,” O’Neill said.
Saunders recently used extra income to buy a Hummer, both as a reward and to support his side hustle as a KOL.
The Coast Guard member records investment and financial advice videos from his home studio in St. Petersburg, Florida, and surrounding locations.
Saunders made profits from Tesla stock, but said he lost over $10,000 in a single day last winter trading a leveraged product tied to MicroStrategy’s stock (a company that buys Bitcoin, now called Strategy). He now mostly invests in stock market index funds. He also earns a five-figure monthly income from being a social media influencer on TikTok and Instagram.
His specialty: videos offering financial advice to military personnel.
Action Zones
Military bases are fertile ground for investment frenzies. They’re filled with young people—many naturally inclined to take risks—who have ample time and disposable income, and little taboo around discussing personal finance, since military pay is public and rank-based. While the military offers a guaranteed pension after 20 years and unparalleled job stability, it doesn’t offer high salaries or six-figure year-end bonuses.
Military communities have long been active in investing. Some use VA zero-down-payment loans to buy rental properties. During the high-inflation early 1980s, soldiers sealed inside nuclear missile submarines for months passed time discussing gold bars and rough diamonds. In the late 1990s, tech stocks became the obsession of the masses.
But over the past two decades, two intertwined trends have greatly amplified the military’s wealth-building culture: the rise of websites—and later apps like Robinhood—that lowered trading barriers; and the prolonged war on terror.
Starting in the early 2000s, hundreds of thousands of troops were deployed to remote bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. They earned hazardous duty pay, family separation allowances, and were exempt from federal income taxes. Suddenly, they had thousands of extra dollars and started looking for ways to invest.
F-16 fighter pilot Shawn Walsh opened his first brokerage account in 2008 while stationed in Iraq. His main job was bombing insurgents, but between missions, he’d often sit for hours in a small shack near the runway, fully dressed in flight gear. There, idle, he and other pilots would discuss various investment strategies.
Multiple military bases, including Vandenberg Space Force Base along California’s central coast, fueled the crypto mania between 2020 and 2021.
In 2013, Air Force transport pilot Spencer Reese shuttled troops between Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. “Every mission was a crash course in different investment strategies,” he said.
One person talked about investing in gas stations and 7-Eleven convenience stores; another recommended covered call options; someone else liked Bitcoin. On longer flights, Reese would read investment books.
The military does offer basic training courses on savings, budgeting, and investing, but word-of-mouth is often the preferred source of advice. Though service members are highly competitive, they also share strong camaraderie—even in investing. When someone makes money, they tell others, hoping their comrades can profit too. Officers often pull out their phones to show off their portfolio balances.
Cryptocurrency spread through the military like wildfire in the early 2020s. Navy Commander Zach Rodriguez sunk over $100,000—half his family’s savings—into tokens like Chainlink, Polkadot, and Quant. A close friend sparked his interest in crypto while he was deployed on an aircraft carrier cruising the Pacific.
A photo of then-Lieutenant Commander Zach Rodriguez beside a helicopter in 2020. His Pacific deployment kicked off his crypto journey.
As prices soared, he initially profited handsomely, only to suffer steep losses later. He also revealed that scammers stole $250,000 worth of his cryptocurrency. Today, the helicopter pilot is a “Bitcoin maxiboi”—focused on Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related companies—and says his holdings have rebounded to about $1 million.
The meme stock frenzy hit the military with similar force. In 2021, Senior Airman Durelle Bailey, an Air Force health services administrator, was taking graduate classes with over two dozen active-duty personnel at George Mason University when someone mentioned Chegg, an edtech company. The stock had dropped, and according to that person, it was a perfect buying opportunity.
“He said, ‘Hurry, buy now before it goes back up,’” Bailey recalled. Within moments, eight or nine people pulled out their phones and bought the stock.
Senior Airman Durelle Bailey in Arizona in 2019. Over the past decade, his savings grew from nothing to a six-figure net worth.
Bailey invested a few hundred dollars but ultimately lost money. Chegg briefly traded above $113 per share in early 2021, then fell below $25 by year-end, and recently hovered near $1.
Wherever Bailey went, stocks and crypto were conversation topics. “We talked about it in the barracks, in the gym, in the mess hall,” he said.
When Bailey joined the Air Force in 2015, he had no savings. Now, he and his wife have a solid six-figure net worth, largely thanks to stock index funds. “Our future is secure,” said the 31-year-old.
New Wealth, New Worries
Signs of rising wealth are visible everywhere near military bases.
Eric Rawlings, a Colorado-based Army warrant officer and helicopter pilot currently deployed to the Middle East, said he recently bought a $10,000 Rolex to celebrate a milestone: his investment earnings surpassed his military salary for the first time.
He’s not alone. “The cars driving around base are insane,” said the 29-year-old.
Warrant Officer Eric Rawlings wearing the Rolex he bought to celebrate his investment success.
Some financial advisors and veterans worry the good times won’t last. Price-to-earnings ratios are near historic highs, and stock indices are increasingly dominated by a handful of tech giants.
“I’m worried we might be heading toward a bubble burst,” said retired Army officer David Ashcraft.
During the late 1990s tech boom, a young Lieutenant Ashcraft bought shares in Cisco and Sun Microsystems. After the market crashed, his IRA account dropped from $10,000 to about $3,000. Since then, he’s only invested in index funds.
“If someone tells me they’ve put all their money into crypto or a few stocks, I still get nervous,” he said.
Bonds have largely fallen out of favor among service members, as they’ve underperformed stocks in recent years. Few hold large amounts of cash either.
Many service members believe they can afford greater risk because they have job security and a guaranteed pension after 20 years. Even conservative investors are exposed to higher risk due to market dynamics. McCulloh, a Space Force officer based in New Mexico, said a few tech and energy stocks now make up most of his net worth simply because they’ve risen so much.
But high-risk bets can still blow up even in strong markets. In 2023, Moises Gonzalez, a Marine Corps truck driver stationed in Albany, Georgia, earning $38,000 a year, lost $20,000 day-trading gold and stocks.
From equipment in his base dorm room, Moises Gonzalez experienced the highs and lows of day trading.
“Some days I really couldn’t take it because I just kept losing, losing, losing, losing,” he said.
His largest single-day loss was $15,000; his biggest gain was $6,000.
He set up three monitors in his base room—a sight that once drew a frown from a colonel during a routine inspection—and brought his laptop to the motor pool where he worked, so he could trade during quiet morning hours.
Over time, Gonzalez improved. In 2024, he made $30,000 from day trading. A few months ago, he left the Marines and moved to Hawaii to trade full-time. The 25-year-old hopes to earn $10,000 a month from the markets, but hasn’t reached that yet.
“I can make $7,000 in three or four days,” he said, “and then lose it all on the fifth.”
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