Two Air Force spouses who started an Instagram account to share memes and commiserate over the comically frustrating aspects of military life have grown the platform into much more.
Real Housewives of Fighter Pilots began in 2017 and now has more than 19,000 followers.
Sarah Siebert and Laura Matthews met in 2015 while stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea. Their husbands fly the A-10 fighter jet, Siebert and Matthews each have two kids and currently, they live in the same neighborhood near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.
READ: 20 military-connected influencers you should follow on Instagram
Real Housewives of Fighter Pilots (RHFP) got its start shortly after Matthews had her second child.
“I was on my phone a lot as you are when you’re nursing,” Matthews said. “We always joke about certain aspects of military life or make light of uncomfortable situations that we don’t necessarily talk about regularly in public, and I thought, ‘Why aren’t we sharing these feelings that so many of us have?’” she added.
Siebert was on board.
When the duo started the Instagram account, they shared memes and funny but difficult things about military life with the friends who followed them.
“We wanted RHFP to be authentic to what a day in the life of a spouse looks like,” Siebert said. “It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. We wanted to be as real as possible about TDYs, deployments, PCSing, solo parenting — all of it.”
“And sometimes humor is a way to deal with that,” Matthews added. “I think sometimes you can get wrapped up in sort of a toxic positivity. We tell ourselves, ‘Everything’s fine. We can do this. We are strong and capable.’ And yes, that’s true. But there are a lot of things that are really difficult and that I think are worth sharing.”
RHFP followers are likely familiar with Matthews. Her face (and humor) serve as the frontman, so to say. She makes the memes and creates the video content.
“Generally when my kids are not in the house — or while hiding in my pantry or car,” she joked.
Matthews said her inspiration for content comes from the hurdles and challenges military spouses deal with on a regular basis.
“Sometimes humor comes out of uncomfortability.”
Meanwhile, Siebert said she’s “perfectly fine being behind the scenes,” where she manages partnerships, advertising, fundraising, giveaways and more.
“Laura and I make a great team because we use our skills and resources in different ways,” Siebert said.
What they’re doing is working.
“It’s wild. I never expected it to grow like this,” Matthews said. “It was meant to share memes between friends and to see it grow and grow pretty fast in the last year. The fact that it’s still growing is wild.”
“It’s cool that we’re both Air Force [spouses], but over 60% of our followers are Navy,” Siebert said.
That became even more apparent when Matthews and Siebert attended their first “Tailhook,” a naval aviation convention.
“We went not knowing what to expect, but we were getting stopped and recognized, and these pilots were like, “Oh, my wife loves you. Can I take a picture with you?” Matthews recalled.
“And I think it’s really cool that it’s spreading throughout the branches,” Siebert added. “Yes, our experiences might be a little different in different services, but we all share the same core values.”
And as the RHFP following grew, Matthews and Siebert realized they had an opportunity.
“You have this following, and you’re like, ‘What can we do?” Siebert said. “How can we use this platform for good?”
When Afghanistan began to fall, Matthews and Siebert kicked into gear, making RHFP a go-to resource for information and providing reputable ways for their community to help.
“Laura is so good about taking the time to find credible sources,” Siebert said. “People have no idea how much she does. She spends so much time researching, reaching out to people and making connections. That’s where her heart is. She feels like she has a responsibility to our followers to make sure they’re informed.”
“With Afghanistan, it felt deeply personal, and I think for a lot of us because many of our service members have deployed over there. My husband was deployed there twice,” Matthews said.
Using their Instagram platform, they raised money for refugees and helped mobilize manpower.
“I’m proud of what we were able to do in our little way during that crisis. I just wish more could be done. Our community was so willing to help and support,” Matthews said.
RHFP has provided similar information, resources and support during the ongoing war in Ukraine.
And while aviation and military pilots provide plenty of fodder, Matthews and Siebert are intimately familiar with how dangerous the job is. When there’s a mishap in the aviation community, RHFP is amongst the first to step up, sharing ways to support the families of the fallen or injured.
“It’s a close community. No matter what service branch or aircraft,” Siebert said.
Much like the jets their spouses fly, RHFP has no plans of slowing down.
“We have this voice. We want to use it to affect policy change when it comes to military families. We want to take on difficulties with moving so frequently, mental health, military spouse unemployment and underemployment and licensure issues,” Matthews said. “There’s so much work to do.”
But don’t worry, the humor isn’t going anywhere. The RHFP biography snippet on Instagram reads: “Supporting military community through humor. Raising awareness on issues that impact mil families.”
In short, Matthews and Siebert say there are plenty of memes to be made.
“That’s what resonates with so many people. I’m glad it can foster a community because we can all relate to a lot of the themes we discuss in our posts,” Matthews said.
But they still intend to use their platform to “amplify what is happening in the world.”
And there’s nothing funny about that.
