A monster Special Forces fitness trainer who starred in a high-octane recruitment advert appears ready to haul the US military into the Trump era.

Special Forces trooper and Brigade Master fitness trainer Scott Dalrymple went viral this month as he performed feats of strength for a new Army advert. 

Dalrymplewas seen deadlifting over 500lbs and yoke walking with huge weight in the new advert, before he says directly into the camera: ‘Stronger people are harder to kill.’ 

While many lauded the promotional video for bringing in a new no-nonsense era of the military, Dalrymple is far from a stranger when it comes to showing off his brawniness. 

On his social media, the Special Forces officer regularly shares videos of himself powerlifting and performing strongman training routines, including competing in strongman competitions. 

This included recently celebrating winning the 2025 Rocky Mountain Strength Games, which saw him win an event with a huge 430lb bench press. 

A father-of-two, Dalrymple joined the Army in 2008 and enlisted into the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where he went on two tours of Afghanistan as a squad automatic weapons gunner, according to his LinkedIn. 

After completing his combat deployments, Dalrympletook on a variety of roles in the military, including as a drill sergeant, jumpmaster, infantry platoon sergeant and fitness instructor. 

Dalrymple starred in the latest US military recruitment advert to promote the no-nonsense approach of the Trump era, titled: ‘Stronger people are harder to kill’ 

Dalrymple joined the Army in 2008 and enlisted into the 82nd Airborne Division, where he went on two tours of Afghanistan as a squad automatic weapons gunner

The hulking infantryman became the face of the US Army this month with his starring role in the new ad, which many quickly compared to woke recruitment adverts under Joe Biden. 

Dalrymple currently serves as a fitness trainer for the Army Special Forces, and is working to a Master’s degree in Human Performance and Strength and Conditioning from Liberty University. 

He has earned a number of awards in the military including four Army Achievement medals, four Army Commendation medals, a Combat Infantryman badge, and an Airborne Wings Badge in 2007. 

Shortly after receiving the latter award, he married his wife Melissa, who took to social media to praise his advert after it was shared by MAGA heavyweights including Elon Musk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

The father Scott also shared his success with pride, posting his son’s exercise-laden clip to Facebook captioned: ‘My boy, right here, killing it!’ 

Following the release of Dalrymple’s latest ad, viewers praised it as a return to the macho energy most would associate with the US military. 

It was quickly compared to a widely panned advert pushed out by the Army in May 2021, during the Biden administration, titled ‘Emma.’ 

The trooper’s family shared his success with pride, including his father Scott sharing his son’s exercise-laden clip captioned: ‘My boy, right here, killing it!’

On his social media, the Special Forces officer regularly shares videos of himself powerlifting and performing strongman training routines

Dalrymple often competes in strongman competitions, and recently celebrated winning the 2025 Rocky Mountain Strength Gains, which included a huge 430lb bench press

Dalrymple has been awarded a number of commendations in the military including an Airborne Wings Badge in 2007, shortly before marrying his wife Melissa (seen on their wedding day) 

A father-of-two, Dalrymple went on to fill a number of roles following his tours of Afghanistan, including as a drill sergeant, jumpmaster, infantry platoon sergeant and fitness instructor

In the ‘Emma’ advert, the animated clip told the story of Army officer Emma Malonelord, who operates the Patriot Missile Defense Systems, showing her from her childhood being raised by two moms.

She begins the clip saying: ‘Although I had a fairly typical childhood, took ballet, played violin, I also marched for equality… I like to think I have been defending freedom from an early age.’

The story went on to show how Emma gained confidence from watching one of her moms re-learn to walk after an accident so she could walk down the aisle to marry Emma’s other mother.

Viewers took to social media to slam the ‘Emma’ ad as the ‘most hated military recruitment advert of all time’, with Texas Senator Ted Cruz leading criticisms. 

‘Holy c***’ Cruz tweeted at the time. ‘Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea.’

Viewers compared Dalrymple’s masculine advert with a Biden-era recruitment ad from May 2021, showing the story of ‘Emma’ who grew up with two moms 

The ‘Emma’ ad, telling the story of Army officer Emma Malonelord who operates the Patriot Missile Defense Systems, was panned as a woke approach to military recruitment 

Texas Senator Ted Cruz led condemnations of the advert three years ago, branding it ‘woke’ and ’emasculating’ 

The ‘Emma’ advert was viewed over five million times, but the Army YouTube account removed the comments section after it received backlash.

Two weeks into its release, the clip had over 36,000 dislikes and only 775 likes, leading to the comment restrictions, reported the Army Times.

‘We started noticing a significant uptick in negative commentary,’ Laura DeFrancisco, public affairs chief for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, told the outlet at the time.

‘The comments violated our social media policy and were not aligned with Army values.

‘Out of respect for the safety and wellbeing of our soldiers and their families, we have disabled the comments.’

It comes as the US Army hit its highest recruitment figures in more than a decade in response to Trump retaking the White House.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced this month that the U.S. Army hit 15-year-high recruitment in January 

A flood of young people enlisted in the wake of Trump’s election victory in November.

An Army spokesman confirmed to DailyMail.com the branch has now reached 59 percent of its recruiting goal for Fiscal Year 2025.

Trump’s new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an X post: ‘America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong ‘America First’ leadership of Donald Trump.’

Hegseth said the number of Army volunteers reached a 12-year high in December 2024. That was then overshadowed by a 15-year high recruitment figure in January.

The former Fox News host did not specify how many people joined up in those two months and the Army did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com request for clarification on the figures.

But the Army posted to X that it recruited an average of 346 soldiers every day in December, meaning that approximately 10,700 were added to the roster in that month alone.

The surge shows the increasing interest from Americans who want to serve in the armed forces under the new administration.