‘Dreams go to die’: Soldier told he’s going overseas during enlistment, then Googles his actual destination and finds video with devastating caption

A veteran’s TikTok video has gone viral after he shared a story about an Army recruiter who told him he’d be sent to an overseas post, but he ended up in Oklahoma instead. Nolan Marsh, who uses the name @livefromthebus on TikTok, says he was told he’d be going to Belgium when he joined the Army.

Months into his training, Marsh learned his real location wasn’t some exciting European city. Instead, he was going straight to Lawton, Oklahoma. According to Bro Bible, he immediately Googled the town to see what it was like, and the results weren’t good.

Marsh found a dashcam video tour of Lawton. The video’s caption said Lawton was a place where “dreams go to die.” That’s a harsh description for your new home. The story got even more interesting after Marsh arrived. One day, he went out for burritos and saw a familiar face among the other soldiers.

The recruiter ended up in the same place

It was the same recruiter who had promised him Belgium. Marsh summed up the moment in his viral TikTok video, saying, “Here we are. Here we both are. Karma.” The video has now gotten more than 1.2 million views.

Regular Army enlistments don’t actually guarantee your first assignment. Recruiters don’t have to show you where you’ll be stationed before you sign up because the military’s needs come first. Recruiters can suggest what’s “likely,” but they can’t promise a specific location. Like others who’ve faced unexpected life situations that went viral, Marsh’s story resonated with many people online.

One person in the comments wrote: “Baby i joined the navy and ended up in Fallon fucking Nevada. There hasn’t been an ocean there for like 200 million years. There’s barely enough water to get a single cloud most of the year.”

Other comments on Marsh’s video were also entertaining. Many viewers shared similar stories, with some comparing it to other stories of people chasing dreams that didn’t go as planned.

This is why anything that sounds like a promise should be written down. However, there is one exception. If you qualify, you might be able to lock in your first duty station using the Army’s Duty Station of Choice, also called Option 19. This only works if the Army needs your specific job at one of the approved locations.

Is Lawton really where careers fade away? That depends on who you ask. Many critics say the city feels slow and doesn’t have much entertainment. They point to closed businesses, empty storefronts, and a lot of fast food places and car washes.