Wikipedia:Nikko Ortiz

Nikko Aurelio Isaac Ortiz (born October 15, 1995) is an American social media personality, executive protection agent, and former United States Army Counterintelligence Agent and infantryman. His social media career began on TikTok with skits about life in the U.S. military, and grew to include YouTube and Twitch.

Early life
Ortiz was born October 15, 1995, in Hayward, California. He has Mexican, Hawaiian, Italian, German, Pacific Islander, and Chinese ancestry. He moved to Brentwood, California in the early 2000s. In high school, Ortiz struggled with grades due to ADHD.

Military Career
Ortiz enlisted in the United States Army in 2015 at the age of 18. Many members of Ortiz's family were in the military: his great-grandfather served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, his grandfather served in the United States Navy, his uncle served in the Coast guard, and a cousin served in the United States Air Force.

Once he completed basic training, he was deployed to Afghanistan as a private. During this deployment, he won multiple accommodations. In 2016, Ortiz was selected by his battalion's SCOUT (Sniper and Reconnaissance) Platoon as a Reconnaissance Section leader where he promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 2017. In 2018 Ortiz transitioned from the active army to the army reserves and reclassed from an infantryman to a counterintelligence agent after completing the Counterintelligence Special Agent Course (CISAC) at Fort Huachuca. He is still currently serving in the army reserves as a staff sergeant.

Civilian Career and Social Media
After completing CISAC in 2018, Ortiz began work as a covert executive protection agent. During his time in the executive protection industry, Ortiz created a TikTok account where he posted comedic military skits about the U.S. military branches, playing each branch as a character. On December 11, 2020, he created "Swimming with the Branches" which rolled into his creative military series "With The Branches."