US Air Force
Greg was in the US Air Force from 2005 to 2008.
For years Greg claimed to have an honorable discharge, but in 2017 it was revealed he actually received a general discharge. (Source)
Air Force
(This first part is a summary of events according to his archived websites and YouTube videos. It's basically a clunky timeline. Will improve one day..)
Greg signed up for the Air Force in January 2005 when he was 19 years old. (Source) On May 27th, 2005 Greg graduates boot camp. On May 30th, he begins SERE school. On June 20th, he drops out of SERE due to refusing to kill a rabbit. In June, Greg designs the SERE website, goSERE.com and received a LOR. (Source) July 2005 Greg gets tested due to chest pains, but is cleared. (August 5th Greg marries Skye in a San Antonio courthouse.) August 8th Greg begins special forces training in San Antonio, Texas (Lackland AFB). August 26 Greg writes a blog post about how he is not pleased with how the training is run and calls out a MTL for cursing. September 3 Written up for saying a word he won't mention. November 2005 goes to Oklahoma. (Source) February 12th, 2006 promoted to A1C, E-3. May 2006 works in Canada. September 27th, 2006 Greg announces he will be deployed to Al Udeid in March of 2007. (Source) 2007 moves to South Korea after requesting to go. (Soure) Discharged in 2008.
Online
In 2005, Greg created a website titled America's Air Force dedicated to chronicling his time in the Air Force. The site included pictures of himself, a personal journal, and physical and mental stats. Greg also briefly ran another personal Air Force themed site titled "Gregory J." (Source)
Greg kept a few online blogs and journals where he would chronicle his experiences in the Air Force along with his personal life and online creations:
On these blogs, he would write about his accomplishments in the Air Force and how he is proud to serve and strives to be the best. He would also use these blogs to complain about his co-workers.
On various websites throughout 2005, Greg would mention that he would fight in Iraq one day. He brought it up in online journal entries (Source) and in an email fight/debate he had with a "suicidal girl". (Source)
By 2007, Greg stopped talking about the Air Force online and deleted all traces of himself from his America's Air Force website, keeping it anonymous. When talking about his life on various sites, he would not mention he was in the military and just refer to it as "my job". For example, when announcing online that he was moving to South Korea, he simply explained it by saying, "According to my job… I may be heading to Korea soon…" (Source) It seems around this time, Greg began having a few problems with friends and co-workers. (Source)
Attempts at Discharge
Depression
Greg often references the day November 14, 2007 as the day he held a loaded M9 to his head. ($ource) The significance of this day was he decided to dedicate his life to Youtube. When talking about this decision, he will often use it to explain how important Youtube and his viewers are to him, once saying, "Before I decided to do Youtube I had a gun to my head and I was considering pulling the trigger. [...] Once upon a time it was this or death for me." ($ource)
Greg says for months he would tell medical professionals that he was depressed and tried to hand in his weapon, but they ignored him. ($ource)
Conscientious Objector Application
Greg explains when he joined the military he was willing to kill. He called himself "patriotic to a delusional level" and explained he believed Americans were the good guys and anyone they stood against were always the bad guys. After he saw how incompetent the training instructors were, he realized he did not want to kill for them and refused to kill a rabbit during SERE training. When he asked to be removed from SERE training, he told them he was not willing to kill a person. He was moved to Security Forces. He complains they chose one of the most violent career fields in the Military for him when they could have put him in the medical fiend or they could have made him a mechanic. ($ource)
Greg says he applied for conscientious objector status. ($ource) This would have happened sometime around February 2008.
Anti-Military Song
On July 28, 2008 Greg uploaded a video titled "USE IN EMERGENCIES." The video is no longer available, but based on the video description, it seem Greg was preparing his Youtube audience for a possible unexplained hiatus. He complains about his religious and moralistic beliefs being laughed at and stepped on and says he will do what is right, even if it gets him burned. He says he is losing picecs of himself due to his job and describes his job as "an organization of death." (Source)
The next day, on July 29, 2008, Greg uploaded "I'm So Death Machine" to his YouTube channel. By this point Greg had been regularly uploading videos to his YouTube channel. In the video, he criticizes the U.S. Military in a song and does various military associated actions (like push ups and saluting) in an unmarked uniform. (Source)
The day after uploading the song, Greg wrote an online journal entry titled "The Future in Question" where he says as he expected, someone reported his video to "the biggest boss there is at my work". He concludes he will either be jailed or fired for making the video. He explains his work needs to realize he is "doing more damage than I am good". He says he requested removal with no "screw-ups", but on "religious and moral obligation". He says they "torture" him with "meaningless tasks" and "a paycheck I don't need". He awaits his punishment and says if he disappears it is because he is being held as a prisoner in South Korea. (Source)
In a 2016 video, Greg says his higher ups did not care about his "I'm So Death Machine" video. ($ource)
Stripping Naked
On September 2, 2008, Greg uploaded the video "Naked In My Bosses Office." The video is no longer available, but the description read: "I took off all my clothing in my bosses office today. I'm very tired of being treated like a tool, and I want them to realize I am a human being.
It is very clear to me, and everyone else that I am breaking into pieces... I am desperate for survival, but am falling victim to my own integrity --- twisted or not, my integrity is my bond."
Greg later explained the incident in several videos. He says he had a meltdown after getting a letter of reprimand because he refused to clean a post a Senior Airman told him to clean after a Lieutenant Colonel told him not to. He says this would have been the first disciplinary action against him. He stripped completely naked in the Chief Master Sergeant's office. He says he did this because he wanted them to know he was a human being and not a robot. He says they dressed him and put him in a cell for 10 minutes, then let him go. He says he lost $1,000 and a stripe. In the video, he questions if he also got an Article 15 for the incident. ($ource)
Discharge
Eight months after applying for conscientious objector status, Greg says he was discharged. Greg was upset that it took him eight months to be discharged, but a guy he knew said he was gay and got out in two weeks. He says he would never lie about being gay. ($ource)
Greg says he had another meltdown on his "way out" of the air force when he was told he had to pay for a microwave he never used. He says he went "caveman" and told off two Sergeants. ($ource)
Greg claimed to have an Honorable Discharge from the Air Force. For many years, some viewers questioned if this was true, some claiming if Greg's military stories are true he would not have received an honorable discharge. Some questioned if he had a general discharge or even a dishonorable discharge.
Due to his frustrations with viewers and other Youtubers questioning his discharge status, in 2017 Greg uploaded videos showing paperwork as proof he was honorable discharged . The paperwork was a Request And Authorization For Separation form and the "Honorable" box was checked off. The form was dated October 2008. (Source)
In May 2017, Greg's Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty document became public revealing Greg had actually received a General Discharge, Under Honorable Conditions. (Source) Greg reacted to this news with the video "Onision's "Honorable" Military Service (Discharge Papers)". He defended saying he was honorably discharged by saying the documents he showed previously in videos was the document he was given. He maintains he was honest all along and says what he said was still true because "that is still literally honorable by the title, it says honorable". "Thank you to the people who ironically released these statements admitting that I served my country honorably." ($ource)
During the backlash he received on twitter for misrepresenting his military discharge, Greg maintained he did not lie about the discharge and he did not falsify documents. (Source)
Post Air Force
After being discharged, Greg and Skye moved back to Washington. Skye began working retail while Greg stayed at home trying to start his Youtube career. (Source)
YouTube
In the early days of his Speaks channel, Greg would often make anti-military and war videos. On March 31, 2010, Greg dramatically revealed his military past for the first time to his YouTube audience in the video "Onision: Veteran". Greg summarizes his time in the military while showing pictures of himself in various uniforms. He says he found himself and realized he was a conscientious objector. "I'm not necessarily proud of my service, but I'm not ashamed of it either." ($ource)
In 2014, Greg decided to share more of his military experiences. He uploaded the video "Former Airman: Onision" on January 3, 2014. The video is longer than most of his Speaks videos, about 20 minutes long. Greg goes into detail about all of the negative experiences he had in the Air Force. This included problems he had with other members and almost being bit by a poisonous black mamba snake, even though he had never been to Africa. ($ource)
Ten days after uploading "Former Airman: Onision", Greg uploaded "Facts About Onision" where he highlighted moments in his life and major life events along with photographs. This included events during his time in the Air Force. ($ource)
This Is Why I Hate You
In 2016, Greg self published his second book through Amazon titled This Is Why I Hate You. The book was loosely based on his life in high school and in the Air Force. Some readers complained the Air Force chapters were unrealistic. Greg replied saying he knows what he is talking about because he served in the military for "just under four years". He calls a reviewer that wrote, "What [Greg] don't know about the military would, obviously, fill a book", ignorant. ($ource)