An Afghanistan war veteran became an Instagram model with flawless selfies that had earned her more than half a million followers.

Hope Howard has gained an army of fans on Instagram thanks to sizzling snaps of herself in bikinis and workout gear that show off her curvy figure.

Hope, a former US Air Force mechanic who served in Afghanistan, is now a professional model, personal trainer, and bodybuilder.

She has dedicated her post-military career to fitness, inspiring her over 580,000 Instagram followers.

On her website, Hope Isabel Howard, Hope writes that she wanted to become a model since she was five.

However, the desire to help people trumped her dreams. So, after graduating high school, she joined the US Air Force as a fighter jet mechanic.

But the war was almost a decade old.

Hope writes:

"At the age of 19, I was deployed to Afghanistan, where I had an M-16 machine gun strapped to me pretty much 24/7."

"This was both the worst and best experience of my life because I did an immense amount of growth and began to see the world differently."

While in the military, her desires and passion for becoming a model came back. She then focused on physical training and diet.

The influencer explained:

"I began to dream again. And that's when I started to become more mindful of the food I ate and began focusing on physical training."

Hope now credits lifting weights and eating properly to saving her life.

And having completed her six-year enlistment with the military — and after some words of encouragement from her grandmother — she began a full-time modeling career.

She said:

"My grandma told me, 'You have to live your life no matter what,' so from then on, I decided to do just that."

"I decided to get out of the military and pursue fitness modeling and personal training full time."

"This way, I could have the best of both worlds. I could model while helping others."

Hope emphasizes that her aim isn't for others to look or be like her. Instead, she wants to help people in their personal and unique fitness journeys.

She also says her main message is one of hope, no pun intended. She believes everybody can overcome any adversity and do whatever they want and love.

In a recent interview, she said:

"I don't come from privilege, and I know what it means to be poor."

"I've had to fight extremely hard to get to where I'm at, and I have so much farther to go."