A life of service

There was no defining moment that persuaded Ben Kayser to join the military.

He had friends that were going overseas in the service, he'd always respected people in the military, but becoming part of it himself was a gradual rather than a dramatic decision.

"I was looking for something to do, basically, with my life and I couldn't think of anything more honorable than serving in the military," he said.

Kayser, who grew up in Moses Lake, is now 2nd Lt. Kayser, though most people in his hometown would remember him as an outstanding athlete.

Kayser was a pitching standout with the 1995 16-year-old Junior River Dogs who won the Babe Ruth World Series National Championship.

But Kayser was not a one-sport athlete, he played year-round, excelling in both football and basketball at Moses Lake High School. He was named Receiver of the Year both his junior and senior years, and a team captain in both sports. In his senior year he was voted Most Valuable Male Athlete.

His success on the field and in the classroom earned Kayser a full ride athletic/academic scholarship at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill. to play for the Tigers. He played ball there as a freshman, then took a year off from the sport, transferring to Washington State University for his sophomore year. He returned to Olivet his junior and senior year to play ball, and then stayed there to pursue a master's degree.

Kayser joined Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) while completing his master's degree in business administration at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill.

While the classes Kayser was taking prepared him for a career, ROTC prepared him for a different kind of future. Kayser said it was a choice between money and service.

After graduating from ROTC with a No. 6 ranking nationally of 5,800 total grads, Kayser went into the Army, infantry division, as an officer and signed on for eight years of service. During his training at Fort Benning, Georgia, he attended Ranger School, a two-month high-intensity training session from which only 40 percent of participants ever graduate.

"They give you just enough food to survive and just enough sleep to survive," Kayser described. In addition to the small meals, Kayser said he was allowed to sleep only between 15 minutes and two hours every night. Such depravation is designed to induce combat stress. Soldiers would reach stages of delirity, and begin falling asleep standing up.

"Your body can do a lot more than you think it can," Kayser said. "It taught me to rely on the Lord because I think somebody that comes through something like that is relying on something other than them self."

Kayser graduated in July.

The trials of Ranger School have proved effective for Kayser, who has found as a young second lieutenant at 26 years old that the title of Ranger has helped him earn respect despite his youth.

"They can see that you're serious about what you do," he said of his fellow soldiers.

As tough as Ranger School was, Kayser is now about to embark on his next challenge — serving in Iraq.

"I'm scheduled to deploy in June," Kayser said. "I'm excited to go over there and do what I can. It's what I've been trained for."

Kayser is already preparing for the deployment; he is stationed with his platoon at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and they've begun training exercises following missions similar to what they'll be doing in Iraq. This month, they'll begin training with live fire ammunition and in October will have a 30-day training session in Georgia.

"It's just going and doing your job," Kayser said of the deployment into a war zone. "To be responsible for the lives of 40 men is something that's pretty exciting," he said, adding that he'll also be charged with millions of dollars in equipment.

Recent criticism of the war and reports of its unpopularity have not influenced Kayser's feelings about serving there, nor the war itself.

"Anything our president decides to do, we support him fully," Kayser said of military personnel.

He also leans on the reports he hears from friends currently serving in Iraq, from whom he's heard much more positive accounts about the good being done there.

"It's encouraging," Kayser said. "It's kept my faith that we're doing a good thing over here."

But leaving home will not be without its challenges.

"The only thing that makes me sad is to leave my wife and two daughters," Kayser said. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have one daughter and another on the way.

"It's tough," Kayser said of being away from his family.

But "tough" isn't something that's kept Kayser from achieving his goals.