Veteran shares Army stories

RITZVILLE – Jeff Kissler enlisted in the U.S. Army two weeks after graduating from Ritzville High School in 1994.

For the next 23 years he served in wide-ranging deployments from Europe to the Middle East to Southeast Asia to duty stations in Georgia and Texas.

"Here I am, age 46, and sometimes I wake up and can't believe I put my body through all that stuff," he said. "Sometimes, I'm surprised I'm still here.

"I had a lot of close calls on my deployments. It's given me perspective about what's really important."

After spending his early childhood in Odessa and Tacoma, Kissler came to live wit...