U.S Army veteran Elizabeth Kaiser of McDonough has long maintained a respect for men and women in the Armed Forces. That respect is one of the reasons she opted to pursue military service herself.

  “Sometimes, people just have that feeling,” said Kaiser, 33. “Even with kids, they just have a passion for a certain subject that you know they’re going to pursue later. That’s how I felt. I didn’t know anybody in the service. I just had such an ultimate respect every time I would see someone in the service or in uniform or see something about them on TV, and I knew that that’s what I wanted to do.”

  Kaiser’s passion for military service began when she was 16. She said the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 played a role in her decision to join the Army.

  “When 9/11 happened, I was still in school, but I was being home-schooled, so I was actually home watching the whole thing unfold on TV,” she said. “I took a bunch of extra credit in high school, and I graduated a year early, and I joined the military at 17 with the signature of my mother, giving me permission to go, and I went, and I never looked back.”

  When asked if she had a personal connection to anyone in the military, Kaiser pointed to a photo on her wall of her uncle, Michael.

  “He was the only member of my family that I knew of that had ever served,” she said. “But, my mother was a foster child, and my mother and father divorced when I was a year old, and then my father passed away. So, I didn’t know anything about my mother’s side of the family or my father’s side of the family. All I had was that picture. He served in Desert Storm, and then he passed away shortly after that.”

  Kaiser’s passion for the military eventually led her sister, Cynthia Booker, to join the Army as well. It all started, Kaiser said, with a bet.

  “She didn’t believe I would do it,” said Kaiser. “So I told her, ‘If I do it, you’re gonna do it. So when I signed the paperwork, I went to her workplace, and I told her, and she ended up shipping off to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood two weeks after I got there.”

  Kaiser completed occupational specialty training in Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Her first duty station was in Korea. She served as an ammunition specialist from 2002-2011.

  “After Korea, I went to Fort Benning, Ga., which is where my son was born,” she said. “Then, I went back to Korea after that. From there, I went to Fort Bragg, N.C. That’s where I spent most of my time, and that’s where I deployed from. From there, I went to Fort Sill, Okla. That was where my husband and I lived together for the first time. He was a drill sergeant at Fort Sill, and I was working across the train tracks in an ammunition battalion.”

  Kaiser, an Iraq War veteran, received her expiration of term of service, or ETS, with an honorable discharge from Fort Sill. Her husband, Matt, was still in the service at the time. They obtained a permanent change of station to Fort Lewis, Wash.

  “That is where my husband ETS’d,” she said. “Then we moved to California. We were there for a year, and then my husband’s job took us here to McDonough, Ga., and we’ve been here for two years now.”

  Kaiser has three children – Noah, Nevaeh and Cora. Her respect for military service remains a significant part of her life. It is also what led her to volunteer at the Heritage Park Veterans Museum in McDonough.

  Kaiser visited the facility a number of times, until she finally asked if they needed additional volunteers.

  “They said, absolutely, yes!” said Kaiser. “They practically threw their keys at me.”

  Kaiser has visited several military museums across the country over the years, including the USS Arizona memorial in Hawaii. But, she said, the one in McDonough stands out from the rest.

  “The museum at Heritage Park is different than other museums in the sense that it’s not only military history back from World War II to the present, but it’s also local history,” said Kaiser. “Every volunteer at the museum is a veteran. Most of them are war veterans, and many of those are Vietnam veterans. So, being around the Vietnam veteran community is also very humbling for me.”

  Whereas others might have uncles or grandfathers whose stories she can listen to, Kaiser hears tales from older veterans, including volunteers at the museum. She enjoys interacting with her fellow veteran volunteers at the museum – whom she calls her “grandpas” – because of the common bond they share.

  “When you make the decision to serve your country, service doesn’t end at ETS,” she said. “It’s a brotherhood and a sisterhood, automatically and immediately. We all, to some degree, have the same experiences and the same amount of respect for our service. We wouldn’t be there if we didn’t. You see these older veterans, and they wear their hats with all their pins and insignia, just because it’s the closest thing to putting the uniform back on.”

  Kaiser acknowledged visitors to the museum are sometimes surprised to see a woman who is a military veteran.

  “When you think of the term ‘veteran,’ the picture that comes to mind – at least for me, I’ll admit – is not a woman,” she said. “But, it doesn’t mean that I’m not extremely proud of myself for what I did. Even if I don’t get that recognition, that’s not what it’s about at this point.”

  This year will mark Kaiser’s first time attending the Veterans Day celebration at Heritage Park, scheduled for November 10 at 11 a.m. All branches of military service will be recognized at the ceremony, which will also feature a Vietnam-era reenactment.

  “I already know I’m going to get butterflies,” she said. “Just being around helicopters and birds flying overhead and being among that community is something that I have been looking forward to all year. My daughter actually had a swim competition that weekend, and we canceled it because I’m not missing this ceremony. I’m very much looking forward to it. I’m not expecting to be a part of it. I just want to be there, kind of disappear into the crowd and just enjoy the people around me and that camaraderie among us.”

  Kaiser’s remarks took a somber tone when she discussed the tragedies that sometimes occur after a veteran has left the service. She said 22 veterans a day commit suicide in the United States, due to a lack of proper healthcare and misunderstandings about post-traumatic stress disorder.

  Kaiser lost a friend to suicide just last week, right after she got a dedication tattoo for PTSD awareness. The tattoo, she said, carries the acronym “IGY6,” to send a message of support to her fellow veterans.

  “‘I Got Your 6’ means I am here as an advocate for veterans who need someone to talk to,” said Kaiser. “If you’ve been in the museum and you’ve seen the memorial wall that we have inside of our museum, at least four veterans on that wall are suicides. We have veterans who, with lack of proper healthcare, are lighting themselves on fire outside of V.A. clinics as a last attempt to be heard.”

  Kaiser encouraged those who support the military to say so as often as possible. She said although most veterans don’t seek out recognition, they want to know that their sacrifices are appreciated.

  “There is not one veteran that I have ever met who believed they were worthy of the recognition that they received from the civilian community – not one,” said Kaiser. “If you believe that they deserve it, be free with it. Be open with it, because veterans need to know that they’re not alone in their veteran community, that they have the support of the people around them.

  “It’s not normal for a family member to leave and go to war, or anywhere, for nine months – 15 months in my case – or any amount of time, and then come home and be a regular part of their family like they used to be,” she continued. “It’s not normal for the family, it’s not normal for the service member, and it changes the whole dynamic of the family when that happens. So from that very moment – coming back home and being re-integrated into society – they’ll never tell you, but they need help.”

  Kaiser also said veterans should do whatever they can to support each other.   “I would encourage them to check up on their battle buddies,” she said. “Send them a message, a quick phone call, just something to let them know that they’re thinking about them, because you never know if that’s the one phone call that might pull them out of that dark place, or if they’re battling their own demons in their head. They’re not going to come out and tell you. Don’t forget about your brotherhood and your sisterhood, and don’t wait until it’s too late to give a damn.”