“I NEVER THOUGHT I would join the Army,” says Capt. Max Krieg, a 12A Engineer Officer at Fort Knox, just outside Louisville, Kentucky. But after being recruited to play lacrosse at West Point, he soon changed his mind—and never looked back. “The Army having invested so much time and effort into me has completely changed my life,” he says.
Now he spends his days doing what he loves—challenging himself physically and mentally. Krieg trains six days a week, three to four hours a day as a member of the Army Warrior Fitness Team (AWFT), a group of elite soldier-athletes who compete in national strength-and-conditioning competitions to support the Army’s recruitment mission and connect the force to the wider public. Despite most of his day revolving around preparing for competition, there are still times when Krieg must tap into the grit he has built in the Army. “During some workouts I have a voice in the back of my head telling me to quit. But the Army has taught me to push past my limits. There’s always another gear there,” Krieg says.
He learned this in the early days of his commission, when he went to Dive School to become an Army engineer diver. He was one of fewer than 250 Soldiers at the school to complete a grueling eight-month program learning underwater reconnaissance, construction, and demolition. “It’s just an example of the Army presenting me with a challenge, and for me, having to dig deep and figure out a way to push through that challenge.”
It was this experience that prepared him for what he’s doing today: leading the AWFT. He had to learn how to lead his peers, Krieg says. “It teaches you how to be a leader—not just because people have to follow exactly what you say, but because they want to follow you.” In his position with the AWFT, not only is he able to maintain the passion for fitness that helped bring him to the Army in the first place, he shows others how the Army provides the opportunity to pursue personal and professional goals—just as it has for him.
But being the leader of the AWFT also means Krieg is part of a team. “Being in the Army is like being on a team of teams. There’s a special bond that forms between people that go through difficult things together,” Krieg says. “And as the Warrior Fitness Team, we’ve cultivated this bond and that’s something that we’ll hold onto the rest of our lives.”
Krieg’s training isn’t just about physical strength. The Army also encourages rest and time with family. At the end of a tough day or competition, Krieg loves spending time with his wife, Meg, and golden retriever, Dennis, to remind him why all his hard work and hustle is worth it. “For me personally, that comes with spending time with people that I care about laughing and hugging—very simple things like that,” he says. “Strength, like life, requires balance. The Army has supported me the whole way.”
Watch the video above to learn how the Army supports Krieg’s life in and out of uniform, then visit GoArmy.com to begin your own transformation.
