Legacy Life member Krist Beseler joined the VFW as a Member-at-Large in Camp Casey, Dongducheon, South Korea, in 1995. Later, while visiting home on military leave circa 1998, he joined the Cochrane-Buffalo City VFW Post 10406, where he has been a member ever since. Becoming more active after he moved home to finish his military career at Fort McCoy in 2009, Krist has since held multiple Officer positions at his Post. While Commander, his Post attained the distinction of an All-State and All-American Post. Krist was elected a District 9 Officer in 2021, and he is now serving his first term as District Commander.

Krist’s related military service started in the US Army in 1986 as an infantryman serving in the 2/502 Infantry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. In 1989, Krist briefly joined the U.S. Army Reserves with Alpha Company 389th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) in Onalaska as a Motor Transport/ Heavy Equipment Operator. In 1990, he transferred to the 1st Army Non-Commissioned Officer Academy at Fort McCoy as a Reserve Instructor on Active Duty. Accepted into the U.S. Army’s Warrant Officer Flight Training program at the U.S. Army Flight Training Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama in 1993, Krist was appointed an Active Army Warrant Officer and commissioned in 1996. After graduating from the Warrant Officer Flight Training program in 1994 as a UH-1H Iroquois (Huey) Pilot, he became a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot in 1995.

In 2006, Krist graduated from the U.S. Army Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Qualification Course, continuing his aviation career as a C-12 Huron pilot until his retirement as Chief Warrant Officer 4 in December of 2013. His 27 years of active-duty service include multiple state-side and overseas assignments at Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Carson, Colorado; Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia; Camp Stanley, Uijeongbu, South Korea; Seoul Airbase-K-16, Seongnam, South Korea; Balad-Airbase, Iraq; and Kandahar-Airfield, Afghanistan.

Krist holds a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida. He currently resides in Buffalo City with his wife Kimberly, a Veteran who served as a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules Medical Crew Member supporting Operation Desert Storm. She is a VFW Auxiliary Life Member. Krist now spends much of his time camping, fishing, duck hunting with his dog Millie, and enjoying life with his family. He currently works as a civilian fixed-wing Medevac Pilot for a major health organization in Rochester, Minnesota.