Former Staff Bio: Ker Betterman

Submitted By: Ker Khris
If you date back all historic events in your life, you tend to forget things or temporarily misplace them in your head. All occurrences of life, on a long enough time line will become nothing, so here’s my life- closing in on nothing.

I started CyberArmy back in February of 2000. Myself and ShadowsFell worked at the same place,
so we found it nearly around the same time. At first, I really had no clue what CyberArmy was
about…it just looked cool…and gave me something to do whilst at work. The first few challenges I
encountered, were simple enough…I got through to Major in a matter of 2 days. When I was a Lieutenant, however, I joined Ready Response, after speaking with Wang. I really have no idea what I did for RR, I was rather clueless. I was in ready response for a short while, maybe 2 months, when I encountered the most knowledgeable person I’ve yet to come across when it comes to Windows. LtKer kAzuNGu, showed me some things I had never dreamt about. It intrigued me, so I went to work with him, in the University, Windows Research and Development, Tutorial section. I grew to know kAzuNGu very well over time, and we became good friends. We even met up on one portion
of my leave to hang out, had a blast. I’ve digressed, so I’ll get on with the story. I worked with kAzuNGu for about 9 months before he had some ill-timed events happen in his life, where he was going to be absent for a good amount of time. He wanted Me to replace him, and a few days later, I’m in charge of Research and Development. At first it was a bit overwhelming, having so many people who were looking to me for the answers, people that wanted me to tell them what they should do. It took but a moment for my instinctual training in the Marine Corps to kick in, leadership traits that are valid
in any aspect of leadership. I didn’t demand a thing from people who are working for me, I didn’t talk down to them, or threaten consequences; conversely, I rewarded them and verbally congratulated them on things they did well. I’ve seen many failed leaders, 99% of them failed because they
expected their subordinates to follow them, and respect them, without having the wisdom to know that respect is earned, not granted. If you treat them well, they will respect your authority in decision making.

At this point in my CyberArmy career, I came to a fork in the road. Here I was, heading off Research & development, but I wasn’t truly happy. I was only happy when I was teaching. I went to (then Kernel) General SHEPHERD, and spoke to him about how I felt. I was about to leave the University, to pursue other online teachings. This is when he offered me my current position, Class Delivery. I thought it was a great idea, and I was eager to start. We had our first class, IIS 5.0: Installation, Configuration, and Administration, and it was a success. A few weeks later however, CyberArmy itself was in a plummet, the hosting issues became more focused, and CyberArmy was constantly a 404 page. Now, not to go back too far in the past, but CA had money problems shortly before this, and I donated over $200 to help with hosting. I’m not sure what happened with the money, but I gave it up anyway. CyberArmy to me, was a place that went from time-occupation, to a community of people that many of which I grew to know and respect. Moving along, shortly after this dilemma, CyberArmy went down. It was down for so long, I wasn’t sure it would be coming back. The temporary site was put up, and we were all told little white lies, “the site will be up in 2 weeks”…2 weeks later, no dice. I grew frustrated, but didn’t give up hope. The university was still in tact, after all. Around this time, I was promoted to Kernel from brigade work. I just missed the place I had for so long been frequenting. Finally, September of 2002, CyberArmy makes it’s appearance once again. Vastly improved, yet still in heavy construction. Sadly, for me, it is too late. I will not be around when CyberArmy completes its rebuilding stage, I am leaving for Japan. When I leave, the only thing I can leave on the minds of CyberArmy’s members is, stay together. The only thing that can keep a community such as this together is cohesion. Stop fighting
amongst yourselves, and work together. I’m sure I’ll return here someday, but for now, I bid thee farewell, CyberArmy.

Kernel BetterMan
CyberArmy University
Commanding Officer, Class Delivery

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