By Daniel Lapham/Staff writer

One boy’s dream to be a soldier and another’s constant pursuit to be the best have led Calumet’s Zane Nitzel and El Reno’s Keith Daily through the U.S. Military Academy, members of the 965 graduates of the class of 2008.

The two Canadian County men grew up within 15 miles of each other, but never really had much in common until they aimed for West Point.

“I have always wanted to be in the Army,” Nitzel said. “I remember when I was like 6, I would run around with an Army helmet on my head. I knew I didn’t want to enlist so I applied to West Point.”

In contrast, Daily said he never wanted to be in the military, but now he can’t imagine his life any differently. Daily has extended his service commitment from the required five years to eight years.

“When I was a junior at Union City, I went to Boys State,” he said. “I had never really been exposed to the military system. While I was there we marched around and most of the guys in charge were in the military.”

When Daily got back from Boys State, he said he started thinking about what he wanted to be in the future.

“I was a stud in high school. I was good at sports and good at school. I wanted to be with people like me. I knew I could find that at West Point,” Daily said.

Hoping it wasn’t too late, Daily contacted a relative who teaches at West Point. He told

Daily if he had any desire to go to West Point, he should have turned in his application yesterday.

“The application process is grueling and the paperwork is intense,” Daily said. “It was a challenge.”

The challenge is something both Nitzel and Daily took on and conquered, changing them forever.

“I remember when I first got there, I was surprised at how much it wasn’t a bunch of robots walking around,” Daily said. “Even going in I didn’t know if I wanted to be in the Army. I just knew there would be guys there like me. It was a little overwhelming at first because everybody’s the stud. It pushes you to be more.”

Nitzel said his experience was different, but equally as exciting.

“I went to boarding school in Oklahoma City and that prepared me academically for West Point,” Nitzel said. There was one thing he said he missed out on at boarding school.

“Sports, they didn’t have competitive sports at OSM.”

Once at West Point, Nitzel said he played catch-up with athletics and joined the Black Knights skydiving team.

“We competed on the intercollegiate level,” Nitzel said.

Now that college is over, Nitzel and Daily both said they are preparing for the military outside of the academy.

“We are both heading to Fort Sill on July 29,” Nitzel said. “We will do our field artillery training and then I will report to Fort Hood, (Texas).”

After training at Fort Sill, Nitzel said he hopes to get into Army Ranger School.
Daily said he will be stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia. After he completes an eight-year commitment, he said he plans to go back to graduate school.

“I have learned that the military isn’t just made up of guys that can pull a trigger,” Daily said. “There is a lot of technology, development and intelligence behind the military. It is much more than I used to think.”