10-4 Magazine April 2023

22 10-4 Magazine / April 2023 In the United States the trucking industry is much like farming, which continues from generation to generation, in many cases. Sometimes, the next generation doesn’t immediately follow in the footsteps of the previous. This is the case for Austin Kiser (27) from Rosedale, VA. Austin’s original plan was to continue playing baseball as a pitcher, but life had other plans and threw him some curve balls, which put him on the course to be a trucker. Virginia has deep roots in bluegrass music and the coal mining industry. Coal mining in the area is something most have experienced (or had relatives who did). Although Austin’s family weren’t or aren’t coal miners, their heavy involvement in trucking within the coal industry has led to their trucks being a common sight on the roads in the area. Gary Kiser (Austin’s grandfather), the first generation to get into trucking, started Gary Kiser Trucking, Inc. in 1968 with dump trucks, and then bought his first tractor in 1978. In 1992, his son Greg bought his first truck and started Greg Kiser Trucking, LLC. As the years went on, Papaw Gary (as he is called) bought out Keene Carriers from a friend of his, and he and Greg leased all their trucks to that parent company. The only child of Melissa and Greg Kiser, Austin grew up around trucking, but his passion was something different, without even a thought of trucking. Baseball was that passion, and from the time he was little, he wanted to make a career out of it. Playing through high school, he earned himself a full ride scholarship to play baseball at East Tennessee State University. This was a big deal, considering it is a Division 1 school, that he would be pitching for. However, in the back of his mind, Austin always thought he might get into trucking if he didn’t play baseball past college. They say, “What’s meant to be will always find a way,” and that seemed to be the case, because an injury ended up changing Austin’s direction to where he hadn’t expected. His freshman year in 2014, he hurt his shoulder, which put him out of commission to play. This wasn’t going to allow for him to pitch anymore, so it was decided between Austin and his parents that he would transfer to Emory & Henry College to be closer to home and be a position player, not a pitcher, on their baseball team. Learning to drive truck when he was 18, Austin was taught by his dad, while also working in the shop and moving trucks around. Little did Austin know, but this trucking education would definitely come in handy sooner than he anticipated. College life started to get the better of Austin, and his dad Greg found out about it. Calling Austin, his dad told him, “Pack your stuff – you’re coming home and going to work.” And The Diesel Addict: By Stephanie Haas that “work” wasn’t “gravy” or “because you’re the owner’s son” work, this was “start at the bottom” kind of work! What Austin didn’t immediately understand was that Greg was actually helping him in the long run. Respect is earned, not given, and if the others who worked for Greg were going to respect Austin, he had to work from the bottom up, learning all the ropes along the way, proving that he was all-in, and just as hard of a worker as the rest of them. In early 2021, Greg came across a 379 on one of the Peterbilt sales pages on Facebook, and it sounded almost too good to be true. The ad read that the truck had 260,000 original miles so, out of curiosity, Greg called the owner. After coming to an agreement on the price, Greg told the owner he would send someone up to look at the truck, and if it checked out, he would buy it. And, upon further inspection, the truck checked out! Bringing it back to Virginia, the truck CURVE BALLS