Husband. Father. Family first.
Everything I do starts here, with them.
A life built on service.
He is a retired Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper, Army veteran, public speaker, storyteller, husband, father, and the voice behind the #HelpMore movement. His life and message are built around service, connection, kindness, public safety, personal growth, and the belief that every person has a purpose, a path, and a place in this world.
But before the uniform, the badge, the microphone, and the stages, before people knew him as Trooper Ben, there was a young person trying to find his place in the world. A kid who did not always feel smart, did not always feel seen, and did not always feel like he belonged. He grew up with an IEP, spent time in special education classrooms, and knew what it felt like to be behind, confused, picked on, and overlooked.
He knew what it felt like to walk through a hallway and hope nobody noticed him, while also quietly hoping someone would. That is a hard place to live. Wanting to disappear and wanting to matter at the same time.
Retired now after 26 years with the Kansas Highway Patrol, he spends his time speaking, writing, and building the Trooper Ben #HelpMore Foundation, using the scars, the lessons, the roads he has walked, and the belief that no person should move through life thinking they do not matter.
And yes, Trooper Ben is his legal name. In March 2023, he walked into a courthouse and made it official. It was not just a name. It was a story. Years of service, trust built with communities, children waving from school buses, families reaching out in hard moments, and a reminder of the road behind him and the road still ahead.
"The hardest parts of my story turned out to be the most useful ones."
Trooper Ben
His life did not begin with confidence or applause. It began with struggle.
For a long time, Trooper Ben carried the weight of doubt, awkwardness, and the fear of not being enough. The pain of being made to feel small by others became part of his story. And maybe that is exactly why his story connects with so many people today, because most people know what it feels like to wonder if they are enough. Most people know what it feels like to smile on the outside while carrying something hard on the inside.
But his life is also proof that struggle is not the end of the story. Along the way, teachers, coaches, family members, military leaders, and mentors saw something in him before he could fully see it in himself. They gave him direction when he felt lost. They helped him understand that a difficult beginning does not mean a person is destined for a difficult ending.
"One person caring at the right time can change the direction of a life."
Trooper Ben
After high school, Trooper Ben joined the United States Army. That decision changed the direction of his life. The Army gave him structure, discipline, purpose, and a deeper understanding of service. It taught him how to stand up, step forward, work as part of a team, and keep going when life was hard.
But it did not erase where he came from. It did not erase the kid who struggled, the classrooms, the hurt, or the feeling of being awkward and out of place. Instead, it gave him a new way to carry it, and eventually, a way to use it.
What 26 Years Looks Like
Law Enforcement: 26 years with Kansas Highway Patrol
Public Information Officer
Child Passenger Safety Educator
Traffic Safety Education Specialist
Social Media Communication and Strategy
Public Speaking and Community Engagement
Every one of those roles gave him a different lens. Together they gave him something most speakers don't have: a career spent in the middle of real life, with real people, in real moments. Public safety was never just about enforcement. It was about trust, connection, and being present in someone's hardest moment.
26
Years on the job.
He has responded to crashes that changed families forever. He has stood at the side of the road at 2am and had conversations that still stay with him. Through all of it, he learned something important: people are not always what they show on the outside. Behind anger, there may be pain. Behind silence, there may be fear. Behind mistakes, there may be a story.
Every person on the side of the road, every student in the back of the room, every parent trying to hold it together, they all want to know one thing.
Do I matter?
Trooper Ben's answer is yes.
He is not done yet. Not even close.
Travel.
To show up in new rooms, new cities, new communities and find the same shared humanity in all of them.
Connect.
Past the labels, past the noise, past the walls people build around themselves and around each other.
Move people.
In emotional, meaningful ways. To give them something real enough that it stays with them after he walks away.
We live in a divided world. The moment we catch a hint of where someone stands politically, we start building distance. We make assumptions. We close doors. We decide they are not our kind of people. We stop listening before we ever really heard them.
Trooper Ben does not want to live that way. When he stands in front of an audience, he does not care who they voted for. He wants to connect with them as human beings, to reach past the labels and the noise, to build bridges instead of burning them.
He wants people to leave feeling like they have more value than they thought they had. More direction. More hope. More belief that their life can still become something good.
"I am not trying to become a safer version of me. I am not trying to hide the emotional parts of me that once made me feel different. If anything, I am leaning into them more."
Trooper Ben
Lately, he has been spending many of his mornings at a retirement center, sitting with people in the final chapter of their lives. Hearing their stories. Hearing their regrets. Hearing the way they look back over decades and try to make sense of what stays with them and what does not.
Being in that space has affected him. It reinforces something almost every day: he still has work to do. And that awareness does not discourage him. It motivates him. It pushes him. It reminds him that today still counts.
The people behind the trooper.
Behind everything Trooper Ben does is his family. His wife and their kids are the reason he keeps showing up, keeps serving, and keeps pushing forward.
He talks a lot about kindness, connection, and helping people. This is where he learned most of it.
What guides the man behind the badge.
One Firm Belief
"Love thy neighbor."
It is simple. It is hard. And it is the one belief Trooper Ben has carried with him through every uniform, every conversation, and every interaction, especially the difficult ones.
James 3:8
"But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unholy evil, full of deadly poison."
A scripture that has kept him honest, a reminder to be mindful of the words he chooses, especially when the moment makes it tempting not to be.
Reach back. Lift up. Tell the truth. Help more.
A kid who struggled became a soldier.
A soldier became a Trooper.
A Trooper became a speaker.
A speaker became a storyteller.
The young person who once wondered if he belonged now stands in front of others and reminds them they do. His story is not about having an easy life. It is about making it through. It is about growing through pain, finding purpose in the places that once hurt, and taking the parts of life that made you feel small and using them to help someone else feel seen.
"Your story is not finished. There is still purpose. There is still a path. There is still a place. And there is still time to go and grow forward."
Trooper Ben
"The most difficult thing in life is being your true self, in a world wanting otherwise."
Trooper Ben