His parents were Georg Jürgen von Kleist (17 July 1674 – 30 May 1743) (House Raddatz) and Maria Katharina (née von Kleist) (4 June 1676 – 26 March 1754). His maternal uncle Henning Alexander von Kleist took him in 24 February 1721 as a cadet into his infantry regiment, then called the Old Anhalt regiment. Because his uncle was released from military service in the same year, he entered the military academy in Berlin in November 1721. He was released on 6 September 1724, and was a cadet in the Regiment Glasenapp. On 24 January 1726, he was commissioned by King Frederick William I as "Freikorporal" (volunteer) in his "King Regiment" in Potsdam. In 1730 he was an ensign in the regiment and by 1735 second lieutenant. With the reign of II Friedrich the Great, he was the most senior first lieutenant; when the third battalion was added to the regiment, on 24 May 1741, he was promoted to Staff Captain. As such, he also fought in the First Silesian War. On 30 March 1743 he got his company in "Regiment Gröben zu Fuss". In the Second Silesian War, in 1744, he served during the Siege of Prague, and at the battles of Habelschwerdt and Catholic–Hennersdorf and the battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor.