On an iphone, I add userA's account as Exchange email going through Webmail.  
in the email app it is constantly looking saying, 'connecting, checking for mail'.  This totally drains the battery.

with userB, I do the same thing, and their account is fine.  It does not always say, 'connecting, checking for mail'.
The amount of email is roughly the same between the 2 users so that's no the problem. 
It is set to Push on the settings, and it needs to be this way.
The same thing happens on a  Blackberry. 

Which leads me to think there's something wrong with userA's exchange account somehow.  I checked for rogue emails in outbox, inbox, drafts, but nothing weird shows up.

any help is appreciated, before I wipe UserA's AD account and create a new one.

I am on Exchange 2003.  This problem in only with UserA.  All other users are fine on their phones with the same settings.