Voices of Veterans: Lieutenant Clint Bruce Shares His Story of Service in the U.S. Navy During the Iraq/Afghanistan War

AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans Oral History Program. This week, we highlight the service of Lieutenant (LT) Clint Bruce who served in the United States Navy during the Iraq/Afghanistan war.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bruce said his family eventually moved to Texas, where he played high school football in Garland, suiting up for South Garland High School. Following high school, he joined the Naval Academy where he also played football.

"My father served in Vietnam. He was drafted. I think he would've served anyway, but he was drafted. And then my uncle Bobby, my momma's brother, served. And my Uncle JC served in the Korean War," Bruce said about his family's connection to the military. "We don't have any really career family members, but a lot of my family members served."

Bruce said he wanted to play college football but still went through the recruitment process in the Navy. He recalled that experience and called it "interesting."

"I told the guy recruiting me that I wanted to be a Navy SEAL, and he goes, ‘Yeah, you just tell them,’ which is not true," Bruce said. "I mean, that dude lied to me [...] it is infinitely harder than that. But I knew that that was one of the commissioning sources to go into the SEAL teams, and they're the one at the end of the list, because that's where all the work is, and where you get to do a lot of the great things."

To watch LT Clint Bruce's full interview, click the image below:

Are you a Texas Veteran interested in sharing your story of service? Click this link to learn more about recording your Voices of Veterans story.

Bruce called the opportunity to go to the Naval Academy "unique" and to top it off, he was part of a really "neat turn around" for the football team. "I started there for four years and I tell people, you start for four years somewhere because you're really really good or the team you just joined is not really really good."

While playing football was fun and winning a bowl game his senior year was memorable, serving his country was why he was there. He said splitting time as an athlete and his other duties was challenging. By his own admission, Bruce said he was "not a particularly smart guy to begin with, just a grinder" adding that being in the Naval Academy didn't come with all of the "distractions and diversions because they have guards keeping you in, so you don't have kind of the college life."

Historically, Bruce is sixth in the record books for tackles during his football career, leading the team in tackles twice in the four years he played. NFL-wise, Bruce said he played for both the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints but ultimately walked away to become a Navy SEAL.

"Yeah man, I was not ready for that," Bruce said about his first day training to become a SEAL. "There's some people that train for it. I just left the NFL training camp, so-I'm this 248-pound guy. And I remember we did rope climbs, and I didn't know how to hook your feet, so I'm just muscling up. Just hauling this big butt up the ropes, and finally, the fourth one, I got to the top of the rope, and I felt all the skin tear away from my palms."

The training was hard, Bruce said, but he never thought about quitting.

"I thought I was going to get dropped because of runs or swims or something like that. There was times where I didn't know if I could make it, just because of the 240-pound guy, 14-mile run times, eight-mile swim times, [...] soft sand, all these other things," he explained. "But it never occurred to me to quit-- It was such a privilege to be there."

Bruce said he was in and working on various training exercises before September 11, 2001 happened. "So back then, pre-9/11, a lot of it was sharpening the blade," he explained about training. "Every exercise is a bit of strategic deterrence [...] you're also working on interoperability. You're also understanding our partner nations. You're also sharpening your skills against the environment. I mean, you're always fighting two things. You're fighting the enemy, and you're fighting the environment that you're in."

All of that work and training was preparing him and his shipmates for war, even though at the time things were quiet. Bruce called it "getting ready for the thing... that most of the world doesn't want to happen, and you don't want it to happen either, but if war does happen, you want to be good at it and you want to be ready for it."

Bruce said he "doesn't like to talk about 9/11" but when asked where he was, he said he was in Guam working out with his best friends when their pagers started going off. "We got back on base, and we saw everything was going on and I called my bride, told her I was going to be gone for a little while."

Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.

Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.

The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.

Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.

To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:

Voices of Veterans

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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.

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