Formal Bio

On July 13th 1979, Lieutenant Colonel Bright enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve spending four years as an Infantryman with the 3rd BN, 24th Marines in Nashville, Tennessee. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee in May of 1984. In September of 1984, he earned a Commission via the Platoon Leaders Class program and was promoted to Second Lieutenant.

Initially, he was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron One in Camp Pendleton California while waiting for orders to flight school. One year later Colonel Bright was augmented into the regular Marine Corps and received orders to Pensacola, Florida for flight training. After flight training in Pensacola and Meridian, Mississippi Lieutenant Colonel Bright earned his Wings of Gold in May 1988.

From 1989 until 1993 Colonel Bright served as an F/A-18A Pilot with VMFA-122 serving in Operations, Maintenance, and Logistics. While in VMFA-122 he completed three Western Pacific Deployments from Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, South Carolina. In 1993 he served with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, as a Forward Air Controller. In 1994 he was selected as an Exchange Officer with the Royal Air Force. From 1994-1996 Lieutenant Colonel Bright served as a Leadership and Land Navigation Instructor at The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia. From 1996-1998 he served as a Navy Exchange Officer with VFA-106 in Jacksonville, Florida where he held the billet of Operations Officer. From 1998-2000 he was the Aircraft Maintenance Officer with VMFA-251. During this tour he cruised aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy in the Persian Gulf participating in Operation Southern Watch. From 2000-2001 he served as the Executive Officer of VMFA-115, and in 2002 he was the Future Operations Officer for 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, Japan. Following his staff tour he served as the Commanding Officer of Headquarters Squadron, Marine Aircraft Group 12, and in his last operational tour Colonel Bright commanded VMFA-212 from January 2003 until June 2004 in Iwakuni, Japan. Lieutenant Colonel Bright is a graduate of the 2005 class of the Air War College and served his final tour of active duty as the Senior Marine at the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base.

Colonel Bright has served two combat tours in the Middle East. He has over 3000 flight hours in the F/A-18 and other fighter aircraft. His personal decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal with 1 strike/flight award, the Joint Commendation Medal, five Navy Commendation Medals, one with the Combat Distinguishing Device, and the Aerial Achievement Medal.

Colonel Bright retired from the Marine Corps in June of 2007. He received his CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation and was the Director of Business Development for The Sanders Trust in Birmingham Alabama until 2010.

Beginning in 2010, Colonel Bright founded his own Leadership Coaching Firm, On Target Leading, LLC. Based on Bruce’s strong passion for helping people and businesses succeed, On Target Leading offers leadership coaching, training seminars, teambuilding events and motivational speeches. In 2014, Bright added a Wellness Coaching component to the company in order to further serve his clients.

While working on his businesses, Bright was diligent in his studies and earned his Ph.D. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from Walden University in 2017.

Now Dr. Bright is happily married to Karen, his wife of 25 years. They have three children, Tori (30), Bruce Jr. (22), and Sara June (20) as well as 2 energetic dogs and a 15 lb cat.