I was born at Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe, MI. and named after William Shatner of all people. I was born #5 of 8 children to Rosemary and Charles Bruck. Most people in the area knew my father as the “Tree Trimmer” or “Uncle Chuck”. After graduating from Monroe High, I joined the Army as an Intelligence Analyst and trained in Fort Knox, KY and Fort Huachucha, AZ. After moving back to MI after marrying Natalie, I was accepted into the American Line Builders Apprentice Training program and after 3 ½ years became a journeyman lineman with IBEW #17 in Detroit.  I also joined the Army Reserves as an Engineer in the 983rd EN BTN in Monclova, OH.

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     All was good when we moved to Erie with our two little boys, and I went to Egypt for Operation Bright Star in September of 2001, however everything changed that dreadful day on Sept 11th, 2001. It was not a question of “if” I would be deployed to war, it was only a question of “when”? That day came in early 2003, when with five days’ notice I was gone for almost a year and a half. I served my country in Iraq while Natalie served at home. While in combat I was awarded the Combat Action Badge and many medals including 4 ARCOM’s and 2 AAM’s. This was the biggest test of any marriage and somehow we survived when many others did not. In 2005 I applied to go to Warrant Officer candidate School, and was accepted in 2006 as an Engineer Warrant (120A). However, in 2009 I left for Iraq again, and left Natalie to take care of our now five children, serving as a CW2 and earning a Bronze Star Medal during the deployment.

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     In 2010 I went back to school to get a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia Southern U. In Sep, 2013 I opened Visiting Angels Monroe, an in-home care service provider, but in early 2014 I was once again whisked away overseas. This time though, I was forward deployed to Afghanistan. It was the hardest of all my deployments. Natalie was left to struggle with seven children and I was placed into one of the darkest periods of my life. During this tour I was awarded my 2nd Bronze Star Medal.

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     After returning home, life sped up, in 2015 I became the Board President for the Monroe Aging Consortium, and in 2016 I was elected in a County wide ballot as a Trustee for the Monroe County Community College, and my six year term will end at in Dec of 2022. Also in 2016 I became the President of the Monroe Rotary Club. I have been very active in many Veteran and Community groups over the years of 2015-2020 to include: Disabled American Veterans Post #137 (current Commander), Michigan Veteran Trust Fund Region 9, Flags O’re Veterans, the Community Uplift Program, and many other events and organizations.

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     In 2020 I was once again mobilized and sent overseas to Iraq and Syria as a Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) on a small eight person specialized Engineer team. The missions were diverse and I travelled throughout the entire zone in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. When completed, I was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for my efforts, but honestly Natalie deserves it for the incredible work she has done with our nine children. During this year away, my family was introduced to Jamie Paxton and the newly formed group Little Blessings Veteran and Community Outreach. Now we as a family are very involved in LBVCO and I personally owe so much to this group which uses EGALA equine therapy to assist Veterans and their families.