We are so proud of our own Dan Bruins, who will be flown to Washington, D.C. in November to receive the prestigious General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award from the Army.
Dan works as our accounting controller at Renaissance Manufacturing Group in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
The General MacArthur Leadership Award
The award has been presented to officers and warrant officers whose service has been recognized as among the finest in the Army, Reserves and National Guard. The award has been handed out since 1987.
The award is named for General Douglas MacArthur who led troops in World War II and the Korean War and received two Purple Hearts, seven Silver Stars, five Army Distinguished Service Medals, three Distinguished Service Crosses and the Medal of Honor.
It honors company-grade and junior warrant officers who demonstrate MacArthur’s ideals of “Duty, Honor, Country.” The award winners have a proven record of extraordinary performance, leadership and achievement.
“Humbling, grateful, a little surreal,” said Bruins. “The award covers my time as commander, specifically in 2023 and it’s truly a testament to the people, the men and women of the 829th. It’s recognition of their hard work and their talent, they deserve 100% of the credit. “
Dan Bruins’ career in the Army National Guard
Dan Bruins entered the Army in March of 2004. He went to basic combat training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina and then qualified as an Aviation Operations Specialist through advanced training at Fort Rucker in Alabama.
Bruins served for ten years as an enlisted soldier, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was deployed twice and participated in one overseas training mission with the 1-147th Aviation Battalion. In 2005 he took part in Operation Bright Star, which was a multi-nation training exercise based out of Egypt.
Bruins was deployed to Kosovo in 2006-2007 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and he was later deployed to Iraq in 2010-2011 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Upon his commissioning in 2015 through Officer Candidates School, Bruins branched into the Engineer Corps.
He deployed to Afghanistan and Kuwait with the 829th Engineer Vertical Construction Company in 2019-2020. In 2022, that unit was awarded the 2022 Army Award for Maintenance Excellence. Bruins was serving as the unit’s Commander at that time.
He is currently assigned to the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade as the Engineer Operations Officer.
A long list of awards during his career in the Army
Over his accomplished Army career, Bruins has earned a number of awards and medals.
“The most impactful award I’ve ever received, the one that’s most meaningful to me, is one called the Steel De Fleury medal,” said Bruins. “It’s so meaningful because it’s an award for Army engineers from Army engineers.”
Bruins said awards in the military are a bit of a mixed bag in his opinion. “Similar to the civilian workforce, it takes the right kind of leader to recognize and celebrate their team’s accomplishments.”
Dan’s civilian career
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Madison and a Master’s degree in Accountancy from Auburn University. He’s also a certified public accountant in Wisconsin.
He has been with RMG since it was founded in May of 2015. Dan started off as an accounting manager and is now the accounting controller for all three RMG locations.
“RMG has gone above and beyond. They’ve been outstanding since day 1,” said Bruins. Last year RMG received the ESGR award, the Employer Support of the Guard Reserve award. The company was one of the top five companies in the entire state of Wisconsin.
“Whenever I need time off for a training exercise, even if it’s last minute, they don’t hesitate to support that. They do what they can to help and they’re just very thoughtful,” said Bruins.
During his 2019/2020 deployment, his wife was looking at being home along with their 1 year old and 3 year old. “Without asking, without prompting, they got together and talked about potential needs,” said Bruins about RMG. “They decided to pay for snow removal and cutting the grass in the summer. It took such a burden off of my wife. RMG stepped up and took care of that, so that meant a lot.”
Receiving the MacArthur Leadership Award
Dan Bruins is among 27 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Leadership Award.
“The most meaningful thing to me is the respect of the soldier to my left and right. Awards are great, but at the end of the day, that respect from the people that you serve with means so much more,” said Bruins.
Dan will receive his distinguished award at a ceremony at the Pentagon in November. He plans on taking his wife and kids, as well as his mother, to the ceremony.