John A. Brieden III (born 1955) is an American politician and businessman who served as the National Commander of

The American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, and these are in turn made up of l ...

from 2003 to 2004.

Early life and education

Brieden was born in 1955 and educated at the

Calallen High School Calallen High School is a public high school serving grades 9–12. The school is located in the Calallen Independent School District in northwest Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. Background Calallen's name comes from Calvin Joseph (Cal) ...

in Corpus Christi,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. After graduating from high school, he moved to College Station to attend the

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

where he roomed with future

Texas Governor The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...

Rick Perry. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

for close to five years on active duty, leaving the service with the rank of Captain. Brieden later moved to Brenham, Texas where he opened a State Farm Insurance office.

The American Legion

On August 28, 2003, Brieden was elected National Commander of The American Legion. As such, he directed the nation's largest wartime

veterans' organization A veterans' organization, also known as an en-GB, ex-service organisation, label=none, is an organization composed of persons who served in a country's armed forces, especially those who served in the armed forces during a period of war. The orga ...

, representing the interests of 2.8 million U.S.

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

. During his term of office, he

lobbied In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

for

veterans' benefits The US Department of Veterans Affairs provides a wide variety of benefits, e.g., educational assistance (GI Bill), healthcare, assisted living, home loans, insurance, and burial and memorial services, for retired or separated United States armed ...

and continued support for POW/MIA programs.

Political career

Long involved in Republican party politics, Brieden in 2010 decided to run for Judge of Washington County, Texas. He would go on to defeat his opponent, Joel Romo, in the March 2010 Republican primary with 3,337 votes (56.1%) to 2,608 votes (43.9%). He then won the general election over Democrat John Muegge in the November with 6,895 (65.7%) votes to 3,598 (34.3%). Brieden was re-elected without opposition in 2014 and retired in 2018.

Military awards

Brieden's decorations include the following:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brieden, John A. 1955 births 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American politicians Calallen High School alumni County judges in Texas Insurance agents Living people National Commanders of the American Legion People from Freer, Texas Recipients of the Soldier's Medal Texas A&M University alumni Texas Republicans United States Army officers United States Army Rangers Military personnel from Texas