Bruning is the coauthor of Outlaw Platoon (with Sean Parnell) and House to House (with David Bellavia), both critically acclaimed books. He produced dispatches from the field when attached with an infantry unit in post-Katrina New Orleans, and for an article he wrote while embedded with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade's TF-Brawler in Afghanistan, he received the renowned Thomas Jefferson Prize for Journalism from the Department of Defense. He is a resident of Oregon.