Brian Bengs is a lifelong independent, veteran, attorney, educator, husband, and father who believes public service should be about serving people, not political parties. Raised in a working-class family, Brian enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school before earning degrees from Iowa State University and the University of Iowa and returning to military service as an Air Force JAG officer. He spent 19 years serving around the world before retiring as a lieutenant colonel and settling with his family in South Dakota, where he taught criminal justice, government, and homeland security at Northern State University.