Reuben Brigety attended the U.S. Naval Academy at the same time fellow Boys Nation alum Hans Pung was at West Point.
After attending American Legion Boys Nation in 1990, both Reuben Brigety II and Hans Pung went on to achieve high academic honors and multiple degrees before moving on to distinguished professional careers.
Included in their journeys were four-year stops at two of the nation’s finest academic institutions: Brigety at the United States Naval Academy and Pung at U.S. Military Academy. Their senior years, both held the top student leadership positions at the schools, with Brigety serving as Midshipman Brigade Commander and Pung as West Point’s First Captain of the Corps of Cadets.
Though they both left campus nearly 30 years ago, the annual Army-Navy Game presented by USAA remains something they both follow closely and look forward to each year.
That The American Legion – which had a tremendous impact on both of them as teenagers – is beginning an associate sponsorship of “America’s Game” this year resonates with both of them.
“I was delighted to hear that The American Legion is now sponsoring the Army-Navy game, which I think reflects on their shared values,” said Pung, who played football for Army and now serves as president of RAND Europe. “I owe The American Legion a great debt; my experiences at both Minnesota Boys State and Boys Nation helped nurture an interest in public service which West Point developed and that I still hold very closely to today working in a public policy leadership role at RAND.”
Brigety has served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa since 2022 and has announced his resignation, effective Jan. 10, 2025, in accordance with standard procedure during a change of presidential administration. He remains thankful for his experience in an American Legion program and also was happy to see the organization become a part of a tradition so important to him.
“I am profoundly grateful to The American Legion for the work they’ve done at Boys Nation and Boys State. They are both great American institutions,” Brigety said. “I learned so much about – frankly, about diplomacy, in a way. Although I’m not sure I would characterize it that in my 17-year-old or 16-year-old self. That continues to resonate.
“The fact The American Legion is a sponsor of the Army-Navy Game is a natural extension of this commitment to service to country. I think it’s fabulous, and I’m grateful to the Legion for helping to support the game. I’m grateful for the work the Legion continues to do, not only in supporting our veterans, but also support of young Americans around the country.”
The importance of the Army-Navy Game is stressed from the first day students step on each respective campus. But for Brigety, the realization came much earlier.
“My first introduction that I can remember to the Naval Academy was actually watching the Army-Navy game as a kid … like 8 or 9 years old,” Brigety said. “Just seeing all the cadets and midshipmen march on, it was like, ‘Wow, I want to be a part of that.’ It was actually one of the things that first led to my really serious interest in going to the Naval Academy.
“Just like at West Point, literally from your first moments as a plebe at the Naval Academy, one of the first things they tell you is ‘Beat Army.’ You see it when you’re running through the halls. You see it when you’re doing push-ups. That is ingrained in you.”
And Pung remembers his last time suiting up for Army: a 22-20 win over their rivals. “The end of the 1994 Army-Navy game was a very bittersweet experience, having the joy of seeing us kick a last-second field goal to win the game but also knowing I would never wear the black and gold of the Army football team ever again,” he said. “My time at West Point, particularly as an Army football player, was so formative in my development as a leader, and I am grateful for those opportunities.”
Pung was on the winning side of three Army-Navy games. But Brigety still remembers Navy’s one win in 1991. “We were 0-10 going into the Army-Navy Game. Hadn’t won a game the whole year, which is demoralizing,” Brigety said. “And we beat Army. And you would have thought that we’d won the Super Bowl. It changed everything.”
Decades later, the game still matters. “It is the only game of the year that guaranteed, no matter where in the world I am, I will watch,” Brigety said. “I don’t feel that way about the Super Bowl. I don’t feel that way about bowl championships. But if I’m halfway around the world … I will find a way to watch the Army-Navy Game, because it remains that meaningful. Not even really, quite frankly, for the outcome of the game. But because it’s another link in the chain.
“It is the continuation of everybody on the field from both academies and everybody that associates themselves not simply from the academies, but in service to the nation, in harm’s way in various ways. To recommit and remember.”
It’s the same for his West Point counterpart.
“For me, the Army-Navy Game exemplifies all that is best about our nation,” Pung said. “Two teams competing against one another with full commitment to victory, while conducting themselves with honor and playing for a greater purpose than themselves. I think the game also provides America a chance to connect with the military and remind ourselves of the service and sacrifices that all members of our armed forces are prepared to give to protect the freedoms that our country provides.”
Brigety feels that is one of the reasons why the game has drawn more than 7 million television viewers for the last 11 years.
“I think because there’s a purity to it. A purity of the truest and best values of America in all kinds of ways,” he said. “One is in this era of big-league college sports and portal transfers, these are athletes that are playing really just for the love of the game and the love of the rivalry.
“Americans are fundamentally an idealist people. The Army-Navy Game captures the best of who we are. And to be able to be reminded of that in one of the quintessential sports of America, American football, is a great tradition. It’s a great honor to be there. It’s an even greater honor to play in it. And I think that’s why it continues to be so special.”
Those who play in the game recognize they are staring across at future teammates. “There is definitely a sense of shared brotherhood among all of the players on the field, which extends beyond the uniform we are wearing or the circumstances of our individual backgrounds,” Pung said. “At West Point, all plebes must memorize this famous saying by Gen. Douglas MacArthur: ‘Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other days, on other fields will bear the fruits of victory.’ Along with their fellow cadets and midshipmen, the players in the Army-Navy game are committed to a lifetime of service to their nation, and that is a strong bond which endures.”
But that extends beyond the players. “For me, one of the more really meaningful developments in the Army-Navy experience the last few years has been these commercials that CBS has been doing in the lead-up to the Army-Navy Game,” Brigety said. “The first one they did probably was 2017. This horse riding across the prairie to deliver a letter to a farm family from like 1923 saying their young man has been admitted to the United States Military Academy. It’s something similar for a young man going off to Annapolis. And how it just basically shows over the generations these young people that are built differently, built from a very early age to answer the nation’s call to service, principally through the profession of arms. That’s kind of the tie that binds, that binds all of us. That certainly binds me in my continued service to the country.”
But it’s not all serious. Brigety fondly looks back on when Navy had a 14-game win streak in the series from 2002-2015. And at the joke it inspired.
“A guy walks into a bar wearing an Army jersey and carrying a cat that is also wearing an Army jersey,” the joke begins. “He says to the bartender, ‘Do you mind if my cat and I watch the Army-Navy Game here at the bar? It’s very important to the cat.’ The bartender says ‘fine’.
“So, the first minute of the game Army scores a field goal. The cat does a backflip, jumps up on its hindquarters, hi-fives everybody in the bar, comes back, sits next to his owner. The bartender is amazed. ‘So, what does the cat do when Army actually wins the game?’ The guy is like, ‘I don’t know. I’ve only had the cat 10 years.’”
The Army-Navy Game airs at 3 p.m. ET Dec. 14 on CBS.
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