He was selected for the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP) and studied at the University of Texas at Austin where he received a dual degree in Ancient History and Classic Civilization in 1999.

Rushing was assigned to United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in Doha, Qatar, during Operation Iraqi Freedom where he served as a spokesperson to General Tommy Franks.

Unbeknownst to him, an independent film, Control Room, captured his efforts to communicate the American message on Al Jazeera Arabic.

[3] After the Pentagon ordered him not to comment on the film,[4] he left the Marine Corps after 14 years of active duty service in October 2004 and later helped start Al Jazeera English in 2005.

[9] Rushing's book, Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World,[10] was published by Palgrave-MacMillan in 2007.