Gus Trent was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he was about eight years old, a neighbor who had horses in the country brought the horses to their neighborhood. He was totally mesmerized by what he saw and decided that one day he was going to be a cowboy and have horses and a ranch of his own.
Growing up was a little rough for him as he struggled in school and often found himself in trouble. He started playing midget league football at the age of 11, which helped improve his behavior, though he still struggled with schoolwork. Part of that struggle was the result of being labeled a troubled kid — and once being told by a teacher he would never amount to anything. Despite his challenges, he has always been determined to succeed.
In his senior year of high school, he was recruited to play football at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. In 1987, he earned a bachelor's degree in Speech Communications and received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army through the ROTC program.
Throughout his time in the Army, he served in the Persian Gulf War and two back-to-back tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He retired in 2016 at the rank of Colonel.