Florida Drug-Control Chief and Former Military Leader to Speak in Wakulla on Veterans’ Mental Health

U. S. Army Col. Bruce D. Grant has been involved in battles of one kind or another for most of his life.

Grant has held key military positions as an infantry officer in Europe and Bosnia, and, after retirement from a 27-year military career, he returned to the front in 2005, as a volunteer in Mosul, Iraq, when the fighting was at its worst.

Today Grant has accepted leadership on a familiar stateside battleground as the director of Gov. Charlie Crist’s Office of Drug Control, where he works to defeat two of the U. S. veterans’ cruelest enemies: drug abuse and mental illness.

In this ongoing war, Grant will speak at NAMI Wakulla’s public meeting on Monday, March 22nd, about the challenges of veterans and their families.

The veterans’ battles are significant.

Veterans afflicted with drug abuse and serious psychological distress are in greater numbers than the non-veteran population, according to a 2004 – 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health survey.

The NSDUH report also concluded that young veterans – 18 to 25 years old - were more likely to suffer than veterans older than 50, and veterans making less than $20,000 a year were in the highest risk category.

Before Grant accepted Crist’s appointment in 2009, as director or the Office of Drug Control, he had been chief of Counterdrug Law Enforcement in Gov. Jeb Bush’s administration, as well as chief of staff.

In Mosul, Grant was the deputy team leader of the Provincial Reconstruction Team serving with the 101st Airborne Division.

After his return, Grant was the assistant secretary for the Florida Department of Corrections, in charge of community corrections from 2007 until 2008.

As a resident of Tallahassee, Grant has been an active volunteer as a scout leader and youth baseball coach. He is married and has four children.

NAMI Wakulla, an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will begin its meeting at the Tallahassee Community College Wakulla Center at 6:30p.m.

Everyone is invited.  Admission is free.

This information originally published on March 10, 2010.

Tell them you saw it on Wakulla.com!

Click here to discuss this topic in our Online Discussion Forums.

Per Wakulla.com policy, all reader comments (submitted below) must include a valid first and last name.

Click here to have the Wakulla.com Weekly E-Newsletter delivered directly to your inbox!

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to post a comment.