--- title: "How a colonel rose in the Army from the depths of a cocaine addiction" date: "2026-09-18" modified: "2026-09-18" authors: - name: "Stephen Ruiz" job_title: "Editor, Writer" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/stephen.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/how-a-colonel-rose-in-the-army-from-the-depths-of-a-cocaine-addiction/" categories: - "Army" - "Gulf War" - "History" - "Join the Military" - "Military Life" - "War History" tags: - "Army" - "Desert Storm" - "Military Life" - "National Guard" --- # How a colonel rose in the Army from the depths of a cocaine addiction ![Willette Alston]() *Retired Army Col. Willette Alston poses with her son, William. (Photo courtesy of Willette Alston)* As the elevator doors closed, Willette Alston’s heart broke. In September 1993, Alston handed her 13-month-old son, William, to her father and prepared to enter rehabilitation for a crack cocaine addiction. As they said their goodbyes, the toddler reached out with both arms for his mother and pleaded in his limited vocabulary for them not to go. As she turned her back, Alston cried. So many years later, she still can hear the sounds of her son’s screams through the elevator doors. **Also Read:** [**A Marine Corps veteran once weighed 424 pounds. Now he is completing triathlons**]() “It was devastating to me, and then I realized I am hurting the most important person in my life,” Alston told We Are The Mighty. “I had to come here for treatment and to do what I had to do to get myself together so I would never leave him like that again.” Although initially in denial during rehab, Alston finally admitted she was an addict. Bolstered by once-weekly visits with her son, she made it through treatment and began a remarkable redemption story. She graduated from college, commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. [Army](), and worked at the Pentagon, among other assignments. Alston rose to become a battalion commander for six Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) across the Midwest. That led to the highlight of her military career when she achieved the rank of colonel in 2020. Alston chronicles her struggles and successes in [“From Crack to Colonel: One Woman’s Fight from Rock Bottom to Full Bird Colonel.”]() ### Deployed During Desert Storm ![Operation Desert Storm]() *F-16A, F-15C, and F-15E aircraft fly during Operation Desert Storm. (U.S. Air Force)* Before Alston’s father became a reverend, he served in the [Navy](). He didn’t want any of his four children, all daughters, to follow him into the military. But Willette, the youngest child, was determined to join the Army. She was in college in her home state of South Carolina when a recruiter inquired whether anyone wanted to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Alston stepped up and did well. She joined the National Guard, then [Operation Desert Storm]() happened. The Army was activating her unit. Alston told WATM that she cried herself to sleep on the flight to New York as her unit headed to the Middle East. “I was terrified,” Alston admitted. “You just never got used to the unexpected or the unknown of being deployed, especially in that environment.” Once Alston returned to the United States, she went back to the National Guard and then into the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). Alston never experimented with cocaine while on active duty. In 1991, after deploying to Desert Storm, Alston said she and William’s father were at a party when she noticed drugs were around. He asked Alston whether she wanted to try crack, and she declined. That time. As their relationship progressed, Alston began wondering why it appeared her mate seemingly showed few ill effects from using crack cocaine. She figured she could handle trying it as well, so she did to her everlasting regret. “When I look back on things, I wish that he had loved me enough to say, ‘No, you’re not going to do this. I’m not going to let you try this,’” Alston recalled. “But it was just, like, ‘OK. And it just kind of went from there.’” ### “You Want that First Feeling” https://youtu.be/WWQnF0zJFaA Alston said she never did drugs while she was pregnant with William. Otherwise, her life was a wreck. Her drug abuse started off as a social thing, Alston said, and then it became more regular to the point where she and William’s father were scraping pennies together for a fix. The consequences of her addiction took a physical toll on Alston, whose weight dropped to a skeletal 99 pounds. “You want that first feeling,” Alston said. “That’s why people become addicted. The first time that I smoked crack, it was almost like a euphoric moment. It was a feeling that I had never had before. It wasn’t that I was high out of my mind and didn’t know what was going on. The high was very calming. You look for that high every time, and it doesn’t happen that way.” Alston’s family became so concerned that they staged an intervention. Without her knowledge, they scheduled a drug test for her the following day. While Alston exuded confidence, she knew she was going to flunk because she had been high all weekend. Alston worked her way through the 30-day rehab program and told WATM that she only relapsed once since then. Otherwise, she has been drug free for almost 33 years. “I always tell people that I am an addict, just an inactive one,” Alston said. ### Becoming Col. Alston ![Willette Alston]() *Willette Alston (middle) retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel in 2023. (U.S. Army)* Alston graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina in 1997, the same year that she became an Army officer. Almost a decade later, Alston served as the casualty assistance officer for the 3rd Infantry Division. In that role, she delivered daily casualty reports—including those killed in action. That profoundly impacted Alston’s psyche. Like so many service members, Alston forged ahead and didn’t seek help. She finally sought out mental health services in 2020 because of several factors. Alston was having nightmares. She also was going through a divorce while also dealing with changes involving the COVID-19 pandemic. “Once I take this uniform off, all I’ve got is my family, and I don’t want to take this to my family,” Alston mentioned. “What I do want to take to my family is how they can help me if they see that I’m having a problem. They can’t know that if I don’t know what the symptoms are.” Before Alston left the military, she not only got a proper diagnosis for her [PTSD](). In addition, she celebrated achieving the rank of O-6. When she received the top block on her Officer Evaluation Report, meaning she was “most qualified,” Alston screamed with joy. She was going to be a colonel. “It was a beautiful thing,” she said. When Alston retired from the Army in 2023, she had nothing left to prove. Her journey through the military provided her with several gratifying moments. Most of them came after she sought help for her addiction and stopped using crack cocaine. “\[The thing\] that means the most is that my son looks at me now, and even at 34 years old, he looks at his mom and says, ‘I am so proud of you,’” Alston said. “Through it all, that just makes me… Right now, I’m just getting teared up.” **Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty** **•** [**Why Gen. Stanley McChrystal almost got kicked out of West Point**]() **•** [**A National Guard veteran helped take down the Butler County Trump shooter with a PSA rifle**]() **•** [**A former soldier with a TBI found his purpose in helping other veterans**]() ## Author Stephen Ruiz is an editor and writer at We Are The Mighty. His writing revolves mostly around military history and sports stories, but it can branch into other areas. Stephen has more than 35 years of journalism experience. His career began with stints at The Ledger newspaper in Lakeland, Florida, and The Kansas City Star in Missouri, but most of his time was spent on the copy desk at the Orlando Sentinel. After accepting a buyout from the Sentinel in 2020, Stephen worked at Military.com for 4½ years as a content editor and writer. He joined the We Are The Mighty staff in December 2025. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()