FLOWOOD, Mississippi — Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a retired Army officer and author known for his work on the psychology of combat and law enforcement performance, will headline the 2026 Shield Summit, a three-day conference on police officer wellness, organizers said.
The event runs June 9-11 at the Northwest Rankin Middle School Performance Arts Building, 5805 Highway 25, and is hosted by the Mississippi National Guard’s Regional Counterdrug Training Academy (RCTA). Grossman will present his eight-hour “Bulletproof Mind” session aimed at preparing officers to manage their responses to high-stress and violent encounters.
Organizers said the conference is billed under the acronym P.O.L.I.C.E. — Police Officer Life Issues and Career Endurance — and emphasizes officer resilience, wellness and career longevity. Programming is structured around a “Sheepdog” framework drawn from Grossman’s book “On Combat,” with topics including mental fortitude, post-traumatic stress, stress management, suicide prevention, career and family balance, and performance optimization.
The Shield Summit is the second annual resilience conference produced by the RCTA. Organizers said they will post a list of additional speakers Monday afternoon. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
