Carson was 1st Platoon Leader, A Company, 1/11 Infantry, 5th Mech Infantry Division during the Vietnam War. He was wounded in operation Dewey Canyon II, discharged and returned home. He received the Purple Heart, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and Combat Infantryman Badge. He graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1974, he received his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. He served in the Louisiana state House from 1976 to 1983 for District 99 in Orleans Parish, first as a Democrat and thereafter as a member of the Republican Party. Carson was the first Vietnam War veteran to serve in the Louisiana legislature. During his legislative tenure, Carson served on the Civil Law, House and Governmental, and Health and Welfare Committees and Veterans and Elderly Sub-committees. Carson authored legislation allowing eyeglass and prescription drug advertising and abolishing milk price fixing. He also authored legislation to require restitution to victims of crime, to provide police with access to juvenile criminal records, and to enact stiff penalties for those engaging in child pornography. After more than six years of legislative tenure, Carson resigned his House seat to become Assistant Secretary in the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources during the administration of Republican Governor David C. Treen. Carson later became an assistant district attorney in St. Tammany Parish, where, as chief of the Civil Division for more than twenty years, he was a legal advisor to St. Tammany Parish government and numerous boards and commissions. In 1985, U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan nominated Carson, to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board for a term which expired on December 3, 1988. In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed him to the board of directors of the National Institute of Building Sciences. Carson belongs to many veterans organizations including American Legion, VFW, DAV, MOPH and VVA and was appointed by Republican Governor Mike Foster to the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs to represent the Military Order of the Purple Heart. In 2007, Governor-elect Bobby Jindal selected Carson to serve as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs. Carson led the department through a major transition period in veterans healthcare, veterans job creation and upgrades to the post-9/11 GI Bill. Carson completed the construction of the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Leesville, Louisiana and successfully secured the long-awaited Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Slidell, Louisiana. Carson also led the department through two hurricanes which made landfall on Louisiana's coast - Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Isaac. Carson served on the Governor's Emergency Response Team as the liaison to Veterans who needed assistance. Carson retired from the state after serving as Secretary for five years. Carson and his wife, Laura, have two children. A son, Christopher Carson, is a 2004 graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, who has served as a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy. A daughter, Rebecca, an architect, is married to Nat Parks. Laura Carson is a retired assistant principal for the St. Tammany Parish public schools. Carson is Methodist. They have two grandchildren, Harper Parks and Bode Parks.
