Retired four-star Army Gen. Dennis L. Via, a distinguished Henry County native, recently visited Laurel Park and Fieldale-Collinsville middle schools, as well as Bassett and Magna Vista high schools, to share insights from his military career.
A graduate of George Washington Carver High School, Via’s journey began in Henry County, where his father, Henry Via, worked as a house painter and small contractor, and his mother, Margaret Via, was a homemaker. While working in a local textile mill, Via initially planned to become a building contractor. His path changed when a high school masonry teacher encouraged him to attend Virginia State University, a historically Black institution in Petersburg, Virginia.
During his sophomore year, Via joined Army ROTC, graduating in 1980 as a distinguished cadet with an officer’s commission. He began his military career as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving as a platoon leader at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Over the years, Via rose through the ranks, commanding the 3rd Signal Brigade and serving in key staff roles across the United States, Europe, and Southwest Asia. He earned a master’s degree in management from Boston University and graduated from both the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.
Via became a respected military educator, contributing articles to several Army publications, and in 1999, authored a strategic report for the U.S. War College titled “The Division G6: Strategic Signal Leadership for Information Superiority in the Army After Next.”
In 2002, Via relinquished command of the 3rd Signal Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas, to take a role in Washington, D.C. His most notable assignment came a decade later, when he was appointed the 18th Commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. In this position, he led a workforce of more than 140,000 personnel with a $50 billion budget and established the Joint Task Force Global, the U.S. cybersecurity defense organization under U.S. Strategic Command. Nominated by President Barack Obama, Via became a four-star general in 2012, only the second Signal Corps officer and the second graduate of Virginia State’s ROTC program to achieve this rank.
A member of the Council of Foreign Relations and fraternities Sigma Pi Phi and Kappa Alpha Psi, Via retired in 2016 after 36 years of service.
