Retired Lt. Gen. Keith M. Huber, MTSU’s senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives, spoke during Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery events at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 24, to commemorate Memorial Day.

A retired U.S. Army three-star general, Huber spent nearly 40 years in the military serving his country and now lives in Franklin, Tennessee.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, MTSU’s senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives, left, and Gib Backlund, chief of operations for the National Park Service’s Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery in Murfreesboro, deliver a wreath during ceremonies at the cemetery on Sunday, May 24. (MTSU Photo)

“I’m here today to speak on behalf of all our armed forces: past, present and those in the future. … And to pay remembrance and respect to our fallen who have demonstrated the cost of freedom that unfortunately so few comprehend,” said Huber, according to an article in The Daily News Journal.

The Memorial Day program was held at the rostrum in the Stones River National Cemetery.

In remembering the sacrifices of soldiers past and present, the May 24 program included patriotic music, a wreath-laying ceremony and the reading of names of veterans who have died since Memorial Day 2014.

Hired by the university in January, Huber is helping bridge the gap between the MTSU student veterans population — around 1,000 including family members — and the campus community.

He has met with MTSU student veterans in campus town hall meetings to gauge their needs and earlier this spring toured the Pat Tillman Veterans Center at Arizona State University to research the veterans services offered there.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee recently announced that the university plans to create a 2,600-square-foot center specifically for student veterans. The construction in Keathley University Center will coincide with a suite of new student services.

To assist veterans and their families in a variety of ways, MTSU unveiled the state’s first VetSuccess on Campus program in March 2012. The VetSuccess office will move to the new center. Learn more about MTSU’s student veterans’ services at www.mtsu.edu/military.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

Civil War reenactors parade past retired Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, MTSU’s senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives, during ceremonies Sunday, May 24, at Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery in Murfreesboro. (MTSU Photo)