BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN LIEUTENANT GENERAL DENNIS L. VIA : A FIRST CLASS UNITED STATES MILITARY OFFICER : GOES INTO THE "HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

Lieutenant General Dennis L. Via serves as the Director, Command, Control, Communications,  & Computer Systems Directorate (J6), The Joint Staff.  He is the principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on all C4 systems matters within the Department of Defense.
General Via is a native of Martinsville, Virginia. He attended Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, where he graduated in May 1980 as a Distinguished Military Graduate, and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps.  He holds a Master's Degree from Boston University. General Via is a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the United States Army War College.
General Via began his career with the 35th Signal Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Principal assignments include Commanding General, CECOM Life Cycle Management Command  and Fort Monmouth, NJ.; Commanding General, 5th Signal Command, and U.S. Army Europe & Seventh Army (USAREUR) Chief Information Officer/Assistant Chief of Staff, G6 (CIO/G6); Director, Global Operations, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and Deputy Commander, Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (USSTRATCOM); Commander, 3rd Signal Brigade and III Corps Assistant Chief of Staff, G6; Commander, 82nd Signal Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division); and Division Chief, Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Army G8, Headquarters, Department of the Army.
Military awards and decorations include two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, two awards of the Legion of Merit, two awards of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and five awards of the Meritorious Service Medal. General Via is also authorized to wear the Joint Staff Identification Badge, the Army Staff Identification Badge, and the Master Parachutist Badge.
The General and his wife, the former Linda A. Brown, have two sons, Brian 17 and  Bradley 12.