Note: Tickets to this event are sold out.

Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan who served briefly as director of the CIA, will speak on the U-M campus Friday.

Petraeus will be the keynote speaker for the fifth annual dinner of the Student Veterans of America at U-M. The event, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. in the Michigan Union ballroom.

The dinner is a fundraiser for Team Red, White, and Blue, an organization that helps veterans transition back to civilian life following active duty. It was founded by U-M alumnus Mike Erwin.

In addition to Petraeus, featured speakers for the event include Erwin and Timothy Nellett, a U-M SVA member and Marine veteran.

“We are very pleased to welcome Gen. Petraeus to campus,” said Josh Simister, SVA chapter president, former Marine and College of Engineering senior.  “He is a longtime supporter of Team RWB.”

Team RWB’s stated mission is to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity in local chapters, the Veteran Ambassador Program and the national TRWB Veteran Athletic Camps.

Petraeus is chairman of the KKR Global Institute, a visiting professor of public policy at the City University of New York’s Macaulay Honors College, a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California, a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a member of the advisory boards of several veterans’ organizations.

Petraeus served 37 years in the U.S. military, including as commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as commander of the U.S. Central Command. Following retirement in August 2011, he served for 14 months as director of the CIA.

Ticket information for the dinner and a preceding private reception is available online at svabenefit2014.eventsbot.com. Veterans who need assistance purchasing tickets, should write to [email protected].

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• veterans