With the anniversary of Sept. 11 nearing, the special role of the military and veterans at Mississippi State University is remembered.
MSU has been a historically military-friendly university since its beginning in 1878 when it was established as Mississippi A & M.
In 2010, MSU was named one of the top 20 military and veteran friendly schools by the Military Times Magazine.
The G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans serves as a resource of services and support for Mississippi State active military and veterans.
The center was established in 2006 and has grown since then to gain national recognition in 2008.
Its mission is to provide student support services focused on the special needs and requirements of today’s military veterans, service members, dependent and survivors.
Ken McRae, director, said veteran and military students are different from the average student in their background and their needs.
“Our student veterans and service members will be older than the traditional student and will have experiences that he or she will most likely not want to talk about. They will be very serious about their studies but may or may not have had the educational background of today’s traditional student. Many of our student veterans are first-generation college students. Our student veterans have a lot to offer the traditional student. I urge the traditional student to learn from them,” McRae said.
Lamarius Williams is a graduate student in rehabilitation counseling and a veteran who served in the Marine Corps for eight years beginning in 2002. Williams said the adjustment to college after a structured military life was difficult at first, and his experiences as a student were different from those who were away from home for the first time.  He said the Center for America’s Veterans helped him make the adjustment to college life. 
“I liked the environment. I liked being around people who understood my background in the military,” said Williams. “It was always a safe haven in my opinion for those who weren’t used to being in the civilian world,” he said.
Those in the military also experienced the Sept. 11 attacks differently than civilians. Lt. Col. Robert Reed, commander of AFROTC detachment 425 at MSU, said his dominant emotion after witnessing the plane crashes was anger. He said he was anxious to do something and address the people responsible for the violence.
“The hardest part for us in the military was the fact that all the victims were innocent civilians. Our job is to put our lives on the line for freedom, and these folks just got up and went to work like a normal day,” said Reed.
The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 made the general population more aware of those in the military and inspired many who were children at the time, such as Mauriel Robinson, senior political science major and outgoing wing commander in AFROTC, to join the military as a way to help protect the nation.  Robinson recalled watching the planes crash into the World Trade Center on television when he was in seventh grade.
“I was stunned, pretty much, because I didn’t really understand what was going on completely… Later on, after I began to research and figure out what was going on, get the knowledge about terrorists and understand what they were and what they were trying to do, it did increase my wanting to become a part of the military to serve the country,” he said.
Williams said his decision to enter the military was also influenced by what he witnessed after Sept. 11.
“When I joined the military and saw how many people joined for the sole purpose of fighting for their country … I took from them I am fighting for something that’s great. Our country was attacked and we are fighting for a war of terrorism,” he said. “To fight for your country is one of the greatest things.”
On the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the veterans and military personnel at Mississippi State ask everyone to remember those who lost their lives that day and the military personnel who continue to fight for our freedom.
“I just want us to never forget that day and the sacrifice our veterans and current military members and their families have given freely. Our military is an all-volunteer force,” McRae said.