U.S. Army chief of public affairs was a Longwood history major

Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty ’92 is chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army, a position he has held since July 2022. He enlisted in the Army in 1987, serving as an infantryman with the 8th Infantry Division before attending Longwood, where he majored in history and was commissioned as a field artillery officer.

In his decadeslong military career, he deployed twice to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as deploying to Kabul, Afghanistan, for Operation Enduring Freedom as the legislative advisor to the commander, International Security Assistance Force/U.S. Forces-Afghanistan.