David Hughes McElreath serves as our Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board Vice-Chairman and is a professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Mississippi. A native of Oxford, Mississippi, he comes from a law enforcement family.

He began his law enforcement career in December 1972 when he was appointed a Patrolman for the Oxford, Mississippi Police Department. Over the next five decades, his active law enforcement, corrections, military, and academic career includes time as an Oxford, Mississippi Police Officer, Missouri State Park Ranger, and Deputy Sheriff with Forrest County, Mississippi Sheriff’s Department.

McElreath served over thirty years in the United States Army/Mississippi National Guard, United States Marine Corps, and National Guard of Mississippi, retiring from the National Guard of Mississippi in 2016 after serving as Commanding General of the Mississippi State Guard, which is a component of the Mississippi Military Department with the Mississippi Army National Guard and the Mississippi Air Guard. His military and Department of Defense/Department of State contractor service included tours in Eastern Europe within the former Warsaw Pact Nations with the Partners in Peace initiative as well as deployments into Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.