In his mid-60s, earning a second master’s degree and after a 41-year military career, Keith Prather basically tells retirement to go away.
“I will always be doing something,” said Prather, 64, of Smyrna, Tennessee, chair and volunteer with Tri-Star Veterans Resource Center in Murfreesboro. “I’m thinking about getting a doctorate in health and human performance.”
Prather and nearly 20 Middle Tennessee State University graduating veterans, including two ROTC cadets, and six newly recognized faculty honorees attended the summer Graduating Veterans Stole Ceremony Thursday, Aug. 10, in the Miller Education Center’s second-floor atrium, with Amazon Military the presenting sponsor. Hosted by the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Center, it marked the 26th stole ceremony.
The student-veterans received red stoles — a symbol of their military service — they can wear at summer commencement at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, in Hale Arena inside Murphy Center. More than 40 student-veterans will be graduating.
“I will always be a Blue Raider. It has been an awesome ride,” said Prather, who earned his master’s in social work and retired from the U.S. Army as a chief warrant officer. “I’ve been a representative for the Daniels Center — at Nashville Sounds’ games, Nashville Soccer Club matches and spoke at an MTSU Board of Trustees meeting two years ago.”
Prather’s also vice president of the Student Veterans of America B.R.A.V.O. Chapter.
Offering a challenge
Guest speaker and U.S. Air Force veteran Tony Johnston, an MTSU faculty member about to embark on his 29th year in the School of Agriculture, challenged the stole recipients “to accept your stole as an honor rather than a danger or an obligation because you are a doer among doers and you deserve it.
“Wear (the stole) proudly … and wear it in remembrance of those faculty and staff members who came before us and served in the military, but were not recognized for their service,” added Johnston, who retired in 2018 as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force (active duty, reserve and air national guard). “MTSU did not do this before 2015, and we are only here because so many preceded us in service and gave us the opportunity to be here now.”
‘Such a special day’
David Corlew, the late Charlie Daniels’ manager for 47 years and Journey Home Project cofounder with Daniels, attended and told the audience he “wanted to be here for the center and for you. … This is such a special day. Thank you for serving this great nation and for signing on the dotted line. … You were standing in the gap so all of us could sleep at night.”
HCA Healthcare and Premise Health were among the corporate partners represented.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith M. Huber, MTSU senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives, told those partners that “hiring veterans is not only the right thing to do, but is essential. It makes good business sense. It (their military service) shows the strength of character and (that) they are accountable and responsible.”
University President Sidney A. McPhee, Provost Mark Byrnes, various deans and vice presidents and other faculty and staff joined family members and friends at the ceremony.
The Daniels Center is the largest and most comprehensive veterans center on any Tennessee higher education campus. The 3,200-square-foot center provides both the 1,100 military-connected student population enrolled on campus and military-connected nonstudents a one-stop-shop to meet a variety of academic, career and social needs.
— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
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