A veteran honoring veterans

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shawn Rhodes
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  When Curtis McCrae heard his military friendly-employer GEICO was looking for someone to organize a Veteran's Day ceremony, he thought "Why not me?" After all, when McCrae isn't working as a sales supervisor for GEICO, he is a citizen-warrior for his nation.

"GEICO in Lakeland, Florida has a staff of over 1,800 in our office," McCrae said. When he is not working for GEICO, Staff Sgt. Curtis McCrae is a non-commissioned officer of plans and scheduling with the 927th Military Operations Flight at MacDill Air Force Base. "GEICO has a long history of supporting the military."

A company that supports the military and is staffed by veterans? It was a match made in heaven.

"I'm a member of the diversity committee. For the past ten years GEICO held an annual Veterans Day celebration to recognize our hundreds of veterans from the Lakeland office," McCrae said. "During the week of veterans day, we posted the profile and biography of several veterans for folks to read. We also have a veterans' wall we update with a plaque displaying the name and service branch of each veteran."

On Monday, November 12, 2012, McCrae had the opportunity to honor veterans like himself. The company flew out retired Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Patterson from their home office in Maryland.

"He delivered an inspiring speech on what being a veteran means to him," McCrae said
After the speech, McCrae and the Veteran's Day committee presented awards to Lakeland High for performing at the ceremony, the guest speaker, and the local Veteran's Affairs clinic.

"The Veteran's Affairs clinic brought their mobile hospital bus to build awareness and let veterans know what benefits were available to them," McCrae said.

At GEICO, a diversity committee is in charge of organizing the Veteran's Day ceremony. Leading that committee was Stephan Chery, a sales supervisor at GEICO.

"Honoring veterans for their service is extremely important to our company," said Chery. "In my company, we are instructed to go above and beyond for our veterans. This was the least we could do."

McCrae was able to greet one of his fellow reservists during the ceremony when Senior Master Sgt. Donald Cantrell stepped on the stage. Cantrell is the lead recruiter for the 927th Air Refueling Wing, which McCrae belongs to.

"We presented Cantrell with an award to show our appreciation and generosity that helped make our event a success," McCrae said.