A native of Tennessee, Admiral Prueher attended Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He also holds a master's degree in international affairs from George Washington University. He is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War where he flew as an A-6 Intruder pilot. In the later part of his career, he served as the seventy-third Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. He delivered the "letter of the two sorries" which defused the Hainan Island incident in 2001.