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SI0117BY JADE MOLDÉ “THE REASON WHY 2016 WAS PIVOTAL IS BECAUSE WE LAUNCHED A NEW LONG-RANGE SHOOTING PROGRAM.” TOM TAYLOR HAVA Chairman SERVING OUR NATION’S HEROES During HAVA Family Days, attendees receive instruction while operating a variety of platforms. W ith the launch of 2017, Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA) celebrates 10 years of serving veterans. The industry-founded organization has big plans to maintain its support of veterans, active-duty military and their families. According to HAVA Chairman Tom Taylor, last year represented an “im- portant” year for the organization. “We’ve been around for nearly 10 years now and we had our three major Family Days. The reason why 2016 was pivotal is because we launched a new Long-Range Shooting program. It’s been great for the people we serve who have mobility issues. And with the popularity of long-range shooting, it’s something that was important for us,” Taylor said. HAVA staged three Family Day events in 2016: the Fifth Annual HAVI/ ACADEMI Family Day was held in June, the Fourth Annual HAVA/Rockcastle event took place in September and the Ninth HAVA/SAPD (San Antonio Police Dept.) Family Day was hosted in October. Additionally, HAVA organized a number of Range Days throughout the year. “We served around 1,200 of our disabled veterans, active-duty military and their families at the HAVA Family Days. When you roll up all our events, between 400 and 500 volunteers collectively served at our events as well. We’re very, very pleased with the progress we’ve made,” Taylor added. Also in 2016, HAVA introduced a milestone initiative: the Learn To Shoot Again (LTSA) division. This new program provides individual shooter adaptive training for severely disabled military veterans and injured active-duty military that can no longer shoot conventionally due to their injuries. LTSA was organized by former 7th Special Operations Command Sgt. Rick Cicero, himself a double amputee who overcame his injuries and learned to shoot again. “It’s one of the coolest things we’ve done,” Taylor said on the development of LTSA. “We serve all disabilities — whether you’re physically disabled or have PTSD — and we don’t have any criteria that says you have to have a 46 JANUARY 2017 Subscribe to SI DIGITAL www.shootingindustry.comPage 45Page 47

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