10th HOOAH TN Sponsors
Meet The Board
Todd Connor
Chapter President
Todd Connor served 5 years in the Army and loved being a soldier. He served as a 25Q and was stationed at Fort Campbell. Unfortunately, he was injured and could no longer serve. When Todd originally got discharged, he felt like a huge part of him was destroyed and didn’t have purpose. Todd struggled with life and the obstacles presented to him from deployment. When he returned home, he became another statistic and got a divorce, started drinking, and more. He was fortunate to have a lot of people in my corner one of which is joining the HOOAH team. Todd now is 100% disabled and retired from the military, 5 years after being MED Boarded. He has worked for many companies after getting out and even started his own company searching for that purpose again. He worked for a cable company, moved on to be a subcontractor, worked on Fort Campbell (where he was fired for having a service dog), and finally his career with Faith Technologies. They support him and his service dog working together to live normal lives and understood the difference and help the service dog provided for Todd.
In between all these jobs Todd had many struggles and obstacles to overcome trying to better himself and find his purpose. He was turned away and mocked for having PTSD and many other issues. His disabilities are only getting worse and causing permanent nerve damage throughout his body, fought cancer, and struggled to move past his disabilities. With the help of his retired 1SGT and his family, they pushed him to be the best person Todd could be and helped him understand his value.
Since being out Todd has lost 4 Soldiers from his unit to suicide and 2 more that he had the pleasure of serving with. He finally, somewhere in this mess, decided that he can’t be another statistic and has to survive for them and keep their memories alive. Todd started receiving phone calls about the processes he has gone through to help those transitioning and needing to talk about life. One of which had lost her husband and contacted wounded warrior for help. She was forgotten about by the Military and WWP. Todd began helping those like me and tried to prevent yet another suicide. He finally felt like he had purpose again and serving something greater than himself. He realized that his oath doesn’t stop, he still has purpose and that purpose is to help veterans (all veterans). The bias view needs to end, and we all need to help our brothers and sisters, stop the suicides, help them transition, make them understand they have something amazing to offer and help ALL VETERANS. There is no reason to turn any veteran away and it should not be acceptable to do so.
Todd’s goal is to start a TN, HOOAH chapter. He wants to make a difference in our community and help those who need it. Not for publicity or profit. Its our duty the day we joined, continue to help our brothers and sisters in arms, and all his board members agree with this vision. The WWP did nothing for a veteran’s family and continue to check the box and have become misguided. Todd truly believe in HOOAH’s purpose and mission. There is no excuse for leaving a veteran behind. We all need to carry out this mission and keep our vets and their families alive. No bias view, no selection process, no checking the box for quota, actually make the difference and stand behind our veterans.
Brian Cavins
Vice President
My Name is Brian Lewis Cavins
I served on Active in the Army from August 2010 – May 2017. My MOS was 12 Bravo (Combat Engineer). I was Stationed in Germany for 3 years where I served a 12 month Deployment to Paktika province in Afghanistan. My platoon was in Charge of all RCP (Route Clearance Platoon) in the Province. We successfully found and destroyed over 397 IED’s during our 12 month deployment. After Germany I was Stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky with the 101st Airborne Division.
I am a father of two beautiful Children and married to my my high school sweetheart. My wife and I have been together since we where juniors in Highschool and my Daughter is 6 years old and my son is 4. We have three dogs and 2 cats. I enjoy playing video games with my brothers I served with and my friends and family. MY favorite hobby is fishing and boating during the summer. I enjoy traveling and seeing new places and finding those hidden gems to vacation too.
I believe any Veteran program should be non profit due to the amount of my brothers and sisters that have serve this country over the past 20 plus years and the lack of helpful resources we as veterans have. There are so many companys that are out there to help veterans that most programs now have tried to use that to their advantage and line their pockets. We as veterans served our country in the best of ways for little pay, long hours, lost moments with our families, and sacrificed so much our bodies and mind. We are given the bare minimum of options for help and with he overwhelming number of us and little resources every veteran program should be non profit. It is not about taking advantage of the situation to line your pockets; It is about helping the people who gave all of their being, their health, their lives that makes non profits so essential.
Diane Jennings
Treasurer
Diane was born and raised in Stegaurach, Germany for the first 6 years until being relocated to Fort Jackson, SC when her father was relocated stateside. After about 3 year she then moved to Clarksville, TN and has been there since the 3rd grade. She graduated from Middle College at APSU in 2014 before starting life as a young mother. 2016 took her all the way to the north country of Watertown, NY (Fort Drum, NY) for three years before coming back to Clarksville. In NY she started her career with Ford. For three years she worked at Davidson Ford in Watertown as an internet sales manager. Upon moving back to Clarksville she started working at Jenkins and Wynne Ford as a product specialist (Sales person) and she absolutely loved it. While working for Jenkins and Wynne Diane met her fiance who told her about 10th HOOAH and the impact he has made to these veterans within our community. A year later Diane left Ford to open a local small business with her husband as well as join the HOOAH team. Diane is a mother of two boys, and countless animals. Although she never served in the armed forces she has been around the military all of her life, and loves helping where she can, as much as she can. Her dream is to one day open a horse camp for autistic children and veterans.
Laura Lane
Secretary
Laura Lane is a born military supporter. With a grandfather who served in the Marine Corps, a cousin who fought in the VietNam War, and ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, she was raised to show respect and honor to all those who serve.
She has served as a volunteer DJ for Hooah! Radio, an online military support radio station, filled the streets of a small town with yellow ribbons and welcome home signs for returning troops, wrote and recorded a song for our troops overseas that was shared with them free of charge, performed at deployment ceremonies, as well as Veteran’s Day celebrations and military funeral services.
Laura has a huge heart for our veterans, and is very passionate about supporting those who served and in her words “Paid the price I’ve never had to pay.”
She currently works as a licensed Realtor in Clarksville, TN actively serving the military and veteran communities with their housing needs. She is also the owner of Pictures By Laura LLC and supports our veterans with her photography business.