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Over the years, the Las Vegas Raiders have become a very strong partner with the military and USAA. Over the last few years, the team has hosted USAA’s Salute to Service NFL Boot Camp at Allegiant Stadium, which allows active-duty military members to participate in NFL Combine drills.
Among the drills are the 40-yard dash, broad jump, three-cone shuttle, receiving gauntlet and the quarterback arm challenge.
“USAA has been partners with the Raiders Since 2020 and the partnership has been simply outstanding,” USAA military affairs representative Eric Johnson told the media. “USAA and the Raiders, we partner to bring 100 service members every year to participate in this NFL-style boot camp. And as you can see from the interaction that’s taking place behind me, they absolutely love it. They get a lot out of it. So it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them, and we hope to continue.”
The service members get to actually run these drills on the field where the Raiders play and it’s also the same field that the Super Bowl was played on this year.
USAA Talks Player Involvement
An important aspect of the Salute to Service event is player involvement. This year, current Raiders Adam Butler, Dalton Wagner and Will Putnam were helping coach the service members through the drills, along with former Raider Leo Gray.
Their involvement is something the USAA believes makes these events truly special.
“Current Raiders players and former Raiders players, they make the event worthwhile because that one-on-one interaction with the current players and some NFL legends … it’s just priceless,” Johnson said.
Adam Butler Discusses His Experience With Military
Butler was able to describe how the players were able to help everybody through the drills.
“We’re just taking service members, really everybody, taking them through different skills and drills that are at the NFL Combine,” Butler said on his role at the event.” Now, I didn’t get to go to the NFL Combine, but I am very familiar with the things that the Combine entails.”
This was Butler’s first year participating and he believes it gave him a different perspective.
“It was very surprising,” Butler said of how the service members were performing. “Like, you could tell that some of them may have never thrown a football before in their life, which is fine. It just opened my eyes to just how different and unique people are, and how it just opened my eyes to how many different people come from different walks of life, but they’re all here for a common goal, you know. And that’s, that’s what makes a true team. And it just gives me a broader perspective on what it means to be a team.”
While the military wasn’t an option for Butler, his father served for a long time. He opened up about why it’s important for him to support veterans and active duty service members.
“My dad served for years, he gave a lot of his life to this country and our military,” Butler told Heavy Sports. “So when things like this come up, I just have to show up and show my support for military service members, the vets who served, the vets who died and fought for this country. I just got to be out here.”
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