Veteran Establishes Military-Style Apparel Company with Help from VA Accelerator’s Business Plan Curriculum

Noah Currier, retired Corporal of the U.S. Marines, has been generating funding to help injured Veterans attend high-level physical therapy and adaptive sporting events with his newly launched apparel company, which has grown in part from a business plan he created using VA Accelerator courses online.

The Illinois-based online company—named Oscar Mike after a military phrase Currier encountered in the Marine Corp that means “on the move”—features 100 percent American-made apparel, and is veteran owned and operated.

“I feel like as we grow and as the support pours in – as a brand and as a company – the fact that we’re 100 percent American-made is a huge deal,” notes Currier about the brand objective. Though Oscar Mike is still in the startup phase, the idea has been Noah’s for over five years.

When Currier and a fellow Marine were in the San Diego VA, they wanted to graduate from their sponsored physical therapy program into a more intensive one but lacked funding. To remedy this issue, they fund-raised in their hometowns by selling t-shirts with their personal motto, “He who sheds blood with me shall forever be my brother.”

Ultimately, this fundraising effort helped the Marines gain enough funding to partake in the intensive physical therapy program for six months each. They decided that selling military-styled apparel could raise money to help other veterans besides themselves get on the move, by allowing them to afford intensive physical therapy or participate in adaptive sporting events. Thus, the idea of Oscar Mike was born and is now slowly evolving into a full-fledged business.

“We are just now moving everything into our first actual building out of our garage at home,” Currier says about his business’s progress. “It’s exciting to be going to that next level…to get funding, find a location, and justify getting a bank loan.”

Unfortunately, like all businesses, Oscar Mike first needed a business plan with which to obtain this loan. It was at this time that Currier took courses online at vaaccelerator.com through the VA Accelerator program.

“It [the business plan] can make an enormous difference in trying to gain funding or just to run your business.” Currier said, finding the courses useful. “Sometimes when you think you thought of everything and you have a rough draft or a plan in your mind or on paper, it’s great to have a company like eAdvantage to help you to fill in those things that you were really missing.”

Now that the business plan has been written and Oscar Mike is moving into a new stage of growth, Currier maintains a positive outlook for the future.

“I see it [Oscar Mike] growing exponentially and I actually think that we can be a leader in something, even though we are a very small company right now.”

He prides his company in its mission of American growth and veteran success, and he believes that these strong, patriotic values are going to prove hugely advantageous for Oscar Mike’s brand.

“Everything is being shipped overseas right now, whether it’s manufacturing or other jobs. I think that in the future, companies will want to come back and when that time comes the ones that left the U.S. are going to be behind those who stayed here from the beginning.”

You can browse and purchase Oscar Mike apparel online at www.OscarMike.org