MONTICELLO, Iowa. (Tribune News Service) — Two entrepreneurs with Northeast Iowa ties have developed a product that may soon be in the front lines in the war on crime and terrorism -- saving the lives of those waging that fight.
Blake Waldrop, a former police officer and U.S. Marine, and Burk "Skeet" Miehe of American Pattern & CNC Works in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, have teamed up with Polo Custom Products' manufacturing plant in Monticello to produce a new, more resilient type of body armor for use by law officers and potentially by the U.S. military and its allies.
In ballistics tests, the material has repeatedly held up under gunfire from high-powered sniper rifles and armor piercing bullets.
In fact, Waldrop and Miehe say they've worked through the U.S. government and a licensing agreement with Vista International Operations -- a firm with a global presence and an office on Arsenal Island in Rock Island, Ill. -- to sell some of the armor for use by the nation of Kuwait, a U.S. ally.
They're also marketing the equipment to Iraq and equip Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting Islamic State, or ISIS, terrorists there.
Waldrop, noting the U.S. government has approved aid for Iraq to fight ISIS, said, "We feel extremely confident that part of those tax dollars going to Baghdad will be used for purchasing our armor."
The armor has been patented by Waldrop. He and Miehe are partners in RMA Armaments, based in Rock Island. The armor is made from molds produced by American Pattern in Cedar Falls and manufactured by Polo Custom Products' operation in Monticello. Polo has a long history of various products serving the U.S. military, dating back to the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
"Last year, before we even knew about the U.S. government giving them this money, we'd already been working in that region with our armor, doing ballistics tests for them," Waldrop said of the Iraqis. "So they already fell in love with our product before we even knew about this funding. So this is almost like divine timing, that now that they're going to get the funding, they can use a portion of it to buy our product," through a branch of the U.S. State Department.
Developing the product and setting up the manufacturing operation represents an estimated total investment of $1.8 million by the parties involved.
Waldrop, a Michigan native, came up with the body-armor idea as a result of his service in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2001-05 and his subsequent experience in law enforcement -- a career that took him to Rawlins, Wyo., and eventually to Dysart.
That's where he met Miehe in 2013 through longtime Dysart businessman and real estate agent Dwayne Luze. Knowing Miehe's patriotic leanings -- Miehe had sponsored an entire Honor Flight of U.S. military veterans from the Waterloo airport to Washington, D.C., war memorials -- Luze sent Waldrop to see Miehe about his idea.
"I'd just done an Honor Flight and he (Luze) said, 'Go talk to Skeet,' " Miehe related. "Here's this Marine and I thought, 'Maybe this is something that will be good for everybody.' We might not make our money back right away, but if it saves someone's life, it'll be worth it."
Waldrop and Miehe were put in touch with Polo Industries through retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Yves J. Fontaine of Fontaine Consulting, former commanding general of the U.S. Army Sustainment Command at the Rock Island Arsenal.
Brian Weber, vice president of product development at Polo Custom Products in Monticello, said the Kansas-based company typically does not deal with new business startups. But given the nature of the product, the firm agreed to partner with Waldrop and Miehe in its production.
"We don't work with startups. This particular one caught our attention especially because of what RMA is trying to do," Weber said. "It tied in well with our military and law enforcement products we already make -- but also, the idea of helping our first responders, law enforcement officers and our military. We handled it differently than we normally would handle any other product because of what they're trying to do.
"Our mission statement as a company is to grow, prosper and contribute -- contributing to the communities in which we live," Weber said. "The kind of product we make, in this case, can help do that."
Miehe noted the work has the added benefit of bringing additional business to American Pattern, which does a considerable amount of work with John Deere's Waterloo operations. With Deere slowing down and more than 1,000 of its employees laid off, Miehe said the RMA business helps keep American Pattern employees working.
Waldrop said he's already been able to sell the armor through dealers to law enforcement agencies in several states, in addition to the Kuwait deal. And he's extremely confident of the prospects of marketing the equipment through Vista to Iraq, with the U.S. government's blessing. They've also had contacts with the Saudi Arabian government.
"The buyers we're working with in Iraq are buying them for the (Kurdish) Pashmerga" forces, Waldrop said. "ISIS kind of came up from nowhere," and the Iraqi government and the Kurds need every tool at their disposal.
"They're under-equipped and they're buying all kinds of military equipment, including body armor, to defeat ISIS. It's good for us. We're doing something that's truly unique by working with these people. There's no other American presence up there. It's nice providing a product to defeat this evil."
While the domestic market may take more time with competitive and governmental challenges, "with Middle East we've already jumped through those hoops," with a "dynamite" network of contacts.
"Internationally, because of the network we've built, I'm extremely excited, knowing the stuff we're going to build here is going right into the front lines to fight evil itself. It's a pride issue for us. It's extremely self satisfying. Because in reality the world hasn't seen anything this evil since the Nazis or Stalin."
RMA also is manufacturing lighter-weight armor that can be inserted into backpacks to protect school children -- something Waldrop developed after the Sandy Hook school shootings in Connecticut. "Unfortunately, that's the era we live in," Waldrop said.
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