Carol Stream's Grunt Style aims to help veterans heal after war
Every Friday at 4:30 p.m. sharp, Tim Jensen assembles the troops.
Over a beer, they reflect on their accomplishments of the past week, and occasionally, Jensen will announce a promotion within the ranks.
"It reminds me of every time I got promoted in the Marine Corps," he says. "And it's just like my heart grows two sizes."
Jensen's business card reads "chief operating officer." But he's really considered a first sergeant among his employees.
His workplace is Grunt Style, a Carol Stream clothing company in the midst of a hiring push. But the business is really considered a place where veterans like Jensen can begin to heal after war.
"I tell my family, 'The Tim that you knew before I went to Iraq does not exist,'" Jensen said. "That person's gone."
Jensen landed in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, in September 2004. During a seven-month deployment, his unit logged about 500 combat missions and traveled more than 5,000 miles. They buried 16 friends.
The Romeoville man has been home now nearly 12 years, but struggled for many of them with survivor's guilt.
"Kind of lost my way after getting out," he said. "I didn't have task and purpose."
He used drugs and alcohol and headed toward "the point of total destruction."
The turning point came when he saw a Craigslist ad for a graphic design position at Grunt Style, a business that designs, produces and sells T-shirts and other apparel with military themes ("grunt" is slang for an infantryman).
Jensen had experience in the Chicago comic book industry ("that wasn't paying the bills") and brought along his portfolio during an interview with Daniel Alarik, who founded the business as an Army drill sergeant.
"This is everything I wanted," Jensen thought when he walked through the doors.
He didn't get the job, but on the way home, Alarik called to offer another position folding shirts. Jensen accepted and became the company's fifth employee. He arrived his first day at work an hour early.
"I didn't even ask what the pay was," Jensen said.
In almost four years, Jensen rose through the ranks from a $10-an-hour job to COO. And Grunt Style has managed to grow to a 170-employee company without any financial backers, Jensen said. About 60 percent of the staff are veterans who seem to thrive under the strict standards that Alarik and Jensen come to expect.
They have recreated a military culture with a clear chain of command. Before weekly inspections, you might even see an employee scrubbing dust off a machine with a Q-tip.
"We work better in a chaotic environment because things are always moving," Jensen said of his fellow veterans.
Early on, Grunt Style started a "battle buddy system," pairing up vets on equipment. It's a structure that helps give them a "safe environment" to talk about any lingering effects from combat.
"We want everybody to rise together at the same time," Jensen said.
To meet the demand for its products sold online, Grunt Style should have about 225 employees, or 55 more, by mid-October, Jensen said.
The company now makes 8,000 shirts a day and ships as far as Australia, France and Germany. The clothing is patriotic ("Freedom Eagle" is a hoodie) and provocative ("Ammo Flag" is a shirt).
The fastest-selling item was made at the request of Dallas police. In two weeks, the company sold 24,000 shirts printed with the names of the five Dallas officers killed by a shooter last month. And about $200,000 was raised from a portion of the profits to support their families, Jensen said.
He takes pride in promoting employees and keeps a folder in his desk of the citations he's issued during those Friday company meetings.
In the military, achieving a higher rank is not only proof that you've honed your skills, but that you're ready to lead more lives, Jensen said.
And, perhaps, to be inspired by the friends you left behind.
"I feel that 16 of my friends are always looking down on me," he said. "And I hope that every decision and everything I do, from today to tomorrow to 10 years from now, that I'm making them proud."