CAP wrapped up in partnership with Vanguard

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This new wrapped Civil Air Patrol van, driven by South Dakota Wing Commander Col. Mike Beason, increases public awareness of the all-volunteer organization. The wrap was paid for, in part, through royalties from members’ purchases of uniforms and other CAP merchandise from Vanguard.


Janet Adams
Contributing Writer

Ever wondered how the crisp, colorful advertising seen on race cars, vans and trucks is applied?

South Dakota Commander Col. Mike Beason knew how it was done, but he never imagined he would be wrapped up in a project that would give his squadron mega-recognition impact!

The phrase “it’s a wrap” now holds a whole new meaning for Beason. Instead of referring to the completion of a project, this wrap meant a new “look” for a recently acquired Civil Air Patrol van. According to Beason, who was assigned the van, “We were authorized to ‘decorate’ it with one of the new advertising wraps designed by CAP National Headquarters,” said Beason. “I will be using the van in my travels across the state (South Dakota), so it will provide countless hours of free advertising for CAP.”

Commenting on the wrap’s design, Beason added, “In addition to the standard CAP logos and Web site listings, two different CAP aircraft are depicted on the sides of the van. South Dakota Wing was particularly pleased to see that one of the aircraft used is a Cessna 182 assigned to South Dakota.”

He added that the wing now plans to wrap all new vans as they are acquired.

And just where, in these tight economic times, did the money to provide the South Dakota van wrap come from? Vanguard, supplier of CAP uniforms, embroidered patches, insignia and memorabilia, returns a percentage of those sales to CAP for use in projects that will be of benefit to various CAP training facilities. These royalties are combined with matching CAP monies to fully fund the projects.

For example, in 2007, Vanguard donations helped build a rappelling tower, install shower rooms and contributed to the purchase of a four-wheel-drive Bobcat at CAP’s Col. Phillip Neuweiler Ranger Training Facility at Hawk Mountain, Pa. (see Civil Air Patrol Volunteer, January-February 2008).

If you were at CAP’s annual national conference in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this year, or at a regional conference, you may have visited one of their attractive display booths. Vanguard actively supports these meetings in addition to being a one-stop-shop for CAP uniforms and related merchandise through its Web site, www.vanguardmil.com, and its catalogs.

According to Vanguard’s director, John McClain, who was instrumental in arranging the royalty agreement between Vanguard and CAP, new software has made it easy to track orders and, as a result, order fulfillment has improved. “Most in-stock orders take five days from request to recipient’s doorstep, depending on the type of shipping service requested – FedEx, UPS or post office,” he said. “Of course, as might be expected, special order items requiring embroidery or engraving take longer to fulfill. Incidentally,” McClain added, “Vanguard can put the CAP logo on almost any clothing item in the catalog. Ditto for squadron names and symbols.”

Are Vanguard items popular? These numbers indicate they are: 1,400 Web site orders received in August of this year, and 1,900 orders shipped during the same month.

Have you placed your order yet? Check out Vanguard’s latest lines at www.vanguardmil.com. If you prefer, you can place an order by phone, toll free, at 1-800-221-1264, or by fax, 757-857-0222. By doing so, you’ll be doing two good things at once – showing your pride in being a member of CAP and helping fund an important training facility project.

Now that’s a wrap!