Our Story
In 1997, a drunk driver changed my life. I was 21 years old and was left a C5-C6 quadriplegic, with limited arm movement and no feeling from the armpits down. Life looked grim.
After four years of depression and feeling sorry for myself, it was time to figure out how to move forward with life's challenges. Sitting around being useless was not going over well.
As a former military reservist, I had some prior skills and knowledge of business, and I wanted to get back into the workforce. But after being in a wheelchair with a disability and searching for work, it became evident that people turned the other way. Three years later, a friend referred me to a Fortune 500 logistics company, and I went to work there.
After a few years, I found myself wanting more. My military experience led me to explore scenario paintball. Staying hydrated was always an issue when opponents play against each other for countless hours. There was a relatively new hydration backpack called CamelBak, but it interfered with the refillable paintball pods used to reload. Knowing this, the first idea was born.
"Why not take a paintball pod and add a military canteen top to it?"
After drawings, prototypes, proof of concept, testing and feedback, I purchased my first batch of ten thousand units and started PBWaterpod (Paintball Waterpod). Sales were great, but one key problem remained. In a paintball game it is against the rules to lift your mask, hence the need for drink tubes.
It was a quick fix and solved the mask lifting danger, but then came the gulp of hot water or the frozen drink tube. I knew this problem well from the military, where I used one of the first CamelBaks, which had no drink tube insulation.
I began searching the internet for a "tube cover" and found no results. I thought to myself, there must be others having the same issue who are looking for a solution.
"I'll manufacture the drink tube insulators!"
The experimenting began in 2001, and we sold some products before it was an official company. In 2007, the trials and tribulations of manufacturing and starting my second company, Hydration Tube Covers, began. The path hasn't been easy, but neither is being paralyzed. When one door closes, another opens, or in my case, perhaps that door is still held open today.
As we added more products, including canteen products and other hydration gear that went beyond drink tube covers, Hydration Tube Covers grew into Gearhandle.