Love of Country revving up for nationwide push

From one weekend to the next, Joe Knoetgen’s business trajectory changed drastically.

On Dec. 3, he wore fatigues at the 106th Rescue Wing of the New York Air National Guard, in Westhampton Beach, where he is a medic. On Dec. 10, he wore a Love of Country T-shirt on national television. He was invited on “Fox and Friends” for a Saturday morning segment highlighting American-made products people could order as holiday gifts.

Over the 48 hours that followed, his iPhone chimed nearly 1,500 cash register ringtones, one for every purchase made through his Love of Country web store.

“This was an overnight thing, it’s crazy,” he said that weekend. “We ended the year last year at, like, $230,000 for the year. 

“This year we were on track for $175,000, maybe, because of how the economy is,” he continued. “And now we’ll be back over better than last year, just because of these two days.”

The shot in the arm to Knoetgen’s faith in his business could not have come at a better time. He has big plans for 2023 and could take comfort in countrywide support, and the cash boost to boot.

On Jan. 9, he and “The Patriot”—a retired military truck from 1990 he transformed into a blue behemoth, currently parked in the driveway of his Center Moriches home—are hitting the road.

“We’re taking The Patriot with the big trailer—an enclosed store—down to Florida, and we’re doing a country tour for 2023,” he said. “It’s going to go down to the Florida State Fair, the State Fair of Texas, Wisconsin, country music festivals, base exchanges at military festivals throughout the country. We’re expanding, we’re growing, and we’re excited for 2023.”

Knoetgen’s revenue goal for this cross-country tour: $2.3 million.

Focusing on this national offensive, he and his wife, Kristen Knoetgen, closed the doors to their Center Moriches storefront at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve for the last time. The couple will continue to live in Center Moriches, and would like to keep a pop-up shop running in town when weather permits.

Working from home

On Dec. 18, Knoetgen wore white Crocs, comfortable footwear for a man on his feet 12 hours a day working screen printers and an infrared ink dryer. Like his time, the mammoth-sized machines take up much of his basement. Garments, print screens, and other supplies spill into a storage room, the laundry room, and his office.

In addition to the black coffee in his American flag mug, he relies on friends and family to help him print, transport, fold, and ship the thousands of garments that sit in boxes and on shelves—or any surface, really—in his basement. He and his staff work simultaneously on individual screen presses. While he stamps main designs on the backs of tees, others can press sleeve and chest prints, before loading them onto the dryer’s conveyor belt.

Once he takes off, Knoetgen’s team will also continue to hand-print garments from his house to fulfill online orders and keep The Patriot stocked.

Among his most valuable players is, of course, Kristen Knoetgen, his high-school sweetheart and wife of 24 years, who folded army-green American flag T-shirts behind the counter of the Center Moriches storefront that same Sunday. The back half of the store’s floor space was closed off to fit hundreds of those tees, folded and sorted to fulfill the Fox orders.

“With his being on Fox, it just kind of reassures you that people like it,” Kristen, who teaches second grade at Sunquam Elementary School in the Half Hollow Hills School District, said. “Here in town, people have been super supportive, but to put it in front of the whole country and have people respond so well, it’s just reassurance that this next step is the right way to go.”

Meeting and recruiting veterans

Florida is not just Joe Knoetgen’s first stop on his 2023 itinerary; he hopes to make it Love of Country’s second home.

He believes obtaining a large production warehouse in Florida is more economically feasible than continuing to operate out of New York. 

Here on Long Island, he has a handful of veterans on his team, and hopes to recruit at least a half-dozen more once he heads South. Instead of using larger, faster, more expensive screen printers in Florida, he will replicate the individual hand-print production model underway in his basement, freeing up funds for more hires.

“We decided instead of investing all that money in expensive machinery, we’re going to invest the money in veterans,” Knoetgen said. “We’re going to buy the less expensive machines that they can hand-screen print with.

“It’s keeping them active, it’s giving them a job,” he continued. “In my mind, I see combat-wounded veterans, somebody that’s in a wheelchair, that we can adapt the print press to.”

Until he acquires this permanent home for his passion project, he will drive across the country meeting new groups of supporters. Before taking up a permanent post in Center Moriches, he traveled to various festivals and concerts, and enjoyed explaining the historical significance or military meaning behind designs people may otherwise wear without a second thought.

“That’s super cool, going to the shows, meeting people, discussing the history behind designs, what I’ve done in the military, meeting other veterans and talking to them,” he said. “That’s the meaning behind everything we do—that’s why we do it.”

Work-service balance

Joe Knoetgen has worn many hats in his day, from physical education teacher to air traffic controller. As he approached 40, there was one he was still dying to try on.

“My dad was in the Air Force back in the ‘50s, and I always wanted to serve,” he said. “My wife was my high-school sweetheart; we were dating at Port Jeff High School back in 1991. I wanted to go into the military, but then I met her and I fell in love, and wanted to stay local.

“The age cutoff [to enlist] was 40,” he continued. “Right before the cutoff, I decided I don’t want to wish I did this or look back and say I should’ve.”

Coming up on a decade of service, Knoetgen remains contracted to the Air Guard through 2025. Guardsman drills and Love of Country festival appearances battle for the squares on his office calendar. In the event of an unplanned call to report to the 106th or a deployment, he’ll have to come back to Center Moriches, potentially losing a festival deposit, unless he can put together a steady road crew, another mission for 2023.

Knoetgen arrived at the 106th after serving four years as a medical technician at the 105th Rescue Wing in Newburgh, where he earned Airman of the Year in 2016 for his work on the base, as well as his outside volunteer efforts. At Westhampton Beach, he served two years as a drill status guardsman before taking up active duty from 2018 to 2021.

In 2021, just before his new contract for drill status, he was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal for teaching the base’s medical group critical lifesaving knowledge: TCCC, or Tactical Combat Casualty Care.

“It’s preparing us for war; it’s next-level trauma care,” Knoetgen said of the course. “It’s real deal, stop the bleeding, save a life under fire.”