Land of the Free, Tools of the Brave

DEWALT welcomed contractors, apprentice students and select VIPs to its American Pride event on April 17th at the Carpenter Training Center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Representatives from DEWALT shared an overview of new products, corporate branding, and company vision during the day-long event. Included in the discussion was feedback the company received in its interviews with thousands of American contractors during the past year.

The American Pride event highlighted DEWALT’s promotional efforts and the importance of buying American products and building the American economy. According to a 2013 survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, given a choice between a product made in the United States and an identical one made abroad, 78 percent of Americans would rather buy the American product.

To highlight its efforts, DEWALT introduced guest speaker First Sergeant Matthew Eversmann (Ret.) hero of the film, Black Hawk Down. He spoke about the heroic account of a group of elite U.S. Special Forces soldiers sent into Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 as part of the United Nations peacekeeping operation and the struggles after the operation went bad.  Outnumbered a hundred–to–one and completely surrounded for eighteen hours in the most hostile district of the anarchy-stricken Somali capital city, they relied on their relentless training and each other, until a Ranger–led rescue convoy fought their way to rescue them.

Eversmann spoke about the three values of serving in the military and how these values also transfer to civilian life. These three values, which are near and dear to him are courage, serving others and duty. He said it was because of these values that he was grateful to have a relationship with DEWALT and thanked them for their commitment to American Pride and partnership with the Wounded Warriors Project. The partnership includes an aggressive goal for the company to donate a minimum of $250,000 in to WWP, and the promise to hire 100 veterans.

During the event, more than 100 apprentices from the Carpenters Training Center had the opportunity to demo DEWALT power tools, learn about the company’s partnership with the Wounded Warriors Project, and how DEWALT is producing tools in the U.S.A. with global materials for select products.

Visit www.dewalt.com/wwp for a list of SKUs and more information about the WWP partnership. For more information on DEWALT’s initiative to build products in the USA using global materials, and to view a full list of product offerings, visit www.toolsofthebrave.com.