Lakewood welcomed a new shop to the city a month ago that is the first of its kind in the United States.

10-20 Services offers the ability to completely clean and restore military gear. Although the shop caters to military gear, it also cleans sports gear, first responder gear and law enforcement gear.

"Anything that is expensive and technical and has a hard time cleaning, that is what we do," explained 10-20 Services Associate Matthew Griffin, an Army veteran and former fire support officer for units on Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The company originated in Canada and earlier this year reached out to the U.S.  Department of Defense after realizing the need for its technology. The goal is to have military gear last longer by professionally cleaning and restoring it rather than replacing it. 10-20 Services opened its Lakewood shop because of the convenient proximity to JBLM; it will expand and open a second shop outside of Ft. Bragg, N.C., by February 2013.

"Even if you are not geographically near us, you can inexpensively ship your gear to us to have it cleaned and repaired," said Griffin, who noted that the turnaround time is about 96 hours. "This helps create increased mission readiness as well as cost savings."

A Soldier who needs his or her technical equipment repaired traditionally may wait weeks or months for it to be returned. At 10-20 Services, Soldiers can literally walk into the shop after a deployment or trip to the field and drop the dirty gear off their backs with confidence that it will be returned clean and quickly.

"We clean it, sterilize it, repair it, and hand it back to them for a fraction of the cost of what it would cost them or the government to just replace it," Griffin said.  "We clean everything from boots, tents, pillows, and body armor vests to parachutes. Things you can't typically wash."

Whether it's a pallet of gear or an individual order, a 10-20 Services associate will inspect each piece of equipment to ensure that all zippers and buttons work as well as check for stains that may need a pretreatment. The gear is then loaded into a specially made machine that uses hydraulic pressure to clean the items. This machine can clean up to 160 pounds of gear at once.

Many Soldiers are unaware that by cleaning their uniforms at home with basic laundry detergent, which often contains UV brighteners, they are increasing their infrared signature.

"The government spends a lot of time, money and effort in keeping the near-infrared reflectivity down," Griffin said.

10-20 Services does not use UV brighteners in its detergent. Nor does it use fabric softeners, which can increase garment flammability.

"We sanitize all the gear to hospital grade clean," Griffin said. This means the gear can be stored for longer periods of time without the fear of it become full of bacteria or even mold.

"There are a lot of initiatives coming from Washington D.C., to sustain the equipment that the government currently has in inventory, so our goal is to build these facilities to fulfill those needs," Griffin said. "We are not just here to save the government money; we are here to save everyday consumers money, too."

10-20 Services offers free pick-up and drop-off service. Soldiers may log onto the company's website to submit an order, and it will be picked up at the CQ desk. After the cleaning is complete, items will be returned to the CQ desk.

For a full list of items accepted for cleaning, to arrange a pick up, or for more information, email JBLM@10-20services.com or call (253) 503-6000.