In celebration of Garmin’s 20-year anniversary in 2009, we’re reaching back to the past to bring you stories from our younger years. Some stories are retold by the individuals who were here on the first day, working in rented office space among card tables and folding chairs. Space was limited, but the ideas weren’t. And here are their stories.

In 1991, when Garmin’s first prototype GPS navigators were just rolling off the production line, U.S. troops and planes were rolling out for Gulf War deployment. Major George Nemeyer, a navigator for the U.S. Air Force, determined there was one piece of equipment his plane had to have. Military issue wasn’t going to cut it. There were only a couple companies doing GPS at the time. And only one who answered the call.

We were able to track down Major Nemeyer and hear more of the story, including how he had to buck the system a bit to put undocumented, nongovernment-issued equipment on that plane. “You don’t turn a screw on a plane unless it’s fully documented,” he said. The individual who typically handled system modifications balked at news of the planned installation. Major Nemeyer's reply: “There’s a war on, we have a job to do and there’s no time to deal with bureaucracy.” All involved were glad Major Nemeyer put his faith in the right company and the right product. As he put it, “had it gone wrong, it would’ve been a career-ending move.”

After Major Nemeyer and his unit returned, he maintained communication with Garmin and even compiled a notebook complete with photos and details of the installation. Later, he took the GPS 100 unit and the antenna he’d fabricated to Little Rock Air Force Base, where he demoed the system to the wing commander and squadron commander. They liked what they saw, but there was no program to fund equipment upgrades. A year later, the Air Force was conducting airlift missions to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. The instructor, who’d been reassigned, called Major Nemeyer to help with the antenna placement and installation for 50 Garmin navigation systems on their planes. “Within 24 hours, we basically made 50 of the antenna housings and I was on my way to Scott Air Force Base to deliver them,” he said. He even flew overseas with the instructor to do the installation and training.

And Major Nemeyer has been guided by some form of Garmin navigation ever since. When he retired from the Air Force, he really missed that GPS 100, so he purchased an early consumer model, the GPS II. Next, he picked up our original eTrex handheld and later bought a couple of our Foretrex wrist-mounted GPS units.

 Stay tuned for more stories from Garmin’s 20 years in the industry.