Countdown to 250: The Americans Building Tomorrow
245 Days Until America’s Semiquincentennial
Day 245: Turk McCleskey & Paul Balassa
Two Veterans Who Turned Coffee Mugs Into a Mission
Most people who start a business do it to make money. Some do it to solve a problem they’ve experienced. A rare few do it because they see a way to serve something larger than themselves.
Colonel Turk McCleskey, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, and Paul Balassa, then a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, fall into that last category. They didn’t set out to build just another company. They built Glass Beach Mugs as a vehicle for service—and in doing so, created something that honors the past while supporting the future.
An Unlikely Partnership
On the surface, a Marine and an Army officer going into business together sounds like the setup for a joke. The inter-service rivalry is legendary—Marines and soldiers have been giving each other grief since both services existed. But McCleskey and Balassa saw past the jokes to something more important: shared values, shared experience, and a shared commitment to the military community.
Both understood what it meant to serve. Both knew the bonds formed in uniform. And both recognized that when you take off that uniform, the commitment to your fellow service members doesn’t end—it just changes form.
So they started Glass Beach Mugs, a company that creates handcrafted, American-made mugs. But here’s where it gets interesting: this wasn’t just about selling coffee mugs. It was about creating a business that could give back to the military community in meaningful ways.
Supporting the National Museum of the Marine Corps
One of the most significant ways Glass Beach Mugs has made an impact is through its support of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. This isn’t a token donation or a one-time check. It’s an ongoing commitment to preserving Marine Corps history and ensuring that future generations understand the sacrifices and service of those who wore the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps tells the story of American Marines from 1775 to the present. It’s where the legacy lives—the battles fought, the lessons learned, the values upheld, the Marines who never came home. For McCleskey, a Marine himself, supporting this institution isn’t just good business. It’s personal. It’s about honoring the Marines he served with, the traditions he lived, and the Corps that shaped him.
And Balassa, an Army officer, supporting a Marine Corps museum? That’s the kind of bridge-building that transcends service rivalries. It’s a recognition that all branches are part of the same larger mission, that honoring one service ultimately honors all who serve.
The Adversity of Veteran Entrepreneurship
Starting any business is hard. Starting a manufacturing business in America—when it would be cheaper and easier to outsource overseas—is even harder—starting a business that prioritizes mission over maximum profit? That’s the most challenging path of all.
McCleskey and Balassa face the same challenges every small business owner faces: supply chain issues, competition from cheaper alternatives, and the constant pressure to cut corners to increase margins. They could make their mugs overseas for a fraction of the cost. They could keep more of the profits instead of supporting causes like the Marine Corps Museum. They could focus solely on the bottom line.
But they don’t. Because Glass Beach Mugs was never just about the mugs. It was about creating something that reflects military values: quality, integrity, commitment to something larger than yourself. It was about building a business that serves rather than sells.
That’s the adversity—maintaining those principles when the easier path is always right there, tempting you to compromise, to rationalize, to put profit over purpose.
The Bigger Mission
What McCleskey and Balassa have created is more than a business. It’s a model for how veteran entrepreneurs can build companies that embody military values in the civilian world. Every mug they sell, handcrafted in America, is a small statement: quality matters, American manufacturing matters, supporting military heritage matters.
Their support for the National Museum of the Marine Corps ensures that the stories of service and sacrifice continue to be told. In an era when fewer Americans serve in the military, when the gap between civilian and military communities continues to widen, institutions like the Marine Corps Museum become even more critical. They’re the bridge that helps civilian Americans understand what service means, what it costs, what it demands.
And Glass Beach Mugs helps make that possible, not through grand gestures or massive donations that make headlines, but through the steady, consistent support that comes from building a business with purpose.
Why This Matters
There’s something deeply American about what McCleskey and Balassa have done. They took their military experience—the leadership, the commitment to excellence, the understanding of mission—and translated it into a business that serves their communities. They didn’t just transition out of uniform and move on. They found a way to keep serving.
They also represent a different kind of veteran entrepreneurship. Not the Silicon Valley unicorn seeking venture capital and explosive growth. But a sustainable, values-driven business that prioritizes quality, community, and mission. The kind of business that won’t make them billionaires but will make a difference.
In an economy increasingly dominated by businesses that race to the bottom on price and quality, that prioritize quarterly earnings over long-term value, that see customers as data points rather than people, Glass Beach Mugs stands as a counter-example. It proves that you can build a business on military values and succeed.
Service Beyond Uniform
Colonel McCleskey could have retired from the Marine Corps and left his service behind. Captain Balassa (now with a higher rank after continuing his military career) could have compartmentalized his military and business lives. Instead, they built a business that keeps them connected to the military community, that gives back to that community, and that honors the traditions and heritage they live.
That’s what makes them exceptional. Not just the business they built, but why they built it. Not just the products they sell, but what those sales support. Not just that they’re veteran entrepreneurs, but that they’re veteran entrepreneurs who never stopped serving.
Every mug that comes out of their workshop carries a piece of that mission. Every dollar that goes to support the National Museum of the Marine Corps helps tell the stories that need to be told. Every day they choose to manufacture in America, to prioritize quality over convenience, to support military causes over maximizing profit—that’s them doing the right thing when easier options exist.
The Bigger Picture
As we count down to America’s 250th birthday, Turk McCleskey and Paul Balassa remind us that exceptionalism can come in unexpected forms. Sometimes it’s a coffee mug, handcrafted with care, purchased with purpose, supporting something that matters.
They face the adversity every veteran entrepreneur faces—the challenges of building a business from scratch, competing in crowded markets, and maintaining principles when compromise would be profitable. And they face an additional challenge: building a business that serves a mission, not just a market.
They do it not for recognition—most people who buy their mugs probably don’t know the founders’ full story. They do it because their character, shaped by military service, won’t let them do it any other way. They do it because supporting the military community isn’t something you stop doing when you change uniforms. They do it because preserving military heritage and supporting institutions like the National Museum of the Marine Corps matters for future generations.
A Marine and a soldier, building something together. Creating jobs in America. Supporting military heritage. Proving that business can be about more than profit. Showing that service continues long after you take off the uniform.
That’s 5 down, 245 exceptional Americans to go. The countdown continues.
#250for250
Know someone like Turk McCleskey and Paul Balassa—veterans who found ways to keep serving, entrepreneurs who build with purpose, Americans who do the right thing when easier paths exist? Nominate them. America’s 250th birthday deserves the recognition of 250 Americans who are building the next 250 years.