Navy Merchandise
Our Mission
Support alumni owned business owners and make merchandise readily available to our entire membership.
Forever Firstie
We are Forever Firstie – a store geared toward Naval Academy grads, midshipmen, and their families. We’re based out of Mount Airy, MD, and owned and operated by Brian Dunn – USNA class of 2008, Megan Dunn – a Maryland Terrapin, and our two boys, Jack and Luke.
While at the Academy, Brian was a member of 14th Company, the USNA Marathon Team, and commissioned as a submarine warfare officer where he completed his junior officer tour onboard USS NEVADA.
Forever Firstie is an e-commerce business first and foremost providing on-demand custom gear and apparel to support both key events (reunions, commissioning, etc.) as well as on-going requests from our customers.
Easel on Stribling
Kristin (Otterson) Cronic is an artist and U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) graduate. She has a B.S. in naval architecture and was commissioned as a surface warfare officer in 2011. She served as a naval officer until 2017, deploying twice on ships.
Kristin pursued an informal art education in her free time. She has dedicated recent years to documenting the midshipman's journey through painting under the alias “Easel on Stribling,” painting over 150 pieces about USNA. She has an MFA in Visual Art from Jacksonville University. She resides in Florida with her husband, Caleb, and their three children.
Special Discount: 15% off with code USNAALUMNI
SoNo 1420
Ted Dumbauld (USNA ’81) is the founder and CEO of SoNo1420 America’s Maritime Distillery, specializing in handcrafted, premium whiskeys. Made and aged in our distillery located a block away from the historic South Norwalk harbor and a quick 10-minute boat ride out onto Long Island Sound, our whiskeys benefit from the “terroir” of Connecticut’s coastal maritime environment.
Our stately, decanter-like bottles are readily engraved to commemorate life’s significant events such as graduations and class reunions and we readily collaborate with reunion coordinators to simplify the ordering and fulfillment of engraved bottles for class reunion “swag” bags.
At Navy, Ted was a three-time N-Star football letterman. After graduation, he served onboard the USS Lafayette SSBN-616 (Gold), completing five strategic nuclear deterrent patrols. After the Navy, he embarked on a long a varied business career, spending 20+ years working on Wall Street as a trader and hedge fund manager before founding SoNo 1420 in 2019.
Ted is thrilled to be back working with his shipmates at the Naval Academy and welcomes everyone to visit his distillery and tasting room if they ever find themselves in lower Fairfield County, CT.
Annapolis Classics
Chris Hodges is from the class of 1987, 29th company. He was a San Diego Native and now lives in Denver. Chris studied computer science, sailed on the offshore team and sang in the glee club. He was a supply officer in Japan and England and then pursued a corporate and entrepreneurial career.
Annapolis Classics specializes in USNA and Annapolis inspired products. Its mission: To create legacy products, starting with the Annapolis Shirt and extending to other products unique to us.
Chris makes the products by hand and will customize for you and your class.
Bitz and Bobz
Mike graduated from USNA with the Class of 1990 and became a US Naval Aviator in 1993. His military aviation career spanned seven years with VT-2, VT-31, VP-30, VP-47 and VRC-30. While with VP-47, he served during Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, serving in Southwest Asia, as well as Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Upon his honorable discharge in 2000, Mike became a full time entrepreneur when he started his first business called Umstead International, 
which specialized in Sales and Marketing. In 2005, he got back into Commercial Aviation as a Charter and Airline pilot. In 2007, he was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an Operations Aviation Safety Inspector and quickly became a manager in (5) years. While in the FAA he had the honor of serving as the National Aviation Event Specialist in charge of policy making for aerial performance demonstrations at Airshows and Air Races. This included approving US and Canadian military performances of the USN Blue Angels, USAF Thunderbirds, and the Snowbirds. Having served the US Federal government for 31 years in the military (15 years) and the FAA (16 years) he recently retired December 2023. Among other ventures, Mike recently founded Aerolegacy d.b.a. Bitz and Bobz, which sales keepsake memory boxes that are laser engraved with USNA class crests, the USNA logo and USNA Alumni logo. Has a total of 25+ years of sales and marketing business experience.
In 2015, he earned a MSc degree in Strategic Studies and Management from Aberdeen University, Scotland, UK. Mike has been married to Beth Umstead for 25+ years. They have two (2) children: William Michael Umstead (20 years old), who is currently enrolled as a “Student Pilot” in Aeronautical Science at Liberty University, and Kaylee Umstead (16 years), who is a Junior in High School and aspires to study Theatre also at Liberty University.
Proud to Offer Company, Class,and Family Apparel
The Naval Academy Alumni Association is thrilled to partner with VSA on this endeavor!
Customizable Apparel & Gifts
Distinctive Gifts, Apparel, Captain's Chairs, and Diploma Displays, as well as any special promotions (when applicable).
Affinity Shopping
The USNA AA&F participates in the Amazon Affiliate Program, when you shop through this affiliate link, a percentage of your order total comes back to us. It's easy!
Lucky Bag of Books
Looking for a good book to read? Lucky Bag of Books is a varied collection of fiction and non-fiction books, some written by alumni, some about alumni, and subjects of interest including children's books. When you shop through this affiliate link provided by Amazon, a percentage of your order total comes back to us.
Register of Alumni
The USNA AA&F and PCI will work together to publish the Register of Alumni for 2024.
Details about the register can be found here.