Orlando, Fla. ? When the two Marines met at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the spring of 2001, their hair was cropped military-style close.

Today, Jon Proechel and Patrick Reed wear their hair long and shaggy, rock-video style.

Their hairdos aren’t the only things that have done an about-face since the ex-Marines settled in Orlando three years ago. They’ve also swapped guns for scissors, salutes for air kisses and uniforms for outfits that are head-turning trendy.

These former Marines are now self-taught fashion designers, investing about $10,000 of their savings in the endeavor, and they are launching their first collection of hip, military-inspired, his-and-hers styles under the label Poetic Rage.

They dream of owning a chain of boutiques someday. But for starters, they’ll sell their collection of shredded jeans, camo-patched jackets and canvas pistol belts on their Web site, poeticrageclothing.com.

Military-inspired fashion was huge when Iraq was first invaded, says Paige Blackwelder, co-owner of trendy Tuni boutique in Winter Park, Fla.

“It’s not as big now, but there’s still a definite military theme going on,” she says. “I’ve seen a lot of jackets for fall with metal buttons and epaulettes.”

After their meeting at Camp Lejeune, Reed and Proechel were assigned to the same six-month “float” in the Mediterranean. But they didn’t hang out together, and their personal styles couldn’t have been more different.

Proechel, 26, blond and laid-back, was into designer fashion. The slender, frenetic Reed, 25, preferred the hip-hop look.

“We weren’t even on first-name terms,” Reed said.

Proechel, who is from Upstate New York, joined the Marines in 1997. During his four years of active service, he served in 19 countries, came within hearing distance of combat during a brief stay in Kosovo and was discharged two days before 9-11.

He ended up in Orlando because his parents moved here, and he wanted to study acting. To pay his rent, he took a bartending job.

One day he called a buddy who was still in the Marines. The buddy put Reed on the line.

“I talked about bartending, acting classes,” Proechel said. “He said he was also interested in acting and wouldn’t mind bartending. After that, we talked every few weeks.”

Reed, who is from Tennessee, was discharged in the summer of 2002. His four-year stint in the Marines included three weeks at Gitmo, the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“When I got out, I packed my life in my car and drove straight to Orlando,” he said.

The two rented a house and tended bar together. They went to the same concerts, patronized the same hairdresser. And they started modifying their jeans and T-shirts, giving them a distinctive vibe with military-style patches, name tags and hand-stenciled graphics.

“Whenever we’d go out, people would look at us weird,” Reed said. “We were different. We had our own style. People often mistook us for a gay couple.”

Friends and acquaintances also asked where they bought their clothes.

“We started doing designs for them, just as a hobby,” Proechel said. “Then about a year ago we got serious.”

Reed explained the Poetic Rage name:

“We wanted to use our initials, P and R, so we came up with all kinds of combinations. Poetic Rage is an interesting oxymoron. Everybody has a poetic side and a rage side, a light and dark side. We liked the way it sounded,” he said.

The designing Marines have learned by doing. They incorporated their business, took out an occupational license and found suppliers of basic garments – jeans, shirts, track jackets.

Proechel learned to use a sewing machine. Reed experimented with fabric paints.

To test consumer reaction, Proechel and Reed took a sampling of their designs to the Vans Warped Tour concert in Tampa in early August.

Even though they slashed their prices, charging about $10 for items that eventually will retail for closer to $25, they cleared $600.

A best seller was their “Gitmo” T-shirt, featuring a giant key on the front, and a bird behind bars on the back.

There is a military or patriotic twist to most of their designs, Proechel said.

The fashions aren’t designed to make a statement about war, he said. “They’re just reminders of our time in the military, most of it good. We’d never change the experience for the world – the camaraderie, the organization.”

Being in the Marines “helped me mature a lot,” Proechel said. “It makes me strive harder, concentrate more on trying to make something successful.”

Besides, he says, “If it wasn’t for the Marines, we’d never have met. Never had the drive to do something as crazy as Poetic Rage.”