Page 10 - Nellis AFB Bullseye 7-24-15

10 July 24, 2015
www.aerotechnews.com/nellisafb
Retired NCO enjoys life as small business owner
By staff sgt. siuta B. Ika
99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAS VEGAS — On a hot summer
afternoon, Alfredo Sibucao Jr. is rear-
ranging a hat display in his Las Vegas-
based retail store. He moves on to the
jewelry case by the register and the mini-
skateboards in the front window before
officially opening for the day.
He makes small talk with a passerby
and offers her a discount if she comes
back to the store with her 4-year-old
daughter. He then makes a phone call to
another local business owner with plans
of a “mutually-beneficial” agreement.
“I learned how to network on my first
deployment, in Pakistan. We set up and
didn’t have parts for my equipment, so
I had to go out to the Army’s camp and
just say, ‘Hey I need a voltage regulator or
I need these parts,’” Sibucao said. “From
that I learned, ‘Hey man you hook me up
and I’ll hook you up.’”
According to his wife, Sibucao is “the
definition of a people-person” and con-
versing with strangers comes easy to him
— a good trait to have since he represents
one-half of his store’s employee pool; his
wife is the other.
Sibucao is also a working man.
Through high school, he worked as a
bagger at the Nellis Air Force Base com-
missary. Upon graduation, he enlisted
in the Air Force as an aerospace ground
equipment specialist and was stationed
at Kadena Air Base, Japan, for two years;
Osan AB, South Korea, for a year, and
finally 13 years combined between Nel-
lis — as an Airman Leadership School
instructor — and Creech AFBs.
Sibucao’s father, a retired culinary
specialist in the Navy who worked aboard
diesel submarines, taught him at a young
age that having a strong work ethic and be-
ing devoted to family is what matters most.
Even though Sibucao no longer toils
under the unforgiving sun on the Creech
AFB flightline for 12 hours a day as an
AGE technician, he now logs even more
hours as a small business owner.
“The store’s open seven days a week,
so I’m here every day and typically put
in about 16 hours a day,” Sibucao said.
“If I’m not in the store, I’m still working,
on the phone tweeting, commenting, I’m
on Snapchat now, so it’s a lot of work but
I’m used to working all day. My wife will
switch with me around lunch time if I
have to do some sort of marketing thing
or run an errand, or the two of us will be
here with the kids.”
Originally born in San Francisco,
California, Sibucao moved to the Philip-
pines for a couple years before his fam-
ily settled in Las Vegas when he was in
middle school. At the age of 18, Sibucao
fulfilled a childhood dream and enlisted
in the Air Force.
“Because my dad was in the Navy, I
Feature
Retired Tech. Sgt. Alfredo Sibucao Jr. flips the open sign to his retail store in Las Vegas,
June 22. Sibucao retired from the Air Force in 2014 and now owns and operates a
small business in Las Vegas.
lived the military life as a kid,” Sibucao
said. “I’ve always been fascinated by
aircraft, and I knew all of the planes
out there. I traveled on (space available)
frequently, and saw the uniform so much
that I knew I wanted to do that — to be
part of something big.”
Sibucao was in his 16th year of service
when the Air Force rolled out the tempo-
rary early retirement authority program
as a voluntary separation program under
the umbrellas of force management and
sequestration. At first glance, the veteran
of three deployments to the Middle East
thought nothing of it.
“At first, I thought I’m not getting out, can say they’ve done that.’ I needed to
why would I get out? But by about mid-
January, my wife asked me to consider it,”
Sibucao said. “I told her, well I’ve done 16
years already and I’m going to make mas-
ter (sergeant) this year because I missed
it by four points last year. So I was like
no way I’m getting out, start a business
— that’s ridiculous. But as weeks went
on, I started thinking about it and asking
advice from mentors of mine and a lot of
them said take it because they said this
opportunity will never happen again.”
Still on the fence about his future,
Sibucao had a talk with his father and
flight chief that would convince him to
drop his retirement papers.
“Deciding to get out was probably the
toughest decision I’ve had to make in my
entire life. My dad basically told me the
military is a tougher life now than it was
in the 80s when he was in, and I already
had sacrificed so much,” Sibucao said.
“When I was debating about what to do,
Senior Master Sgt. Valerie Schenk told
me, ‘I think I know what your problem
is. I think if you retire now, in your
mind you think you failed or didn’t ac-
BULLSEYE
Facebook.com/NellisBullseye
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika he dropped his retirement paperwork,
but helped immensely in his transition
from blue-suitor to retiree.
“A lot of information was provided
during his out-processing, such as his
complish anything, because you didn’t benefits and entitlements,” said Bob
make master.’ Monteagudo, 799th Air Base Squadron
Airman and Family Readiness Center
“I had other people telling me I should community readiness consultant. “Since
stay in because I have everything lined his focus was being an entrepreneur, we
up for chief — special duty, course 14, connected him with the Small Business
(Community College of the Air Force) Administration’s district office and the
degree working on a bachelors — all ‘Start your Own Business’ seminar. He’s
those things and all those special jobs on our employment distribution list also,
I’ve done in my career. They said I was so he’s getting continued support even
just going to waste an opportunity at though he is no longer here.”
chief,” Sibucao said. “She was the one
who said, ‘It’s not about chief, you haven’t The A&FRC at Nellis and Creech
failed yourself. You’ve accomplished a lot. AFBs offer numerous programs to all
Look at your ribbon rack, look at all the separating Airmen, including the Tran-
deployments you’ve gone on, all those sition Assistance Program; employment
things you’ve done, not a lot of people search/resume writing; job interview
preparation; Veterans Affairs benefits
hear that, and that’s when I knew what briefings; pre-separation counseling; and
the right decision was.” Boots to Business.
After he submitted his retirement ap- “One big thing I took away from
plication, Sibucao moved quickly to set TAP was about your ‘30-second eleva-
up for life after the Air Force. tor speech’ and your sales pitch of how
you’re going to market yourself,” Sibucao
His father-in-law was a district man- said. “I think people take that for granted
ager at a high-end jeweler for 19 years because as a business owner, as soon as I
and then owned four stores of his own. talk to someone and introduce what I’m
As a teenager, Sibucao’s wife worked in about, what my store is about, I usually
many of the stores, so she always wanted have less than 10 seconds to sell them on
to start a business. Now that Sibucao was my store. What I say, my approach, my
retiring, the two would get a chance to confidence can many times determine
live her dream and start a business of whether they come to my store or not.
their own. TAP taught me that.
“My wife knew I would be a good fit “Boots to Business was what helped
for the store because I’m very sociable, so me the most,” Sibucao continued. “It’s
I can do the marketing and I can interact. pretty much older business owners that
Plus I’m used to not having a day off for give guidance to people separating who
six months, working 12 hours every day, want to start a business, all for free.
being an ALS instructor, and being men- They talk about everything kind of like
tally exhausted after the day,” Sibucao (professional military education). Some
said. “It’s hard to do this every day, but of the principles, like what you learn
I think my wife knew this was going to in ALS, don’t click until you’re in that
happen and I’d be a good fit for it.” particular position. I think the things
I learned in Boots to Business, it didn’t
Sibucao said the Air Force didn’t just click for me until later. It’s like PME.
say “good luck” and go about its way after So Boots to Business introduces you to
the challenges you will be facing in the
business world.”
Sibucao also credits the Air Force
with instilling in him valuable skills like
organization, workplace etiquette and
computer skills.
“When you’re in charge of, let’s say
the unit’s safety program, and you use
Excel and Word to get the safety book
together, as simple as it may seem to
us, other businesses don’t have their
employees do that stuff,” Sibucao
said. “Phone etiquette is another big
thing I picked up in the Air Force, so
knowing how to talk to someone at the
appropriate level. And I’d say just be-
ing behind the scenes, being a section
chief, managing a shop, and just being
See rETirEd, on page 11