Program helps get veteran’s passion off the ground

By Katie Visconti

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014 | 2 a.m.

When Bruce Phillips talks about aviation his face lights up.

“Flying is a visceral thrill,” he says. “(It’s) a roller coaster you’re in charge of.”

Phillips, 46, just finished getting his flight certification, and landed a job as a flight instructor. For some, this would seem like a string of good luck, but for Phillips it's been a tough path.

After leaving the Navy with 20 years of service, Phillips worked as a flight instructor at the North Las Vegas Airport. But once gas prices sky-rocketed, he didn’t have many clients. He decided to leave his job, and try to find a trade that would support his two sons and wife.

Phillips turned to the construction industry, just in time for its prime in the mid-2000s. It was hard labor but it paid the bills — until the market crashed. During the recession, Nevada lost nearly 100,000 construction jobs and overall unemployment peaked. After that, Phillips found his family’s finances in the red.

He tried to get back to flight instruction but his certification had expired, and though he had thousands of hours of training, a spot-free flying record and had served as a Naval air crewman, he lacked the recent experience employers were looking for. To begin instructing again, he would need to retake flight instruction courses and get flight time.

He couldn't afford it. So Phillips and his family lived off the money he made from temporary construction positions, the longest of which lasted just three months.

Still, he was a regular at jobs fairs.

“I would borrow gas money, put on my best suit, and stand in a line of 1,000 people just to be told to go on their website.”

Then he found one at the Veteran Affairs hospital in North Las Vegas. Making his way around the booths, he noticed a Goodwill setup. He met Alvin Cuasay.

Cuasay was helping as part of the peer-to-peer veteran program at Goodwill. After Phillips approached the table and heard that Alvin had also served 21 years in the Navy, he felt like there was finally someone who understood. They discussed his qualifications and Cuasay realized Phillips still had a lot of passion for aviation and the background to continue in the field.

“I told him, ‘If you are ready to run, I’m ready to run with you,’” Cuasay says.

Cuasay became Phillips’ case manager and through Goodwill’s Career Connections program, Phillips’s flight recertification classes and training fees were paid for.

On Friday he completed the process. He’ll be starting as a flight instructor at Elite Flight Training and Management soon.

It will still be awhile until his family is completely financially stable, but for now having a job in the field he’s most passionate about means a lot to him.

“It’s the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “And I’m pretty sure it’s not an oncoming train.”

The veteran integration program hosted through Goodwill is available to any former service member looking for a job. The program offers career counseling, translation of military experience onto resumes, transportation assistance, clothing, training and more.

The program began in October 2012 and has served 726 veterans and their families in Southern Nevada.

“(As veterans) we don’t want a hand-out, we want a hand-up,” Phillips said.