Veteran's Alaska Construction, LLC - Palmer, AK

When Master Sgt. Bob Stooksbury joined the Air Force in 1979, he operated heavy equipment in Osan, Korea. Eventually he became a manager for contract construction projects until 1996, when he was retrained in the environmental health care. After he retired in 2003, the urge to return to his roots in building and contracting was just too profound, and Stooksbury couldn’t wait to get back into construction.

“I knew that I didn’t want to retire from the world’s greatest military and end up taking inventory for Wally’s World of Widgets somewhere,” Stooksbury said. “As soon as the Veterans Benefit Act [Public Law 108-183] was passed, I knew that I wanted to start my own business.

“I knew it would be much easier to simply get a job and be a 9 to 5 guy, but it just didn’t seem to fit,” he added. “I knew that I had obtained the experience and the education to succeed, and the time had come to put it into practice.”

Putting his experience and education into practice resulted in the formation of Veterans Alaska Construction, a general contracting company founded upon the idea of providing construction services beyond the norm and not just making an acceptable product, but a dazzling product.

The company has done well with this philosophy, employing as many as 15 during peak construction season in the summer. In fiscal year 2006, the company grossed $3.7 million dollars in revenue, a giant leap over the $62,000 it garnered during the year of its founding in 2005.

“I have been successful in marketing to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and to a lesser degree, the General Services Administration and the U.S. Forest Service,” Stooksbury said. “I hope to expand to at least 40 employees over the next five years. If at all possible, all veterans.”

Stooksbury had a knack for excellence during his military career, earning high marks and recognition for his leadership and job performance. The military, he said, prepared him to be able to transfer that excellence to the business world and sets him apart from the competition.

“If you’re being fired upon by an adversary in the military, you can’t stop it and you can’t control it, but you manage it,” Stooksbury said. “In business, we’re fired upon every day. You still can’t stop it or control it, but you can certainly manage it.”

Veterans Alaska Construction has indeed been fired upon before, in a manner of speaking. Alaska houses many service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses, and Stooksbury has faced criticisms of simply looking to capitalize on his veteran status. This thick-skinned Air Force veteran looks past the criticisms, however, and sticks to his founding philosophy to set him apart from his competition.

“I’ve learned that if you look for the best in people, you’ll find it,” Stooksbury said. “If you always look for the worst, you’ll find that too. I’d like to become known as the most honest contractor in the region while offering the very best quality of service.”

Written by Michael Crawford