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When Kevin Portillo left for the Marines Corps five days after his high school graduation, he was 17 years old and unsure of his career path. Five years later, he is confident he’s found his calling as a technician working on generators and climate control equipment.

“It’s just the satisfaction of when something goes down and you repair it, knowing you’re the one who fixed it,” said Portillo, who is a SkillBridge intern at the ������Ƶ Advanced Solutions™ branch in Fontana, California. “It’s a sense of pride knowing I’m able to do it.”

Portillo’s case is a great example of how the military, the Department of Defense’s and a can create a pipeline to a rewarding career. 

When Portillo entered the Marines, he initially wanted to be an aviation electronic technician.  Instead, he was assigned to an adjacent specialty as a mobile facilities technician, a role in which he maintained the conex boxes where aircraft components were repaired. 

“I’m actually glad it worked out that way because I ended up really enjoying working with generators and HVAC stuff,” he said.

As he started to look ahead to his civilian career, Portillo explored the SkillBridge program. It allows active-duty service members to spend the last six months of their military career interning with companies like ������Ƶ that participate in the program. Portillo wanted to stay close to his hometown of Chino, California, and use the skills he developed in the Marines.

He found all of that at ������Ƶ, whose Advanced Solutions division offers pump, power and climate control equipment. ������Ƶ has locations nationwide, including the branch in Fontana that’s just 20 miles from Portillo’s home in Chino.

“It was perfect,” said Portillo, who began his internship in February 2025. “Everything lined up.”

As an intern, he rides along with other techs on service calls to learn from them and handles preventive maintenance on his own. Because the machines at ������Ƶ are newer than the units he worked on in the Marines, it took a bit of time to adjust to the more modern technology, but the theory of operation is the same. Thanks to his experience in the military, Portillo is way ahead of the normal learning curve for a first-time tech.

“He's picked up our business very well, and he's meshed with our techs even better,” said Christian Coates, the general manager of the Fontana branch. “Every day he brings a great attitude and quality of work. We are all looking forward to his growth within the team and for him to come onboard permanently.” 

������Ƶ has a strong track record of hiring its SkillBridge interns. In 2024, 82% of interns who completed the program were offered full-time jobs and 62% of the interns accepted their offer.

“I’m onboard with that,” Portillo said. “I love it here, love the people. It’s been a great experience.”