When Mylene and Rob Reyes needed extra capital to expand their medical supplies business, they knew where to turn for help.

From the beginning, the couple worked with the U.S. Small Business Administration to get their R & M Enterprises LLC up and running. And because Rob Reyes is in the Navy, the couple took advantage of several programs available to active-duty military.

"The SBA is a wealth of resources and information, especially for a startup business," Mylene Reyes said.

The Kailua couple used their own money to start the company in April 2006. When Reyes signed a naval health clinic as their first big client, Mylene Reyes said she needed to significantly increase her inventory.

Reyes went back to the SBA for guidance and was told about a new program specifically targeting active-duty service members as well as spouses. The Patriot Express Loan program was announced this past summer, and R & M Enterprises was the first Hawai'i business to receive a loan.

The loans of up to $500,000 are guaranteed by the SBA and can be used for most business purposes, including funding start-ups, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real-estate purchases.

In addition to active-duty personnel who are about to leave the military, the program is available to veterans, Reserve troops, National Guard members, and spouses and widowed spouses of service members or veterans who died while in service or of a service-related disability.

Rob Reyes will be retiring from the Navy in eight months and will be joining his wife full-time in the business. Right now he serves primarily as her bookkeeper.

"I tease him that he's the CFO, but I'm the CEO," Mylene Reyes said. "He takes care of the books, and he's going to be doing a lot of the Internet marketing as well."

Reyes has a sales and marketing background. She said it had been her "elusive dream" to start a business, but with the constant relocating through the years, she never got that chance.

The couple decided that they wanted to make Hawai'i their home, and about two years ago took the first steps to form their business. Reyes said she's glad she turned to the SBA and learned about the Patriot Express Loan, which she said wasn't easy to obtain.

"We had to jump through hoops to get this loan. It wasn't like, 'We're active-duty or we're veteran-owned, can you please give us money?' It didn't work that way," she said. "But I'm glad they did all that because we reassessed our business plan and Lou Chun of Hawai'i National Bank was very helpful."

Andrew Poepoe, SBA Hawai'i District Office director, said the Patriot Express Loan is just one program created to help veterans and active-duty personnel. He said a big part of the program is the counseling that's required through the SBA's "transition assistance program."

"We go right into the bases and we talk about what's available and how we can help," Poepoe said. "They're getting out and there's a certain time period where we can work with them. We hold classes for them."

He said the Patriot Express Loans are processed faster than traditional SBA loans, and the $500,000 maximum is higher than the $350,000 cap on SBA loans under the regular Express program.

Poepoe said the SBA also is hoping to increase participation in another program aimed at strengthening opportunities in federal contracting for businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. Under the program, the federal government is required to set aside federal contract work for qualified businesses.

Poepoe acknowledged that the SBA is falling short of its goal to get local service-disabled veterans jobs.

"We think that there just isn't enough of a pool of disabled veterans to offer federal contracts to qualify them and have them interested," he said. "They may be in the retail field or connected with tourism, rather than wanting to go back into business with the federal government and the kind of work that we do, such as repair and maintenance, construction, IT."

George Toyama, owner of flooring contracting firm General Trades and Services, is a service-disabled veteran who does work with the federal government. He called the program a "work in progress" and said the government needs to do a better job of promoting it and dispensing the contracts.

"The opportunities are there," said Toyama, who served in the Army from 1966 to 1969. He is a service-disabled veteran who actively seeks federal contracting work.

But Toyama added that the government can't do everything and veterans need to take some initiative.

"Some guys get a little frustrated because they think that because they're a vet that they get a free handout. No, they don't get a free handout," he said. "But because you're a vet, you should go (to the SBA) and tell them you're a vet and find out what they got and how they can help."

Toyama said he's worked closely with the SBA since forming his company in 1999. He said he's received good advice, as well as a $250,000 line of credit, from the SBA.

He encouraged other veterans to seek help from the agency.

"That is going to be the biggest, fastest-growing sector in the next several years, mainly because there are going to be a lot of guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're going to start some of their own businesses, and the government is serious about helping them," Toyama said.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.