Steve Lucas is a man with a big heart, lots of experience and a severe lack of time.

That is, until the 7th of this month, when it was announced that the part-time Wood County Veterans Services Officer will be going full-time.

Lucas is the only employee of the WCVSO, but he works twice as hard to make up for that fact. Lucas came to the job in January, deciding that he “wanted to give back” to the veteran community after serving for 30 years in the Marine Corps (27 of which were on the Marine Corps Bomb Squad).

“It motivates me to give back when you see somebody who’s lost three of their limbs in war, and he’s still out there doing the duty as the absolute best that he can, or she can,” he said.

What Lucas does day after day is hard to explain to those who don’t already know what he’s talking about. However, he likens the job to that of a lawyer who helps his veteran “clients” apply for benefits, compensation and other help:

“I basically build a court case,” he said. “As we build this case, it has to have facts, which is your medical evidence…it goes from me, it goes in front of a reviewer, a rater, an attorney, a VA judge, then they get a decision.”

He is highly trained for his job, having finished his accreditation. This means that he has passed state requirements, Texas Veteran requirements, VA requirements, a background check, and that he has a DA card which gives him access to even more resources.

However, despite his experience, Lucas was severely limited in how many veterans he could see previous to September. Even though each case necessitates a half-hour initial appointment and his job only allowed him to work around 24 hours a week, Lucas was somehow seeing between 8 and 20 veterans a day.

“(There was) a lot of stress, because it’s only me, myself, and I,” he said. “And if you’re only working 24 hours…I’ve had veterans at my door at 6:30 in the morning, and I don’t open ‘til 9.”

Now, however, that’s all changed. With his promotion to being full-time, Lucas will have time to see everybody.

“What’s good about this is, it’s going to allow me to do my training, it’s going to allow me to do research, it’s going to allow me to do things that I didn’t have time to do (before),” said Lucas. “There’s a lot of (resources) out there, that if you don’t get really engaged in it, or you don’t get the training, then you would never know…. And so that’s really why I’m here. I’m here to bridge that gap.”

Veterans or those in active service are welcome and encouraged to make an appointment with Lucas to get help. Contact him at veteranservices@mywoodcounty.com, or call the office at 903-763-5581.