This November 2009 I was terminated as the Kleberg County Veterans Service Officer by the Kleberg County Commissioners Court.

I take this opportunity to thank all the veterans and their families I was able to assist and make a difference in their lives.

It is a privilege to have met and been in the company of WWII veterans, POWs, and Medal of Honor recipients, e.g., Roy Benavidez, Cruz Mata, Frank Tejeda, General Ricardo Sanchez, General Marc Cisneros, Richard Marchinko, and William McLemore, Assistant Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Jesse Brown, the first African American Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

I am one of three County Service Officers from South Texas invited to testify before a Congressional Sub- Committees on building a VA Hospital for South Texas.

I have been a guest of U.S. Congressman Solomon Ortiz; Ruben Hinojosa; and Kika DeLa Garza, State Senator Eddie Lucio, State Representatives Juan Escobar and Tara Rios Ybarra.

Although I got paid for working from 8-12 noon daily, I normally worked a lot more hours, and seldom took vacation. I transported veterans to the VA Clinic in Corpus Christi in my POV from May 1988 to August 2004, my day started at 5:00 a.m., and ended late at night, this was in addition to my regular duties of processing claims, and managing the Emergency Management Program for the City of Kingsville and Kleberg County; the County Safety Program; County Floodplain Administrator Program; the County American With Disabilities Act Program; and County Risk Management Program. I normally got 4 to 6 hours of sleep a night.

In 1988 we formed a Military Funeral Detail, my first detail consisted of Roberto Alvarado; Julian Calzada; Manuel Ramirez; Chris Martinez; Pilar Flores; Cuco Aguilar; Rudy Longoria; Didio Trevino; Robert Daehn; Rodolfo Saavedra, John Loftis, and myself.

After every funeral, I treated the men to lunch using personal funds or donations from the Veterans Organizations.

Overall I have participated in over 500 military funerals, and have helped many a widow with burial benefits, pension, insurance claims, retirement benefits, and VA grave markers.

I have presented over 500 U.S. flags to widows, and sometimes it is very difficult to say the traditional words when making the Flag presentation, especially when the deceased was a friend. My take home monthly salary, for the past 20 years has been under $800, after deductions. The U.S. Navy trained me well, and as a former Chief Petty Officer, I learned to do a job to the best of one’s ability, and not complain.

During my 20 years of service, I have processed approximately $100 million in VA benefit claims through my office, as reported by the Texas Veterans Commission on their counties annual report.

Many of the veterans in Kleberg County are getting VA prescription drugs for free or for a cost of $8.00 for a 30 day supply. I was able to get electric wheelchairs, hearing aids, braces, walkers, canes, etc., for veterans, because we processed their claims through my office.

A good service officer is on call 24/7, ready to listen, and is not afraid to cry and hold the hand of a fellow veteran that is suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), or Traumatic Brain Injury. A good service officer treats all veterans equal and fair regardless of race, creed or religion.

I maintained my office with a military decor, and every picture or poster in my office had a history behind it. When a veteran came into my office I always treated him/her with the utmost respect and offer a cup of coffee. Many times I worked through my lunch hour, or met with a veteran on Saturday morning, or after hours to help him/her process their paper work.

In my absence from the office, I had 12 paper signs, each with a different message stating where I was with a phone number on how to reach me in an emergency.

My business cards have my home phone, pager number; email address; office phone number and fax number.

My objective was to make sure that veterans could reach me anytime, and it was not unusual to get late night phone calls from veterans.

I don’t like to brag of my achievements, but in this case, I have made an exception. I want the citizens to know about Tomas Sanchez.

I love my job, I have spent most of my adult life in the military and/or working with veterans. The State of Texas and Kleberg County taxpayers have spent thousands of dollars to train me, and I wanted to assure the citizens, that they were getting their money’s worth, and then some.

When the Social Security Office stopped sending a rep to Kingsville, I met with the Regional Director in Corpus Christi and asked to be the Social Security Rep for Kingsville, my request was approved, and I processed many Social Security claims benefits and disability, at no cost to the citizens.

I have assisted many veterans in getting federal and state jobs, prior to the State opening up an office in Kingsville to help veterans with jobs. I have made many VA benefits presentations to the public over the past 20 years, and hosted several VA benefits workshops, in cooperation with the Texas Veterans Land Board.

In closing, I learned that no matter how hard I work, I cannot please everyone; there will always be one or two bad apples in the barrel. There will always be men and women to spread evil and gossip.

For those wonderful citizens that supported me over the years, I thank you. For those citizens who stopped by and visited and prayed for me, I thank you.

I respectfully recommend that in the upcoming elections you vote wisely.

If I have offended anyone during my term of office, I offer my apologies, and ask for forgiveness.