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Retired Army Sgt. Michael Hernandez, a former combat medic who served in Iraq, is Williamson County’s director of veteran services. Alicia Emmons serves as grant coordinator, helping veterans and their family members with emergency financial assistance.
For some people, the need to serve never ends. And so retired Army Sgt. Michael Hernandez – Williamson County’s director of veteran services – brings the same energy and sense of urgency that drove him when he was a combat medic in Iraq.
County commissioners hired Mr. Hernandez and he started work in November 2023, succeeding Juan Amaya Jr., who’d left to become operations manager for the Texas Veterans Commission. Although Mr. Hernandez is relatively new to his work in Wilco, time spent with him leaves the impression he has been preparing for it his entire life.
“We’ve been able to trace our service to our country back to World War I,” he said. “I know what it feels like to be the dependent of a war veteran. My grandfather, who raised me, served [in the Navy] in Vietnam. I know what it feels like to be a war veteran.”
Mr. Hernandez, 37, graduated from San Marcos High School in 2005, enlisting in the Army three years later. Deployed to northern Iraq, he was awarded the Combat Medic Badge while serving in the First Armored Division. After returning from Iraq in 2010, in 2011 he became part of the emergency room team at San Antonio Military Center. Two years later Sgt. Hernandez medically retired from the Army, due to injuries and health conditions linked to burn pit exposure.
According to the publication Military Times, until the mid-2010s burn pits were commonly used to dispose of waste at military bases in Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas locations. When burned, this garbage – including plastics, rubber, medical waste and chemical mixtures – produced toxic smoke.
“I lost eight members to burn pit exposure,” Mr. Hernandez said.
No longer in uniform, Mr. Hernandez made use of the benefits he had earned, continuing his formal education at San Antonio College and Texas State University. Before coming to Wilco, he worked at veteran services offices in both Guadalupe and Hays counties. During a three-year tenure in Hays, Mr. Hernandez did what he said some people told him could not be done, securing a $1.6 million grant to provide homeless vets with housing vouchers.
“A plan is only a plan until you put it into action,” he said.
Those efforts did not go unnoticed. Or unrewarded. In 2019 the Seguin Gazette newspaper named him its Citizen of the Year.
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING
Currently, Mr. Hernandez works with an annual budget of about $450,000. He oversees seven staff members who serve from offices off the Inner Loop in Georgetown, on Vance Street in Taylor and – since last year – inside the Jester Annex on Old Settlers Boulevard in Round Rock. The offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. Appointments can be made by calling 512-943-1900.
Mr. Hernandez and his team help veterans and their family members navigate what he acknowledges is the often-confusing maze of applying for medical, education, disability or survivor benefits.
“There’s a reason there’s Social Security disability lawyers,” he observed. “But our services are free.”
According to national Veterans Administration figures, Williamson County is home to approximately 42,000 military veterans. But, because official numbers tend to lag behind more up-to-date ones, Mr. Hernandez estimates the county’s veteran population is closer to 50,000. Each of the county’s four veteran service officers who work alongside Mr. Hernandez see between five and 10 veterans on an average day.
“And that’s just for disability benefits,” he said. “We [Texas] just passed California as the number-one state in veteran population.”
Under Mr. Hernandez’s leadership, the veteran services office is continuing its rideshare program, where volunteers drive people to and from appointments at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Temple. County government provides the Chevrolet Impala in use, but Mr. Hernandez is hoping to purchase a vehicle that is wheelchair accessible.
In November 2023 Mr. Hernandez applied for a $210,000 grant from the Texas Veterans Commission. His grant application, approved in January, included a stipulation that aid could also be given for spouses and dependents, not just veterans themselves.
A new grant coordinator, Alicia Emmons, joined the office in December 2023. In her first two months on the job, she helped about 40 or 50 vets and their families.
“A lot of people don’t know there is a veteran’s service office in Williamson County or the benefits they qualify for,” Ms. Emmons said. “I’m in charge of the program that gives emergency financial assistance for veterans in need; as well as their dependents and spouses.”
She said the money can help vets and their families with rent, mortgages, groceries, utilities and funeral costs.
“Our grant gives up to $1,000,” she said. “It’s a stepping stone to help.”
LOOKING AHEAD
The county’s veteran services officers reach out to vets in Cedar Park, Leander and Liberty Hill. But to make it more convenient for military veterans and their families living western parts of the county, Mr. Hernandez hopes to open a fourth office to serve that geographic area.
Additionally, he expresses interest in partnering with the county’s Regional Animal Shelter. And he wants to sponsor or participate in countywide events this fall.
“Just a lot of outreach,” he said. “A lot of community events. Just meeting people where they are.
“I tell every veteran that I serve: ‘Thank you for your service,’ ” Mr. Hernandez said. “You have a name, a story and a voice that needs to be heard.”