By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Zach Migura can pinpoint the moment that led him to join the Army, and the moment later that propelled him to a career helping veterans.
Migura, the new executive director of the Wood County Veterans Service Office, did not come from a long line of veterans in his family, though both of his grandpas served in WWII. Migura went from high school in Katy, Texas, to working on an off-shore oil rig about 200 miles out in the gulf, then to community college.
“Then 9/11 happened. I went down to the Army recruiter,” Migura said. “I thought there was no point in going to college and work if they are just going to blow us up.”
A few months later, Migura was in Kuwait serving as a carpentry and masonry specialist.
“I was part of the initial kickoff in Kuwait,” he said.
Migura helped construct bunkers in Kuwait, then build enemy prisoner of war camps in Iraq. He served as a machine gunner for convoys in southern Iraq.
He was deployed for six months, serving active duty from 2002 to 2004.
When he returned from deployment, Migura experienced another pivotal moment in his career. He went to the VA for help with a neck injury and found himself tangled in red tape.
“I saw all this VA bureaucracy,” he said.
Migura went back to school, continued his service in the Army Reserve, and competed in Best Warrior competitions. He majored in business, and toyed with the idea of starting a non-profit agency to help veterans.
But he shifted gears after he began an internship with the Dallas County Veterans Services Office, then worked at the Collin County veterans office.
That’s when it hit him.
“This is where you help vets,” he said. “This is where the work is being done.”
Migura quickly saw that some veterans felt let down by the VA.
“Some people never wanted to deal with the VA,” he said.
Migura understands that frustration.
“I called an office to get an appointment and it was two months out. That’s not good,” he said of his experience. “It’s a maze of bureaucracy.”
Since veterans are trained to “tough it out,” many have just given up on getting help, he said.
“I just thought there’s got to be a better way,” he said.
Migura was deployed again in 2013-2014, this time as an Army reservist to Afghanistan where he helped train the Afghan national army.
When he returned to Texas, he continued his veterans service work and became president of the Veterans County Service Officers Association of Texas.
Then a pivotal part of Migura’s personal life led him to Northwest Ohio. He met his future wife, Chelsea, from Port Clinton, during their Army training in 2002. They lost touch for a while, but then reunited and got married in a little chapel at Camp Perry – “with the mayflies,” Migura recalled. They have two young children.
With Chelsea retiring in September as a captain in the Air Force Reserve, she wanted to move closer to her family.
“She won,” Migura said.
He is adapting to Ohio’s winters – far different from those in Texas.
“I did a winter in Afghanistan,” which prepared him for Northwest Ohio, Migura said with a grin.
Migura first took a job with the veterans service office in Findlay in 2019, then started in the Wood County office in October of 2020.
“I heard there were some challenges here and I thought I could help,” he said.
Since becoming executive director, he has led the effort to change the name to the Wood County Veterans Service Office, has had a more user-friendly website designed, and is reaching out to local veterans and their service organizations like American Legion posts.
Wood County has an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 veterans – many who Migura suspects aren’t aware of all the services available to them.
The most common requests for assistance come from veterans experiencing problems with housing, employment, transportation and health care. Migura believes the veterans service office needs to look beyond the immediate issue faced by a veteran.
“Let’s look at everything,” he said.
Migura is interested in hearing input from veterans about the type of service they receive from the Wood County office. The new website can be found at www.woodcountyvets.com and the office can be reached at 419-354-9147.
