U.S. veterans sacrifice a lot to serve the country. Latoya Lucas, a combat wounded veteran, advocates for the Major Richard Star Act, which would allow combat-disabled retirees with fewer than 20 years of service to collect retirement pay and VA disability compensation.

For Latoya Lucas, becoming a veterans' advocate started from her hospital bed at what is now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Lucas remembers waking from a deep, medicated sleep and seeing a card left by her bed. The card was from DAV. "Just so I knew that they were there," she said.

As someone whose life had just been forever changed by war, Lucas knew how a small gesture could be deeply meaningful. Soon, her husband was pushing her in a wheelchair, going room to room, visiting other wounded service members and trying to lift their spirits.

"I couldn't serve in uniform anymore, but I knew I wanted to continue to serve in another way," she said. It's a goal Lucas has since far surpassed.

"Latoya has been a staunch advocate for ill and injured veterans and has been an incredible inspiration to so many women veterans," said DAV National Legislative Director Joy Ilem. "I could not be prouder of her -- for all her years of serving her fellow veterans and for her personal growth and tenacity to never let her injuries define her or hold her back from living a full and meaningful life."

Lucas joined the army in 1999 and became a heavy construction equipment mechanic. By the time she deployed to Kuwait in April of 2003 at the start of the Iraq War, she was married and had a two-year old daughter. Through intense heat and sandstorms, her convoy drove past burned-out American military vehicles. She thought of Shoshana Johnson, one of seven soldiers ambushed and captured by enemy forces on a similar journey just weeks before. Eleven other soldiers had been killed.

Then, on July 21, 2003, three months into her deployment, Lucas came faceto face with the perils of war. Before daybreak, Lucas was in a two-Humvee convoy and headed down the dark, desolate road they so often traveled.

She remembers seeing the first rocket propelled grenade (RPG) narrowly miss the lead vehicle and hit the front of hers. A second RPG hit directly under her seat, ejecting her from the Humvee. As Lucas woke on the ground bleeding, she heard enemy gunfire. Then she saw her Humvee start rolling down the hill toward her.

"And then my sergeant sat on the back tire to prevent it from really crushing me," Lucas said.

The left side of her body was severely burned. Her pelvis was broken. Flesh from her thigh and arm had been blown off. What followed were multiple surgeries, painful skin grafts and five months of inpatient care at Walter Reed.

Lucas was left with the scars of war and the invisible battle with post-traumatic stress. Twenty-two years later, she still struggles with that trauma, along with pain, limited mobility and cognitive issues. The anniversary of that day is one of reflection, but there isn't a day that goes by that Lucas doesn't think about what happened in Iraq.

And yet, the feeling that overwhelms her most is gratitude. She thinks about how, if she had died that day on the road in Iraq, her two-year-old daughter would have been left without a mother and her husband without his life partner. Instead, she survived, watched her daughter grow into an accomplished woman and celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary in 2024.

"I just feel so blessed...that, you know, God has allowed me since that time to see so much," Lucas said. "I feel like I'm here for a reason, and over the past 20- plus years, I've just been trying to chase that purpose."

Lucas has publicly shared her story countless times, including through DAV's national public service announcement campaign, "Victories for Veterans." She also represented DAV as a member of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.

"To be on that board and represent the combat-wounded female veteran community, it was important," Lucas said.

Today, her advocacy is focused on securing the passage of the Major Richard Star Act, which would allow combat-disabled retirees with fewer than 20 years of service -- like Lucas -- to collect retirement pay, without reduction, along with VA disability compensation.

"I had aspirations of being a career soldier," Lucas said. "That was cut short because I was serving my country." Lucas said the inability to receive disability and retirement pay concurrently is one "injustice that really needs to be corrected" for herself and so many others like her.

Advocating for the bill's passage is just one more opportunity for Lucas to continue her service to veterans, a mission that began in the aftermath of July 21, 2003. "It's just been a remarkable journey," she said.