Zach Muse

Zach Muse enlisted in the Navy on Sep. 1, 1990 and served in navigation during Desert Storm as a Master Helmsman. He was also a Master of Arms during his time in the Navy.

"I knew I was gonna go in the military," said Muse, "just cause everyone in my family goes. I'd flown over the ocean, but I'd never really been in the ocean or anything."

Muse grew up in Great Falls and waited for the next round of boot camp to start after high school.

"Once I got out of boot camp and my school, it was right at the start of Desert Storm, so then I flew over there. My ship was already on its way," said Muse.

Because locations of a ship can't be transmitted over radio during wartime, Muse said they spent several days in Bahrain, flying out in helicopters each day they were able to try to find the different ships.

"A bunch of us would go and we'd try to find each other's ships," Muse said. They would load on to a helicopter, and when they found a ship, the helicopter would land. Sometimes the helicopter would be too big for the ship, so it would land on a nearby ship and they would load into a smaller helicopter.

"It was definitely a different world. When I was in Bahrain, we'd stay in these camps waiting to get our ship, and some days you couldn't fly," said Muse. He said some days they would play basketball, but if the basketball went out of bounds into the dirt, the Marines would yell not to go out after it.

"Everything was mined around there," Muse said. Scud missiles were shot at them, though Muse said the defenses usually knocked the missiles down before they reached the camp.

Desert Storm last 42 days, from Jan. 17-Feb. 28, 1991.

"I loved it. It was fun and different things. Getting missiles shot at your boat and turning around and shooting missiles back," said Muse. "We hit a couple mines and had the ship next to us hit a mine and it blew up. We hit ours and they didn't blow up, thank goodness."

"I think I got there end of December, and then we went home March, I think it was. It takes six to eight weeks to get home, and then you stop and hit ports on the way home, after Desert Storm was declared a victory. We hit Thailand and Bali, Singapore, Hong-Kong," said Muse.

Muse said his time in the Navy taught him cohesion, among other skills. "You're not in it for yourself. You're in it for the bigger picture and the cause and the responsibility and the discipline. I think that the world would be a better place if every kid had to go through two years of military just to learn that," Muse said.

After the Navy, Muse returned to Great Falls.

"I applied to join the Fire Department in Great Falls, but I had to wait for when a test came up, and I applied with the Post Office. They needed people and they hired me, and here I am," said Muse. His first position was in Missoula in 1995, before he eventually took the position in Lincoln.

Muse joined the Fire Department when he got to Lincoln, along with a number of other organizations, including the Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council. He's currently a member of the Disabled American Veterans.