Crew Leader, Veteran Fire Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps, Durango, CO
Before joining the Army National Guard, Zach worked as a Licensed Practitioner Nurse at a Specialty practice in western Colorado for four years. He found this experience to be very rewarding, but also very challenging with long days and nights; burnout was a big reality. Looking for something different, but still in the medical field, he joined the National Guard. After preliminary screening it was determined that he would be fit to work as a medic (MOS 68W), and he quickly jumped on the opportunity.
Zach shipped out to basic training at Ft. Jackson, SC, and then to occupational training at Fot. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. Shortly after finishing all of his training he was unexpectedly deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan for a year where he worked in the 947th Engineering Unit from Colorado. After his deployment he returned stateside and was active until spring 2015 when he took his current position as a Crew Leader for the AmeriCorps-based Veterans Fire Corps Program at Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC).
Before becoming a Crew Leader with SCC, Zach was involved with the Veterans Fire Corps program through Arizona Conservation Corps in Tuscon. There he came to really enjoy the work, as well as the people he got to work with. Every day he is excited to go out into the field and help others progress and succeed in the Veterans Fire Corps program. Though fire has become a lingering interest for Zach, for now he wants to stay involved in VFC programs for the foreseeable future.