Former Navy Analyst Talks About His Unique Military Experience

By: Tim Turner

Jan. 30, 2019

FedEx employee Zachary Borneman is like anyone else,

but he once held a unique job that many people can’t say
they’ve had: he was a Navy intelligence analyst at the
National Security Agency.

Zachary Borneman, or Zach as he prefers to be called, is

currently a Senior Security Advisor at FedEx and lives in
the Memphis area. Although he lives in Memphis, he’s
originally from New York and according to him, joining the
military was something he felt he had to do.

“My father is American, my mother is Japanese,” Zach

said. “Both sides of my family come from a very rich
military history. We trace our military history all the way
back to the Revolutionary War actually. So, when it came
time for me to sign up there was no question.” Photo of Zachary Borneman, Photo by Tim Turner

According to Zach, he didn’t want to be the first generation of his family not to enlist. He spent six years
in the military, but his job was a unique one. He spent all his military time working as an analyst in the
Navy’s intelligence field and worked with the National Security Agency. He reflected positively of the
experience he had.

“While you’re in the grind you don’t know that the work you’re doing is extremely important. It wasn’t
until we got onto the industry side of things that we really saw the impacts of the work we were doing.”

Zach’s job was centered on Venezuela. He led a 15-person team of Marine, Coast Guard, Army, Air
Force, and Navy personnel, and focused on the country’s military and intelligence branches. He said that
a lot of their targets were high-ranking people within the Venezuelan government.

His skillset didn’t just stop at being a Navy intelligence analyst either. He was also trained extensively as
a linguist which came with its own set of challenges.

“In addition to being an intelligence analyst I started off as linguist for the Navy,” Zach said. “They
basically send you to school for varying times depending on what languages you’re learning and at the
end of the course they expect you to be fluent in the language that you were taught.”

According to Zach, it wasn’t as difficult for him to grasp a second language. He said he was lucky enough
to have grown up in a home where his family already spoke two different languages.

Surprisingly, having served in a unique position in the military wasn’t the only moment he was proud to
have done. One of his proudest moments was also being able donate marrow to save a young girl’s life,
and he credited the military for giving him the opportunity to do so.
“I became a donor through the Navy’s donor program and eventually I was lucky enough to match
somebody who was in need of bone marrow donation.”

He also spoke of other opportunities the military afforded him such as meeting great people, getting his
associates degree and getting his bachelor’s degree. He is currently working towards his master’s
degree.

“I honestly loved every bit of my military experience,” Zach said. “I got zero regrets man.”