Hometown: San Jose, CA
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit: Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command, Coronado, California
Military Honors: Joint Service Commendation Medal (3), Navy, Army, Navy/Marine Corps Commendation (3) Medals, 1 with Valor
Date of Sacrifice: May 28, 2015 - in Chula Vista, California
Age: 39
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

“Zach” Buob was born in Santa Clara, California, on November 29, 1975, and became the third generation in his family to serve his country in the U.S. military. During the Vietnam War (1959-1975), Buob’s father, Gary, served as a Navy aviation electrician on P3 Orion anti-submarine patrol aircraft. Both of his grandfathers served in World War II (1939-1945): Anthony Goularte was a Navy Gunner’s Mate and Milford Buob was an Air Force Civil Engineer.

As a boy, Buob’s family lived in San Jose, California, where Zach graduated from Independence High School in 1994. He played soccer and had a passion for rebuilding and riding dirt bikes with his father. He’d continue his love for motorcycles for the rest of his life.

After high school, Buob worked briefly in a cabinet-making shop, then decided to enlist in the United States Navy on March 8, 1995—carrying on his family’s tradition of service to his country.

Buob was sent to Naval Station Great Lakes north of Chicago, Illinois, where he completed basic training in December 1995, and remained for Gunner’s Mate ‘A’ School.

From 1996-2000, Buob was stationed in San Diego, California aboard the USS Antietam (CG 54). His tour of duty included three deployments as a Gunner’s Mate on the guided-missile cruiser, in support of Operations Southern Watch and Vigilant Sentinel in the Arabian Sea.

In 2002, Buob went to Naval Base Coronado in California for Naval Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) training. After completing the rigorous course, he was assigned to Special Boat Team TWELVE (SBT-12) in Coronado.

Special Boat Teams are elite units used for Navy SEAL insertion/extraction on clandestine missions. At Coronado, Buob was qualified on the Mark V Special Operations Craft and the Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) Combatant Craft.

According to U.S. Navy SEAL Travis Lively, “I have worked extensively with both MKV and RHIB operators…In my experience, they are always the first to show up and the last to leave. The bottom line: Boat Guys are the unsung heroes of the Naval Special Warfare Community.”

SBC Buob completed five deployments from 2002-2010. He transferred to a forward-deployed Special Warfare Unit for a year in 2011, then returned to Special Boat Team TWELVE in 2012, with another deployment in 2014.

According to the U.S. Navy, “SBC Buob served with distinction at SBT-12 for over 11 years, both in the continental United States and overseas in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia in support of the Naval Special Warfare mission.”

His last offshore duty was to provide security with SBT-12 for President Barack Obama’s month-long Christmas visit to Hawaii in December 2014.

In 2015, SBC Buob served as Operations Chief and Instructor at Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command in Coronado. A life-long motorcycle enthusiast, Buob was riding on the highway in Chula Vista, California, when he was killed in a road rage incident on May 28 of that year. He was 39 years old.

SBC Buob served his country in the United States Navy for 20 years. His mother, Kathy Buob, told the local San Diego NBC affiliate, “The military was his second family.”

At the Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command in Coronado, the classroom in which SBC Buob was an instructor was named the “Zacharias E. Buob Classroom” in his honor.

Sources
Details provided by Ms. Kathy Buob, SBC Buob’s Gold Star Mother.
United States Navy: Memorial Service—In Memory of Chief Special Warfare Boat Operator Zacharias Edward Buob, June 24th, 2015
San Jose Mercury News/San Mateo County Times on Jun. 6, 2015, via Legacy.com: Zacharias Edward Buob
United States Navy: USS Antietam (CG 54)
NavySeals.com: Navy SWCC – The Navy’s Elite Boat Warriors
NBC7 San Diego: Road Rage Victim’s Mother Shares Memories of Son
Burial Site: Find a Grave