Mike Muñoz ’24 has the U.S. Army to thank for his love of history.

Over his 22-year military career, the Access or nontraditional student was stationed in New York, Kentucky, Virginia, California, Kansas, Washington state, Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Japan. He did four combat tours — three in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

At every new post, one of the requirements was to “learn the unit’s history,” Muñoz, a history major with a minor in archaeology, said. “Part of the reception process was a requirement to visit the post museum and I found the information very interesting.

“I felt a sense of pride to be a part of units that participated in major historical events. I served with famous units, such as the 101st Airborne Division, the 10th Mountain Division, 1st Corps, and the 1st Infantry Division, to name a few.”

In the Army, Muñoz was an air defense early warning systems operator and maintainer. As he describes it, his job was to “operate and maintain air defense radar systems and/or the computer systems that showed everything in the air.”

Muñoz rose through the ranks, eventually supervising and training other soldiers and advising officers on air-defense planning. After retiring from active duty as a sergeant first class, he and his wife, Sarah, moved to Lynchburg to be closer to her family.

Once in Lynchburg, he started looking at colleges.

“I knew I was planning on getting my degree after retirement, so I wanted to attend a university in Lynchburg,” Muñoz said, adding that he initially reached out to another local university but was told he “could not get accepted there.”

When Muñoz called the University of Lynchburg, he got an encouraging response.

“I … was told to attend [Central Virginia Community College] for a year and reapply,” he said. “Being that U of L was willing to guide me on my path to my degree, I decided to keep my loyalty with the school that was willing to help me.”

At Lynchburg, Muñoz declared his major and minor and started a work-study program at Historic Sandusky, a house museum owned by the University. This spring, he’s been working on an archaeological project involving Sandusky’s privy, or outhouse.

The privy, which is being encroached upon by a huge tree, is being relocated on the property after careful excavation to avoid damaging or destroying historical artifacts.

“I’m currently taking the archaeology lab class, which required me to do work at the privy site,” Muñoz said, “however, with my work-study, I got to do more work under that role. I also helped out with the kitchen excavation last spring in that same capacity.”

During the privy excavation, he discovered nails, glass, ceramics, and other items. “In my opinion,” he said, “anything found that’s over 100 years old is really interesting.”

On at least one day, Muñoz was joined at the dig site by a group of local elementary school-aged homeschoolers. Historic Sandusky welcomes school children, the general public, and University students, faculty, and staff to participate in its archaeological excavations.

Like his post-to-post military experience, Muñoz thinks it’s important for people to learn about the history of where they live.

“Local history is really important and should be studied by everyone in their own towns and cities,” he said. “Local history gives people an understanding of why their home is the way it is, from culture to economics, to how it looks, to how people act.

“Even if you’re not from where you live, you can learn a lot about your new home from learning the history. It’s great for children to get to experience history in the capacity of archaeology because they get a chance to find something important about their own hometown.

“In a way, these kids get to become a part of that history.”

Muñoz also believes learning history — or not — has an impact on the future.

“Even if a person isn’t a historian or archaeologist, learning about their history gives them a better understanding about why things are the way they are now,” he said. “It could also help them predict what may come in the future with patterns in history.

“They always say that history repeats itself, so knowing these things can help prevent the bad things about history from repeating.”

After Muñoz graduates on May 16, he wants to work at a historical site, perhaps with the National Park Service. He’s currently applying for jobs and believes his experience at Historic Sandusky will be a plus.

Most importantly, however, Muñoz wants to do something he loves. “They say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,” he said. “That’s what I’m shooting for: to do something I love and get paid to do it.”