A Southern California native, Joshua Frey graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television Studies. He went on to receive his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the American Film Institute, Los Angeles in 1999. He was direct-commissioned as an Ensign in July of 2000 in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

He served as Media Operations Officer at Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet based in Bahrain from 2002 to 2005. He provided Public Affairs support to Maritime Interception Operations against Iraq, as well as Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, coordinating with U.S. State Department and Gulf Cooperation Council government counterparts to embed Arab media outlets.

Lieutenant Commander Frey went on to serve as the Deputy Public Affairs Officer at Commander, Naval Surface Forces from June 2005 to June 2007, where he contributed to communications efforts for the creation of the Surface Warfare Enterprise, and the Littoral Combat Ship, and the standing up of Class Squadrons (CLASSRONs).

He reported to Maritime Civil Affairs Squadron One in July 2007 as Officer-In-Charge of Maritime Civil Affairs Team 101, where he completed a successful deployment to Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines and Timor Leste in support of Pacific Partnership 2008, coordinating Humanitarian Civic Assistance projects ashore. For his work in Civil Military Operations, he earned an Additional Qualifying Designator in Expeditionary Warfare.

In July 2009, Lieutenant Commander Frey became Assistant Officer-in-Charge of Navy Public Affairs Support Element West and fleeted-up as Officer-in-Charge in January 2010. He went on to receive his certificate in Public Diplomacy from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California in July 2010, prior to detaching.

Lieutenant Commander Frey reported to the Afghanistan Pakistan (AFPAK) Hands Program in August 2010. He deployed to Afghanistan from March 2011 to March 2012, where he served as Capacity Outreach Chief to the Government of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the International Security Assistance Force’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. He received a Masters of Arts in Strategic Security Studies for South and Central Asia at National Defense University in June 2013. He is currently on his second Afghanistan deployment as an AFPAK Hand.

His personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with a gold star, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with two gold stars, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and various campaign and unit awards.