United States Navy Petty Officer Second Class Joshua Carabajal was born in Frankfurt, Germany, whose father served on active duty in the U.S. Army and retired after twenty-four years of service. Joshua attended and graduated from Kenwood High School in Clarksville, Tennessee in 2003. He enlisted in the Army in 2009 and attended basic and advanced individual training at Fort Knox, Kentucky to become an M1A1 Abrams Armor Crewman or Tanker. Joshua’s first duty station was in the 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Carson, Colorado, serving in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, nicknamed the “Iron Knights” – the oldest armored unit in the U.S. Army. He later deployed to Afghanistan from 2010-2011 as a member of “Task Force 1-66,” conducting patrols in Regional Command -South during Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2012, Joshua changed his military occupational specialty (MOS) and became a Patriot Missile Operator and Maintainer and attended school at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. He was then stationed at Camp Carroll, South Korea from 2013-2017, serving in Delta Battery, 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade.
Joshua completed his active-duty Army service in 2017 and used his Post 9/11 G.I. Bill to pursue an undergraduate degree at Austin Peay State University for two years. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in web and digital design at the University of Maryland Global Campus, and moved with to Germany his wife, Rattana, who was serving in the U.S. Army.
Joshua later enlisted in the U.S. Navy on March 15th of 2024, to become a Mass Communications Specialist, attending his training at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) in Ft. Meade, Maryland. After completing his training, he was assigned to the American Forces Network (AFN) in The Kingdom of Bahrain with the Naval Support Activity Bahrain to work in broadcasting. Joshua worked as a radio DJ and in charge of the video team. Today, he is a student in the prestigious Advanced Military Visual Journalism (AMVJ) program at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, pursuing a master’s degree in multimedia, photography, and design.
Joshua’s proudest military moment was applying for and being accepted to attend the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course or SFAS course in 2016. It was the greatest experience and test of my mental, physical, and emotional limits.
