Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Apostol, a 2010 Renton High School graduate, is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur.

Apostol is an operations specialist aboard the forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer operating out of Yokosuka, Japan.

A Navy operations specialist is responsible for operating the communications, radar, and navigation equipment that tracks ships, aircraft, and enemy missiles and communicates tactical information to supervisors and other operators, a blog post stated.

“I learned the value of persistence from my parents which has helped me accomplish many things in the Navy,” he said in the post.