Phoenix native Petty Officer 3rd Class Rene Rodriguez Valdez is serving in the armed forces under the Navy banner.
Rodriguez Valdez, who graduated from Alhambra High School in 2015, is serving aboard the USS Kentucky.
“I wanted to inspire people back home to see that they can do some amazing things even growing up in a challenging environment,” Rodriguez Valdez said in a release. “Having a neighbor who was a Vietnam veteran, I was able to see how proud he was about his time in the military, and I wanted that feeling as well.”
