Lieutenant Colonel Frey is from Huntington Station, NY and graduated from Saint Anthony’s High School and the University of Scranton, PA (BS Finance). He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in May 2005 via Officer Candidates School.
After The Basic School in Quantico VA, 2ndLt Frey completed Primary Flight Training with the VT-6 “Shooters” at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field FL in April 2007, and reported to the VT-9 “Tigers” at NAS Meridian MS for Advanced Jet Flight Training. First Lieutenant Frey was designated a Naval Aviator in June 2008 and was ordered to Navy Fighter Attack Squadron 125 the “Rough Raiders” at NAS Lemoore CA where he earned the 7523 F/A-18 Hornet Pilot Military Occupational Specialty. In June 2009, he reported to Marine Aircraft Group (MAG)-11, Third Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar CA, was promoted to Captain and assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), the “Black Knights.”
From June 2009 to July 2013, Capt Frey served with the Black Knights in both operations and maintenance, with his final 2 years as the squadron’s Pilot Training Officer (PTO). He deployed to Al Asad Air Base Iraq in 2009, to the Western Pacific (Japan, Korea, and Australia) in 2011, and again to USCENTCOM in 2012 as part of the first deployment that became Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC). Capt Frey graduated from the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) Marine Division Tactics Instructor course 2-11 and the Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 2-12 and was invited back to be an F/A-18 Instructor Pilot at MAWTS-1.
From July 2013-July 2016, Capt Frey served as an F/A-18 Instructor Pilot, and the Marine Corps Subject Matter Expert (SME) for F/A-18 Air-to-Air Employment, F/A-18 Air-to-Air Gunnery, F/A-18 Air-to-Ground Gunnery, F/A-18 Target Attack Planning, and TACAIR (F/A-18, F-35 and AV-8B) Target Weaponeering at the Marine Corps Advanced Weapons School, MAWTS-1, located at MCAS Yuma AZ. While at MAWTS-1, Capt Frey instructed and evaluated aircrew from every F/A-18 squadron in the Marine Corps, personally rewrote the Marine Corps F/A-18 Air-to-Air tactics, techniques, and procedures for joint and 4th-5th generation Fighter Integration (FI), known as the Hornet Standard Game Plan (HSGP) and was simultaneously dual-qualified in both the F/A-18A-D and F-5N/F.
After graduating from the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) course at NAB Coronado CA as the honor graduate and from the Air Officer WTI course, Capt Frey joined 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Twentynine Palms CA in July 2016. Capt Frey served as Regimental Air Officer, Joint Terminal Attack Controller Evaluator (JTAC-E) and Forward Air Controller and deployed with SPMAGTF-CR-CC in 2017.
In January 2018, Capt Frey reported to VMFA-112 the “Cowboys,” MAG-41, 4th MAW at NAS Fort Worth TX for duty back in the F/A-18. He was promoted to Major and served 2 years as VMFA-112 Operations Officer in addition to time as the Director of Safety and Standardization, Assistant Aircraft Maintenance Officer, MAG-41 WTI and MAG-41 Operations Officer. Maj Frey participated in over 2 dozen training detachments across the continental United States and while deployed to the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM, Japan, South Korea, Guam) in 2021-22. He was promoted to LtCol and assumed the duties of VMFA-112 Officer-In-Charge (OIC) on 1 April 2024.
LtCol Frey holds nearly every Flight Leadership Designation and Tactical Instructor Qualification and has accumulated over 2,500 mishap-free military flight hours, with over 2,200 in the F/A-18A-D Hornet and approximately 100 in the F-5N/F Tiger II. He is also a full-time student in the Texas Christian University (TCU) Neeley School of Business Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program, class of 2025.