Captain Rex Boonyobhas is a native of Silver Springs, Maryland. He entered the Navy through the Officer Candidate School at Pensacola, Florida. Prior to entry into the Navy, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from University of Mississippi. Additionally, he holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Boonyobhas’ shipboard tours include USS ALEXANDRIA (SSN 757) and USS ALABAMA (SSBN 731) (BLUE). During his assignment on the ALEXANDRIA, he served as the Reactor Controls Assistant, Main Propulsion Assistant, and Assistant Weapons Officer and completed two deployments and a Depot Modernization Period. As the Strategic Weapons Officer, on the ALABAMA, he completed an Engineering Refueling Overhaul, Demonstration and Shakedown Operations (DASO), Strategic load out and three strategic patrols, earning the designation qualified for command of submarines.
His shore tours included Instructor duties at Naval Submarine School in New London, CT where he taught Sonar, Tactics and Leadership. He was also hand selected to be the Strategic Weapons Officer at Commander, Submarine Group NINE in Bangor, WA.
Following selection as an Engineering Duty Officer, Boonyobhas served as a Deputy Project Superintendent for the FY16 USS SEAWOLF (SSN 21) Extended Docking Selected Restricted Availability, and the Deputy Business and Strategic Planning Officer at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. Following his tour at PSNSY&IMF, he served as the Maintenance Readiness and Improvement Officer at Submarine Force, US Pacific Fleet. Then at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, he served as the Production Resources Officer (Code 900), the Operations Officer (Code 300) and the Business and Strategic Planning Officer. Prior to being the Commanding Officer at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, he served as the Maintenance Requirements Officer at Commander, US Pacific Fleet from September 2022 to June 2023.
Captain Boonyobhas is authorized to wear the Navy Meritorious Service Medals, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, as well as many unit and campaign awards. He is married to Nan Pongsriwat and resides in Crane, IN.