Recognizing the Retirement and Accomplishments of David R. Castellano

Floor Speech

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Ms. SHERRILL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. David Castellano, who retired this month after 42 years of faithful and dedicated service as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army and in the Senior Executive Service.

After graduating from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Mr. Castellano chose to apply his knowledge and experience to the U.S. military's armaments enterprise, including at Picatinny Arsenal located in NJ-11. The contributions he has made to our national defense, and to our allies' defense, are enormous, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

In 2003, Mr. Castellano was appointed to the Senior Executive Service. He later became the first Executive Director of the Weapons and Software Engineering Center, where he was in charge of over 1,400 employees between Picatinny Arsenal and other installations in New York and Maryland. The Center provides software support for critical combat and weapons systems.

In 2016, Mr. Castellano tackled a new challenge in innovation and modernization efforts as the Executive Director of the Munitions Engineering and Technology Center at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center. There, he led a top team of engineers and researchers in the development and implementation of over 1,200 munitions and armaments systems for the Army, the Marine Corps, and Special Forces combat teams. Thanks to his efforts, the Armaments Center has continued to develop and sustain combat systems that both our warfighters and our allies depend on and will continue to into the future.

In gratitude for his outstanding service, Mr. Castellano has been awarded the Presidential Rank Award, the Secretary of Defense Medal, and the NATO Certificate of Recognition. In addition, he also received several prestigious awards from the National Defense Industrial Association including: the Lt. Gen. Thomas R. Ferguson, Jr. Systems Engineering Excellence Award, the Firepower Development Award, and the John A. Ulrich Lifetime Achievement Award.

I want to thank Mr. Castellano for the critical engineering and systems work that he and his team have done over his career to support our national defense, and I wish him the best for a well-earned and restful retirement.

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