Commandant Queen’s Gurkha Engineers – Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Castro
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Castro was born in Botswana and raised in South Africa by English parents prior to moving to England to complete his education. Following a period of soldier service, he commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers in 2008 and has served with 28 Engineer Regiment in Hameln as a Troop Commander and Squadron Operations Officer and 32 Engineer Regiment as the Adjutant and Officer Commanding of 26 Field Squadron. In the Staff environment, he has served in Headquarters UK Strategic Command as the Operations and Capability lead for the Overseas Bases Directorate, executed the duties of MA to the Chief of Staff Policy and Finance in PJHQ and has been the Officer Commanding of the Royal Engineer Trials and Development Unit in Minley.
He has deployed twice to Afghanistan, initially as an Operational Mentor to the Afghanistan National Army and again a few years later with the United States Marine Corps as the Afghanistan National Army Engineer Development Officer in Regional Command Southwest Headquarters. He has also conducted operational tours to Iraq as part of a Divisional Headquarters, South Sudan in command of a deployed Sub-Unit and Nigeria as the Chief of Staff.
He is an avid sportsman and has represented Unit, Corps and the Army in a number of fields, namely hockey, football, cricket, swimming, basketball and rugby, achieving overseas Army colours for the first three, although lately is only involved in Corps and Army cricket as a player and in an official capacity. He firmly believes that sports and exercise can make a huge contribution to an individual’s physical and mental health, as well as offering the benefits of interacting with family, friends and colleagues.
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan was thrilled to be selected to Command 36 Engineer Regiment and the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers and is looking forward to his tenure at Invicta Park Barracks.
