COLONEL COMMANDANT CORPS OF ENGINEERS ASSUMES DUTY
Major General HCP Goonetilleke RSP USP ndc psc assumed duties as the 12th Colonel Commandant of the Sri Lanka Corps of Engineers on 15 December 2014 at the Headquarters of the Corps of Engineers Panagoda.
Major General Goonetilleke enlisted in the Sri Lanka Army on 31 August 1981 having completed his primary and secondary education at St Benedict’s College Colombo 13 and Royal College Colombo 7. He followed the Basic Officer Cadet Course at the Sri Lanka Military Academy Diyatalawa passing out as the Best All Round Officer Cadet winning the Sword of Honour. He was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers as a Second Lieutenant on 17 July 1982.
Major General Goonetilleke has engaged explicitly in National Security, Human Resource Management, Training, Humanitarian Emergency Relief, Disaster Risk Reduction, Youth Development, Administration and Logistics at the tactical, operational and strategic level. Some of the key appointments held by him include Security Force Commander (Central) and Military Secretary Army Headquarters during post conflict, Security Force Commander (Kilinochchi), General Officer Commanding of 56 Division and General Officer Commanding Mannar Area during the Humanitarian Operation from 2006 to 2009, Commander 551 Brigade, Commander 533 Brigade, and Commanding Officer 7 Field Engineer Regiment (secondary role) during high intensity counter insurgency operations, Director Training Army Headquarters and Directing Staff Army Command and Staff College Sri Lanka.
He is a graduate of Defence Services Command and Staff College Bangladesh and National Defence College Pakistan. He holds a Master’s Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the National Defence University Pakistan. He has been awarded a Diploma in Personnel Management by the National Institute of Business Management Sri Lanka. He was conferred with the HR Leadership Award at the Asia Pacific Human Resource Management Congress Awards 2014.
