USASAC employee retirees after 35 years, leaves lasting impact

In 1989, the World Wide Web was invented, the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a gallon of gas would set you back $1.12, and Shawn Costley began a career in foreign military sales.

Thirty-five years later, the 59-year-old U.S. Army Security Assistance Command employee is bidding farewell to a profession that gave him some of the most impactful experiences of his life.

“The reality of what you do (for a living) hits home when you hear the bullets flying,” said Costley, recalling the Persian Gulf War, a global conflict triggered by Sadam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The months long conflict was between Iraq and a 42-nation coalition led successfully by the United States, and Costley’s efforts contributed to the successful delivery and support of PATRIOT missiles instrumental in the defense of Kuwait. “Sometimes when we're just doing daily work, we can lose that sense of urgency because we're not on the front lines, seeing what's happening on the ground.”

But while security assistance workers are coordinating Letters of Request back at home, obtaining waivers and negotiating deliveries, they are ensuring real world success on the battlefield.

“When you flip on CNN and you see one of your tanks roll by in the background or one of your Humvees or CH-47s, it clarifies the importance of what we do with, and for, our allies,” said Costley.

That was a lesson he was perhaps destined to learn early in his career.

The son of an Air Force chief master sergeant and the oldest of four siblings, Costley spent most of his childhood in DOD schools abroad. His first-child sensibilities and strict military upbringing contributed to his entrepreneurial spirit, and he went from making money on his teenage paper route to typing term papers for a dollar a page while attending Norfolk State University.

Costley majored in Business with an emphasis in marketing, but it was a chance meeting at a campus career fair that would turn his fate toward FMS. Thoroughly impressing a Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR) Command recruiter by identifying military aircraft during a briefing, Costley landed himself a job offer as a Logistics Management Specialist before he graduated college.

Costley began working as a NAVAIR intern in Crystal City, Virginia in July of 1989, rotating through multiple specialties over a three-year period. He spent six months working the F-18 program in Melbourne with the Australian military.

His next major assignments were with the Egypt E-2C Hawkeye and NATO SEASPARROW Surface Missile System programs.

He was in his element and “this little thing called foreign military sales,” was proving enjoyable and successful for the young Costley.

In 1992, a reduction in force landed him a position at USASAC, where he continued his country program manager (CPM) duties and called home for the next 33 years.

Costley would work at USASAC, during war and peacetime, from country program manager to division chief, He would amass many awards and accolades, and mentor a substantial number of employees.

He worked Iran, Iraq and Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and from multiple locations that USASAC has called home in its 60 year history—from Alexandria to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and to its current headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama.

Costley said he’s maintained many friendships that were fostered in the early days of his job. His career has come full circle and he has seen almost everything the field has to offer, and he wishes the public could see it too.

“I still think that foreign military sales and security assistance is one of America's best kept secrets,” he said. “You really don't hear about it in the mainstream. The public doesn’t think about things like compatibility or interoperability across forces.”

“They just don’t understand what is required for a successful military operation, especially when working with our allies, the level of logistics needed to take care of that Soldier on the frontline, the clear communication streams and level of cooperation that is required. I wish they understood that better.”

Whether the public sees the effort or not, Costley said he will always feel a deep sense of pride whenever he sees U.S. equipment on the ground and being utilized. And as he retires, he hopes that his security assistance colleagues, if not the public, understand their vital roles in the grand scheme.

Costley said he is retiring from work, not life, and plans to stay busy with multiple business ventures, family adventures and social opportunities.

His retirement ceremony will be hosted by USASAC Commanding General Brig. Gen. Allen Pepper at the command’s Redstone Arsenal headquarters April 4 at 9 a.m. CST. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/usasac.