[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 108 (Monday, June 29, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING CHARLES B. ROBERTSON AS A DISTINGUISHED LEADER IN CENTRAL 
                FLORIDA FOR MILITARY APPRECIATION MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 29, 2026

  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Dr. Charles B. Robertson as a 
Distinguished Leader in Central Florida for Military Appreciation 
Month. Dr. Charles B. Robertson served in the U.S. Navy as a hospital 
corpsman for four years during the Vietnam War. He was on the USS 
Forrestal in 1967 when it had a fire in the Gulf of Tonkin that took 
the lives of 134 men. In his second tour in Vietnam, from 1968 to 1969, 
he was a member of a Military Provincial Health Assistance Program 
(MILPHAP Team) in Quang Tri, comprising one medical doctor and 15 
corpsmen, assigned to medically treat civilians.
  He subsequently worked for several government contracting companies. 
At PRC System Services Company, he was the contract manager for the 
design of the landing strip and conversion of pads 39A and 39B from the 
Apollo/Saturn program to the Space Shuttle program at Kennedy Space 
Center. He was later presented with a certificate, signed by John Young 
and Bob Crippen, with a silk American flag which was on board the first 
space shuttle, launched on April 12, 1981. At Martin Marietta in 
Orlando, he became the director of Air-Launched Missile Systems 
subcontracts after negotiating with the U.S. Air Force to produce the 
LANTIRN Program. He was responsible for $1.5 billion of a $3 billion 
contract. He was named ``Subcontracts Employee of the Year.'' He then 
worked at ICSD Corporation in Poinciana Industrial Park, where he 
served as director of programs. He later negotiated the sale of ICSD to 
DBA Systems, Inc., headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, a 5,000-
employee company specializing in Electro-Optical and Imaging Systems. 
He then became the vice president and corporate secretary of DBA 
Systems. He later negotiated the sale of DBA Systems to Titan 
Corporation in San Diego, California, and left the company in 1999. 
During this period, he completed his studies and obtained a bachelor's 
degree in business administration and economics, as well as M.S. and 
Ph.D. degrees in business management.
  Dr. Robertson started a custom home-building company in St. Cloud, 
Florida, in 2000. He subsequently became the president of the Home 
Builders Association of Metro Orlando, the area vice president of the 
Florida Home Builders Association, and sat on the Boards of Directors 
of the local, state, and national Association of Home Builders (NAHB). 
He was awarded ``Contractor of the Year'' in 2005 by the local 
association and was selected by the NAHB to build the showcase home, 
``The New American Home,'' on Lake Nona for the 2008 NAHB convention 
held in Orlando, Florida. On February 20, 2006, the Board of County 
Commissioners of Osceola County proclaimed February 21, 2006, Charles 
``Charlie'' Robertson Day, honoring him for his commitment to Osceola 
County.
  Dr. Robertson also served on other Boards of Directors, including the 
Education Foundation of Osceola County, the St. Cloud Chamber of 
Commerce, the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, the St. Cloud Little 
League, and the Board of Advisors for the College of Engineering at 
Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. He supports the 
Museum of Military History in Kissimmee, Florida. He served as an elder 
at E3 Community Church in Orlando, Florida, and participated in ``Kids 
Beach Club,'' a Bible-based after-school program that taught elementary 
children Christian life principles. He also coached many years in the 
baseball and football leagues in St. Cloud, Florida.

                          ____________________