[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 23887]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT COMMANDER CLAYTON O. MITCHELL, JR., CIVIL 
                   ENGINEER CORPS, UNITED STATES NAVY

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I take this 
opportunity to recognize and bid farewell to an outstanding naval 
officer, Lieutenant Commander Clayton O. Mitchell, Jr., upon his 
departure from my staff. Lieutenant Commander Mitchell has truly 
epitomized the ``Can Do'' spirit of the Seabees and Navy core values of 
honor, courage, and commitment during his assignment as a Navy 
Legislative Fellow on my staff. He has been a valued team member who 
has had an enduring impact upon the State of Mississippi. He will be 
sorely missed.
  Lieutenant Commander Mitchell reported to my staff from Naval Mobile 
Construction Battalion Seventy Four, a Seabee battalion homeported in 
my home State of Mississippi. As operations officer for the 
``Fearless'' Seabees of NMCB 74, he directed the military and 
construction operations for the unit at 11 deployment sites throughout 
the Atlantic coast, Caribbean, and Central America in addition to 
leading disaster recovery efforts in the aftermath of hurricane 
Georges. He spearheaded recovery operations which helped clear roads 
and restore vital services at Construction Battalion Center Gulfport 
and the Mississippi Gulf Coast within 24 hours.
  Lieutenant Commander Mitchell is a 1985 industrial engineering 
graduate of California Polytechnic State University (Cal-Poly), San 
Luis Obispo. He was commissioned as an Ensign through the Officer 
Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island after working two years as an 
engineer for Rockwell International. He began his career as a Navy 
Civil Engineer Corps officer with Chesapeake Division, Naval Facilities 
Engineering Command as the Assistant Resident Officer in Charge of 
Construction, Andrews AFB, Maryland. He then reported to Naval Mobile 
Construction Battalion Forty for two nine month deployments which 
included Assistant Officer in Charge, Detail Sigonella, Sicily and 
Officer in Charge, Detail Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean 
Territories.
  After his first Seabee tour with NMCB Forty, Lieutenant Commander 
Mitchell then attended the University of California at Berkeley, 
earning a Master of Science degree in civil engineering. He followed 
Berkeley with an assignment to the United States Naval Academy as Shops 
Engineer in the Public Works Department, directing a 270 member 
workforce responsible for the Academy's facilities maintenance, 
transportation, and utilities operations.
  His next challenge was as Facilities Planning Officer, Public Works 
Center, Yokosuka, Japan. In this capacity, he directed a host nation 
construction program with over $1.7 billion in projects under design 
and/or construction. He spearheaded execution of some of the Navy's 
most critical projects in Japan, including the delivery of 854 family 
housing units with the completion of the $1 billion Ikego family 
housing complex and a $41 million carrier pier at Yokosuka. For nine 
months during this tour, Lieutenant Commander Mitchell also served as 
Staff Civil Engineer to the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Japan, where 
he was the Navy's ``go to'' man for facilities and civil engineering 
issues.
  Lieutenant Commander Mitchell has also made a significant impact in 
the various communities in which he has served. He directed a 
Mids'N'Kids tutorial/mentorship program, providing Annapolis youth with 
a midshipman sponsor and access to Naval Academy facilities on a weekly 
basis during the school year. As treasurer for the Samuel P. Massie 
Educational Endowment, he distributed over $35,000 in scholarship 
awards to Maryland college and university students. In 1995, he was 
recognized as the ``Volunteer of the Week for Father's Day'' by the 
Annapolis Capitol newspaper for his contributions in the community. In 
1997, he was recognized by Black Engineer magazine with an ``Engineer 
of the Year: Special Recognition Award'' as one of the nation's 
promising young engineers of the future.
  On my staff, he has established himself as a consummate professional 
providing guidance and oversight on a plethora of Department of Defense 
issues ranging from Defense health care, military construction, 
shipbuilding, and various weapons systems programs. His efforts also 
yielded over $100 million in research, development, test, and 
evaluation funds for Mississippi Universities.
  Lieutenant Commander Mitchell is married to the former Karen Elaine 
Blackwell of Washington, D.C. and their family includes daughter, 
Kendra and son, Austin. He is a registered professional engineer in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia and a Seabee Combat Warfare qualified officer 
who enthusiastically returns to his Navy. I have appreciated greatly 
Lieutenant Commander Mitchell's contributions to my team and wish him 
fair winds and following seas in the future.

                          ____________________