JAMAICA, QUEENS, N.Y. \u2014 New York Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Rich Kastor assumed responsibility as the senior enlisted leader of Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery Regiment, during a ceremony at Jamaica Armory in Queens, N.Y., on Aug. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n
Kastor replaced 1st Sgt. Robert Delgado, who stepped down after serving as the battery\u2019s top noncommissioned officer.<\/p>\n
Capt. Rodrick Ortiz, the new Charlie Battery commander, oversaw the transfer and emphasized Kastor\u2019s vital role in maintaining unit discipline, physical standards, and combat effectiveness.<\/p>\n
As first sergeant, Kastor serves as the commander\u2019s primary enlisted advisor and takes charge of the daily training, welfare, and readiness of the battery’s Soldiers.<\/p>\n
Kastor comes into the position following his promotion to the senior enlisted rank earlier that day. His wife Laura, and their children, Dutton and Grady, were officially welcomed into the artillery community during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
The Queens-based unit operates M777A2 155-millimeter towed howitzers and routinely trains to respond to state emergency mobilizations and overseas federal deployments.<\/p>\n
Ortiz also recognized Delgado for his dedication and leadership in keeping the battery\u2019s artillerymen trained and mission-ready.<\/p>\n
Delgado kept his parting remarks characteristically brief and focused entirely on physical readiness and discipline.<\/p>\n
\u201cActions speak louder than words,\u201d Delgado told the formation.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s hit this physical training test, everybody,\u201d Delgado added. \u201cLet\u2019s roll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before relinquishing his duties, Delgado\u2019s wife, Yvonne, and his children, Ariel, Eric, and Marcus, were recognized for their patience and unwavering support throughout his military service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JAMAICA, QUEENS, N.Y. \u2014 New York Army National Guard 1st Sgt. Rich Kastor assumed responsibility as the senior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-324342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}