Kottegoda enlisted into the Sri Lankan Army in February 1970, upon his completion of his Officer Cadet training at the Sri Lanka Military Academy, Diyatalawa, then called the Army Training Centre.
•
Kottegoda was born to S. H. P. Kottegoda and Sheela Kottegoda on 6 November 1949, in Kottegoda, Matara, in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.