Major General
Jere W. Sharp

Born in Monticello, Georgia, on March 10, 1929, Jere W. Sharp, was commissioned as an Infantry lieutenant upon graduation from the US Military Academy in 1950. In 1953, after completing assignments as a rifle platoon leader in the Korean War and an instructor at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, he transferred to the Ordnance Corps.

Following a brief tour at Picatinny Arsenal, Sharp obtained his Master of Science degree in Engineering Science from Purdue and was subsequently assigned as an instructor in the Department of Mechanics at West Point. Next, he served first in the Directorate of Maintenance, US Army Support Command, Fort Richardson, where he was responsible for theater-wide general support maintenance, and then as Assistant Chief Engineer at Headquarters, Army Materiel Command. During the height of the Vietnam War, Sharp assumed a number of key assignments: Commander of the 725th Maintenance Battalion, 25th Infantry Division; G4 of the 25th Infantry Division; and Chief of Assignments, Ordnance Branch, Department of the Army.

Sharp then began a series of assignments that distinguished him as an Army procurement officer. From 1970 to 1972, he was the Project Manager for the GOER family of trucks, responsible for overseeing the program from contract award through initial deliveries. From 1972 to 1973, he served as Director of Procurement and Production at the Tank-Automotive Command, supervising the execution of a several hundred million dollar procurement program for a wide array of combat and transport vehicles. From 1973 to 1974, he served as Director of Procurement and Production in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Logistics, where he introduced a system for tracking lead-times, production rates, delivery delinquencies, and engineering changes that added precision to the Army's budgeting and allocation process.

In 1974, Sharp briefly set aside his work in procurement and assumed command of the US Army Ordnance and Chemical School at Aberdeen Proving Ground. As the Commandant, he integrated the training and combat development functions of the Ordnance and Chemical Corps; developed self-paced and computer-assisted training courses; and participated in major studies involving chemical defense, forward area maintenance, cannibalization, and vulnerability models.

All of his subsequent assignments built on his previous experience and expertise in procurement operations. He served as the Director of Procurement and Production, Headquarters, Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command; the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics for Security Assistance, Headquarters, Department of the Army; Chief of the Joint US Military Assistance Group, Korea; Deputy Commanding General for Resources and Management at Headquarters, Army Materiel Command; and ultimately as Director, Contracting and Production, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army. In his final assignment, he instituted a secure system for the procurement of goods and services compliant with all laws and regulations.

MG Sharp retired in 1985 after 35 years of distinguished service.