General (U.S. Army, Retired)
General Walter L. Sharp commanded the United Nations Command, Republic of Korea—United States Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea from 3 June 2008 to 14 July 2011. Command positions earlier in his career include armor Company Commander 1st Battalion, 67th Armor, 2nd Armor Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Squadron Commander 1st Squadron, 7th U.S. Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood Texas; Regimental Commander 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Polk, Louisiana; Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Red Cloud, South Korea; and Division Commander, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia. He also commanded troops in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and SFOR’s Multinational Division (North) in Bosnia.
General Sharp had four assignments at the Pentagon on the Joint Staff. He was the Deputy Director, J5 for Western Hemisphere/Global Transnational Issues; the Vice Director, J8 for Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment; the Director for Strategic Plans and Policy, J5; and the Director of the Joint Staff.
Born in Morgantown, West Virginia while his father was fighting in the Korean War, Walter moved among many cavalry posts as a child until he went to the United States Military Academy in 1970. He graduated from West Point in 1974 and was commissioned an Armor officer. He has earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Research and System Analysis from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and is a graduate of the Armor Basic Course, the Field Artillery Advanced Course, the Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.
General Sharp is married to the former Joanne R. Caporaso of Brooklyn, New York. The Sharps have three children; Elizabeth, married to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Weyrauch, commanding the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, 1st BDE, 1 AD at Fort Bliss, Texas; Steven, working as a Human Resource specialist in Rosslyn, Virginia; and Kevin, working as a climatologist in Boulder, Colorado. The Sharps have two granddaughters, Emma Rose and Hartley Virginia Weyrauch.
General (Ret) and Mrs. Sharp live in the Washington, D.C. area. He is the Honorary Chairman for the DOD Korean War Commemoration Committee and serves on the Board of Directors for the Korean War National Museum, Library, and Cultural Center. General (Ret) Sharp has also written for and spoken at several D.C. area think tanks concerning strategy and policy for Northeast Asia and especially Korea.