Having served his country 21 years, Lieutenant Colonel Gerry L. Jackson, 352nd Sustainment Support Battalion, relinquished his command in a Change of Command Ceremony March 18, in Macon, Georgia.
LTC Jackson was born in Atmore and graduated from Escambia County High School in 1988. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from Alabama A&M University in 1993.
In 1998, he received his Masters of Forestry Degree in Forest Products Marketing from Virginia Tech. LTC Jackson also has a Master’s of Business Administration from Edgewood College in Madison, Wis.
He is a graduate of the Harvard Senior Executive Program. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Combined Arms and Services Staff School and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
LTC Jackson received his commission through the Reserve Officers Training Corps and entered the Army Reserve in 1993. He was assigned as the Logistics Officer for the 633rd Support Group in Madison, Wisc. in 1994.
He was then reassigned to the 826th Ordnance Company in Madison, where he served in several positions: Platoon Leader, Maintenance Officer and Company Commander. His next assignment was with the 521st Maintenance Battalion. There he served as HHD Commander and later as the Battalion S4. While serving as the S4, LTC Jackson was assigned to lead the 209th Quartermaster Company into Operation Iraqi Freedom, providing multiple functional logistic support throughout Iraq.
Following his deployment, LTC Jackson was promoted to Major in June 2006, where he served as the Battalion Executive Officer for one year. A civilian job transfer took him and his family to Roanoke, Va. in June 2007, where he accepted the 2nd Brigade Assistant S3 position. He was then asked to move to the 1/518th Training Battalion Executive Officer, which he accepted.
In 2009 LTC Jackson received a promotion in his civilian job as the Assistant Director of Business Operations for the USDA’s Forest Service and moved to Asheville, N.C. Upon arrival, he was appointed to the 2/319th Training Battalion as the battalion’s S3 over training.
In 2010 LTC Jackson served as a Regional Emergency Operations Officer for the National Communications System, Department of Homeland Security. His duties included coordinating requests for high-priority National Security and Emergency Preparedness telecommunications service in support of the Executive Office of the President and 24 federal departments and agencies. While serving as an Emergency Operations Officer, he was promoted to LTC in August 2012.
LTC Jackson’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal (twice), Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Armed Forces Medal (1st Hourglass Device, 2nd Mobilization Device) and Army Service Ribbon.
LTC Jackson has served a total of 21 years.
LTC Jackson and his wife Teresa, also from Atmore, have a daughter, Daija, and a son, Jaylen. He is the son of Betty Jackson Holly of Atmore.