Major General Jeth Rey.
Major General Jeth Rey, director of the Network Cross Functional Team within Army Futures Command, was presented with the 2024 Army Stars and Stripes award during the 38th annual Becoming Everything You Are (BEYA) conference, held this year in Baltimore, Maryland.
Alternatively called the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, the conference is convened every year to acknowledge and celebrate the best in Army engineering.
MG Rey, who grew up on St. Thomas, enlisted in the Army in 1983 and served as a Signal Soldier before first graduating from the Warrant Officer Candidate School in 1994 as an honor candidate, and then two years later, receiving a commission from the Army’s Officer Candidate School as that year’s Distinguished Honor Graduate. The newly-commissioned officer returned to the Army Signal Corps where he had once served as an enlistee.
“As a teenager, I knew I had to take a chance to be responsible for my destiny. I joined Navy JROTC and then the Army under the motto ‘Be all you can be,’ Maj. Gen. Rey said about his early years in the military. “Over the course of 40 years, I was able to work hard, pay for my educational degrees, develop specialized skills, and have an opportunity to rise to senior leadership."
During the course of his Army career, MG Rey earned three master’s degrees - in telecommunications management and national security studies from the U.S. Naval War College, and in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.
“The Army has offered me unlimited possibilities, and I believe today’s students have the same chance I did, or an even better chance, to find those opportunities with the military. I am glad to be able to continue to connect with young people who want to make a difference,” he said following the receipt of his award during BEYA’s February 16 banquet and awards ceremony.
The BEYA conference is an opportunity for the Army to conduct outreach aimed at bolstering recruitment efforts among students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields, in either uniformed or civilian positions within the Army.
