Major Sharpe, like his commander, is an oddity in the British Army.  A ranker who rose to gain a commission, he's a 12 year Army veteran who wears campaign flashes most people have to look up to identify.  Notoriously foul mouthed and blunt, it's no surprise Colonel Nelson would ask for him as his number two.

Whatever his lack of social skills and refusal to defer to his 'betters' when he should, Sharpe is a competent and efficient officer who's rumored to have served in Spain and elsewhere before the outbreak of the current conflict.