I sat against a tree, my FN SCAR MK17 rifle near me, I was trying to figure out where I was, as I had only just recently arrived here.
Backstory:
Jackson Shepard is an Ex US army ranger, turned mercenary and vigilante, who has taken many jobs alongside some independent vigilante work.
Born in 1990 in St. Louis, Missouri, his mother left when he was young, wanting a fresh start, his dad moved him to New York City, where his dad became a firefighter, in 2001, his dad was killed during 9/11, leaving Jackson an orphan, the memory of that event stuck with him through his life, causing Jackson to eventually join the US Army in 2008, where he met his best friend, Elijah. Jackson and Elijah did 2 tours in Iraq before joining the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment together, where they saw continued deployment in Afghanistan.
In 2015, during a routine patrol, his squad was hit by an IED, and then ambushed by enemy insurgents, where he watched Elijah and the rest of his squad die. He evaded capture for days in the desert, wounded, he was only saved when a British SAS unit found him and brought him to a nearby base. Wounded, he was sent back to the United States, attending the funerals of his squad, before rejoining, and redeploying, until his honorable discharge in 2020.
In 2021, Jackson watched the sloppy withdrawal of US Forces from Afghanistan, and the subsequent hostile takeover. He watched on the news as the enemy they fought so long to prevent from taking over Afghanistan, took over, their takeover being sped up due to the fact the US government practically left millions of dollars of equipment behind for said enemy, watching this, he realized his friends and many other soldiers died for nothing. This caused him to grow angry and bitter towards the US government, seeing that the entire war on terror was a lie, that the men who fought and died weren’t dying for the freedom and liberty of the afghani people, but instead were dying so the rich could get more oil and profits from the Middle East.
Unable to return to civilian life due to his PTSD, he became a mercenary, and a vigilante. having a nihilistic and cynical outlook on life.