For his Professional Training: Soldier Merit, he chose Drive as his third Asset Skill.
Professional Training: Soldier also gives him two groups as per the Contact Merit. Those two groups are the Marine Corps and the Washington D.C. Police Dept.
His Barfly Merit not only represents his drinking, but also represents his in-depth investigations into his wife’s murder, where he pounded the pavement throughout the D.C. area.
His high Resolve, Composure, and Stamina allow him to get away with being drunk while on duty.
After their first interaction with Red Sickle in Germany, Hawkeye decided that he needed to make sure he was in excellent shape (boosted his Athletics) and he realized that he needed to think more clearly and not be so rash (Common Sense merit).
Marcus West was raised as an only child in a poor neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His deadbeat father left when Marcus was young. Although very smart (Wits XXX), he never studied very hard in school (Intelligence X). He fell in with the wrong crowd and was arrested for shoplifting and vandalism. After getting out of juvenile detention, his poor grades meant that he didn’t have much of a chance but to join the military. He was lucky that he was accepted into the Marines, who looked past his record. The Marines turned him into an honorable man and he served a tour of duty during the Gulf War. During his early training, he excelled as a long-range marksman and earned the nickname “Hawkeye” (Dexterity XXXX, Firearms XXXX, Sniper specialty, Rifle specialty).
Marcus remained in military service after the Gulf War and was stationed Quantico (Professional Training merit contacts: Marines). It was during this time that he met, dated, and eventually married Tabitha Stevenson. After 9/11, against his wife’s wishes, Marcus volunteered to serve a second tour during the invasion of Afghanistan (due to his Virtue of Justice), where he continued to impress his superiors with his quick thinking, willingness to obey orders, and toughness (Resolve XXX, Stamina XX, and Composure XXX). He had learned passable Arabic during his downtime at Quantico (Language Merit, Arabic), and once in Afganistan, he started learning a smattering of Russian that was still spoken in the northern reaches of the country (Language Merit, Arabic). He was informed after returning from a remote mission that his wife had been killed in her home in D.C. Her death had been ruled a homicide as part of a robbery. This turned Marcus into a somewhat brooding individual who became more and more focused on meeting out justice to those who break the law (Virtue of Justice).
Marcus was later severely injured when his company’s transport was hit with an IED. He was sent home, and after months of rehabilitation, he still had not fully recovered the use of his left leg, leaving him with a limp that prevented him from returning to the front lines with his Marine squad (-1 to Speed). During this recovery, Marcus spent every waking moment attempting to gather information on his wife’s murder (Virtue of Justice), making several friends in the D.C. Police Department (Professional Training merit contacts: D.C.P.D.).
During this difficult time, Marcus turned to the bottle for solace and became an alcoholic (Vice of Gluttony, Barfly merit). He managed to hide this (for the most part) from his superiors (Resolve XXX, Stamina XX, Composure XXX). He eventually managed to convince the powers-that-be that although he was no longer fit for field duty, he could still be useful as a transport pilot, so for the next few years, he trained to become a Marine pilot (Drive skill, Pilot specialty, Professional Training bonus asset skill: Drive). He continued to serve in this capacity for another tour of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, during which time he also obtained valuable field medic training (Healing skill, Field Medic specialty).
Marcus’ combined skill set, as well as his tenacity and willingness to follow orders marked him as a prime candidate for TRU.
Marcus is confident in himself and his abilities, but he doesn’t speak about himself much. He rarely talks about his personal life, preferring to talk only about currently relevant topics. His limp is not noticeable unless he runs. He does not concern himself with the morality of his orders — he does what he is told to the best of his ability. He has an intense loathing for rule-breakers and criminals, although he has all but given up hope for finding his wife’s murderers. Times of high stress are what Marcus lives for, when he can forget everything and focus on the job at hand. Idle time is when his mind thinks about Tabitha and he reaches for the bottle. He is a passable, but reluctant leader, fearing that his orders might place others in harm’s way.
He carries a vintage Mauser Model 1898, called “Jennie,” with several custom upgrades that he uses as his sniper rifle.
For his Professional Training: Soldier Merit, he chose Drive as his third Asset Skill.
Professional Training: Soldier also gives him two groups as per the Contact Merit. Those two groups are the Marine Corps and the Washington D.C. Police Dept.
His Barfly Merit not only represents his drinking, but also represents his in-depth investigations into his wife’s murder, where he pounded the pavement throughout the D.C. area.
His Crafts skill represents both mechanical repair (for autos as well as planes) and for gunsmithing (enough to clean and repair guns, at least).
His Languages merits were both learned partially while on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then later honed during study back at home.
He is also a well-trained field medic and has a fully-equipped medical kit.
His high Resolve, Composure, and Stamina allow him to get away with being drunk while on duty.
(TV character he is most like: Gibbs from NCIS.)
