[hider=Sergeant Mad Jack] [b]Name:[/b] Sergeant Jacques ‘Mad Jack’ de Vries [b]Age:[/b] 26 [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Height and Weight:[/b] 176 cm, 76 kg [b]Speciality:[/b] Leman Russ Tank Commander [b]Appearance:[/b] Jack has sharp green eyes that cannot seem to hold still for any given time. His light brown face is unusually clear of scars for his rank. He usually has a palpable sense of energy about him. Slightly thin for a guardsmen, something he blames on ‘having an office job’. His most distinguishing feature is a burn mark on the inside of his arm, result of a reloading accident. In combat, whenever his face is visible it usually sports a massive grin. [b]Uniform:[/b] Black coveralls, fireproof and perfect for hiding grease stains and soot. A helmet with integrated comms protects him from both noise and any unexpected jostling. While the coveralls are heavy duty and fire resistant, they are not proper body armour and should not be seen as such. [b]Armament:[/b] Lascarbine for self defence and of course his one true love, the Leman Russ ‘Cearbannog’. A standard pattern Leman Russ with hull mounted lascannon and heavy bolters in sponson mounts. Combat knife. [b]Personality/Demeanour:[/b] For Jack, at the moment at least, life is simple: there are enemies of Mankind out there, and it is his job to go and kill the everloving shit out of them. And boy does he love his job. Even after more than half a decade of service his earnest and adventurous spirit still shines through in speech and mannerisms. This ranges from his habit of singing battle hymns in the thick of it to encouraging younger troopers with advice and tales of ridiculous heroism. While he is aggressive he is far from stupid. There has never been a recorded instance of Jack ever losing his cool ever, even in the grips of rage or panic. He jokingly claims he has that rarest of the Emperor’s blessings, common sense. [b]Greatest Ambition:[/b] He has heard of the legends of Knight Commander Pask and wants to top the man’s record. So far he’s had yet to have his big break. [b]Greatest Hatred:[/b] Ever since a his first, viscous skirmish against Dark Eldar he has a particular hatred reserved for the bastards. [b]Skills:[/b] If it moves Jack can control it. Most of the time at unsafe speeds. Navigation. Strategy. Singing. Always alert, always looking around. [b]History:[/b] As implied by his nickname, Jack is considered to be a bit messed up in the head due to always volunteering for difficult assignments. Initially recruited from the agriworld Nendardel, his experience with racing on tractors (based off the Leman Russ chassis) made him a great tank driver right off the bat. Born to a relatively wealthy land owner his early life is something he considers a bit of a bore. Driven thirsty for adventure by the stories told by his local priest he enlisted in the Imperial Guard voluntarily. On his homeworld this made him a certified lunatic as Nendardel was peaceful and quiet and someone had to be out of their mind to leave the planet of their own volition. He got his first real taste of combat in a short but intense conflict with a group of Dark Eldar raiders on the agriworld of Chion VII. During a battle for one of the provincial capitals his Russ had the turret blown off killing both the commander and the gunner and leaving Jack in charge of the tank. Rather than retreat from the unseen tank destroyer or panic he slammed down on the throttle forward and used a dip in the terrain to hide his now much smaller tank. From there, coordinating carefully with the remains of his unit, he managed to sneak into the enemy back lines where, armed solely with a hull mounted lascannon and sponsoon bolters he proceeded to sow utter chaos among the Eldar lines, personally liberating two dozen transports worth of civilians. When asked to comment on his highly successful if reckless run, he reportedly shrugged and replied with 'it was great fun and I'd love to do it again?'. Soon after, he was promoted to commander of the Leman Russ 'Cearbannog', the tank he has commanded ever since. In the siege of Vernum Jack was part of an early thrust into the capital, however the defences proved tougher than initially anticipated and his regiment was decimated quite early on. Recognising the untenable situation Jack ordered what few men still left to lay low, and hid his tank in a twisting mess of warehouses in the poorer districts. From there he awaited the arrival of the next wave by conveying crucial targeting data to the artillery batteries and generally being a hidden menace to the green tide. With the assault on the way he is ready to pop out of hiding and link up with the army proper once more. [b]Miscellaneous:[/b] He and his surviving comrades from Nendardel are best known for two things. The first is their comparatively relaxed easy going attitude off duty, being tolerant of quirks of people from other worlds rather than annoyed. Secondly the crew share a small portable garden of plants from their homeworld which can be smoked as a replacement for normal Lho sticks. For obvious reasons this makes them quite popular on extended campaigns. OoC, the regiment is loosely based on the current Dutch Royal Army: Relaxed and easy going during down time, professionally morose and dedicated when on the clock. There are two subtypes in the regiment: Those who volunteered for a life in the IG and conscripts drafted to make up numbers and meet the demands of the tithe. Volunteers are generally seen as nutcases on their peaceful agriworld home, they are adventurous, bold and prone to sick practical jokes. Conscripts tend to be more grounded and practical with a penchant for lazing about if the opportunity arises. Commander - Sergeant Jacques 'Mad Jack' De Vries Driver - Corporal Frits 'Blitz' Feenstra Gunner - Guardsman Frank Goossens Loader - Guardsman Jonas 'Hunk MacSlabmuscle' Lubbers Radio operator/hull gunner - Guardsman Willem Maas L Bolter - Guardsman Marc Rutte R Bolter - Guardsman Diederick 'Rick' Samson [/hider]