Member
Shadow Dragon
Daryl "Duke" Graham
Age: 16 years o
Place of Birth: Goldsboro, North Carolina
Physical Description: 5'11, lean and athletic. He has a hard, serious face and hands calloused from farm work. His body seems designed to run long distances and dig in the dirt.
Squad Role: Rifleman
Rank: Private First Class
Equipment: Standard issue uniform, rifle, and side arm. He has a old 24" machete that he brought from home and a regulation tactical knife he keeps strapped to his thigh. He also has on old compass that was passed down from his great grandfather, who was a slave, and a book of philosophy called The Secret Teachings of All Ages that he carries with him like a Bible.
Skills: He grew up working on a farm so he has a habit of waking up early and working late into the day. He has spent a lot of time with the quiet fields and has become a thoughtful soul, so he likes to think before he speaks or acts, a habit that sometimes makes him appear slow when people expect him to answer quickly. He knows how to navigate using the compass and a map, and he grew up singing Barbershop style with his dad and some of the guys in town. He's was a crack shot with the old bolt action rifle his daddy used to hunt with, and he knows the ins and outs of agriculture.
Flaws: He is young and naïve, he tends to follow more than lead. He has a meek self image and is servile to leadership. Sometimes he gets a hot head and barrels himself into trouble.
Fears: He's afraid of not being good enough, or that something is inherently wrong with him. His mother died when he was 11 and he blames himself. He also thinks his father is a coward and he's afraid that he might be one too.
Personality: Quiet and friendly. He loves to sing, and performing has taken away certain feelings of shyness that come naturally to most people. He believes in America and in the principle of the American dream and will not hesitate to defend his country. He can be angry, but he is not an angry person. People would say he seems intense.
Personal History: Duke comes from a long line of farmers; he grew up on the land that his grandfather was able to procure from their ancestors slave owners, so he feels a deep connection to the property. Growing up on a farm he learned the habit of waking up early and working very hard, but his mother insisted on raising him with a strong focus on education, so he learned to love to read. His favorite book is an old book of philosophy that he "borrowed" from the local library of his home town. Studying philosophy is how he learned how to think and to become his own man.
When he was 11 his mother was lynched by a group of Klu Klux Klan members as she was walking home from her job as a school teacher. Duke was furious, and terrified. His father wouldn't do anything about it and refused to discuss it other than to say, "ain't nothing we can do boy, we is born the way we is born, and they was born the way they was born. It's the natural way a' things, the strong eat the weak."
When he turned 14 his father moved to New York and remarried, but Duke stayed behind, intent on trying to keep the farm. When the situation became hopeless and he knew the bank was going to take his property, he figured out how to falsify his birth records to show he was born in 1949 instead of 1953; that was how he was able to get into the military. He figured that through the military he could make a new life for himself, and he wants to make America the beautiful and free place that he imagines it was supposed to be.
He excelled in training because of his hard work, focus, and fitness. They brought him over to Vietnam six months ago and he's been working patrol duty in Hanoi. He just got reassigned to a new squad and was about to see some real action. He's not to keen on killing people, but if it serves the greater good he's willing to do whatever it takes.
