United States Military
Members of the United States military appear throughout the Modern Warfare games, usually from different branches. US Marines form the primary American forces in the first Modern Warfare with US Air Force and US Navy supporting them during the invasion of al-Asad's country. Modern Warfare 2 primarily focuses on the US Army Rangers, with Air Force and Marines supporting them. Modern Warfare 3 has special operations unit Delta Force in the lead role, who are supported by Army Rangers, regular Army, Air Force, and Navy.For PFC. Joseph Allen and General Shepherd, see Task Force 141.
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1st Force Recon, United States Marine Corps
Vasquez
Lieutenant Vasquez
"Marines! Spotters have a possible fix on Al-Asad in a building at the west end of this town. We're gonna secure the perimeter and grab Al-Asad. Oorah? Lock and load!"
Voiced by: David Sobolov (English)note
Leader of Sergeant Jackson's Marine Force recon unit in the first Modern Warfare game.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Survives a tiny bit longer after the nuke in Remastered, to the extent the player can watch him pitifully walk forward before falling and groaning out his last in "Aftermath". He dies pretty much just before Jackson does.
- Big Damn Heroes: Definitely willing to attempt it, even reminding Jackson that "no one gets left behind", but it gets all of them caught in the blast radius of Al-Asad's nuke.
- Character Death: He doesn't survive the nuke.
- Cool Helmet: Wears a distinctive uncovered MICH helmet decorated with what appear to be kill tallies.
- No Indoor Voice: Granted, when you're in a warzone with at least five guns being fired at any given moment, you kinda have to yell to make yourself heard.
- The Stoic: Along with all American characters except Griggs.
- Token Minority: He's the only member of Latino heritage.
- Verbal Tic: Oorah (USMC shout, equivalent to the Army's Hooah).
Pelayo
Captain Pelayo
Voiced by: Anna Graves (English)note
Pilot of the AH-1W Super Cobra, callsign "Deadly," in the first Modern Warfare game.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Survives a tiny bit longer after the nuke in Remastered, to the extent the player can watch her on the ground, coughing and choking as she dies a slow, agonizing death in "Aftermath". She dies pretty much just before Jackson does.
- All for Nothing: All the effort lead to save her ends up so, considering every single one of them end up dying, including Pelayo.
- Character Death: She doesn't survive the nuke either. Nobody does.
- Danger Deadpan: She is the pilot of "Deadly", and does a great job at keeping her cool.
- Smurfette Principle: She's the named female character in this game.
- The Stoic: She is pretty casual about everything that happens to her in the mission. Of course, that isn't without any cause.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her Helicopter crashing leads to leads to a rescue attempt which wastes valuable time, causing Jackson's team to get caught in the blast radius and get killed. Downplayed in that the radius is so big that they might have not gotten away regardless.
Paul Jackson
Sergeant Paul Jackson
The marine shown on Modern Warfare promotional materials, believed to be Sgt. Paul Jackson.
Player character for the Marine Force Recon segment of the first Modern Warfare game.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Oh boy, he somehow gets it worse in Remastered's version of "Aftermath" than the original. The generic pain grunts get replaced with more unique gasps of pain, his stumbling is more pronounced and he audibly whimpers in sheer agony when he finally gives up the ghost.
- Black Dude Dies First: Though he's not seen in game, it is believed that he is the marine on promotional pictures, and it appears that he's black. He's also the first major Player Character to die, beginning Modern Warfare's august tradition of Anyone Can Die. Downplayed in that he is the last member of his squad to die.
- Character Death: The first combatant Player Character to be killed.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Blown up by a nuke. Then you get to see through his eyes as he helplessly staggers through the radioactive landscape and dies. It arguably gets worse for him in the Remastered Edition
. - Decoy Protagonist: The early parts of the game made it seem like that he will play a major role in the story alongside Soap. As it turns out, his fate is to die halfway through the game.
- Do-Anything Soldier: Not to the extent of Ramirez but close. Somewhat more justified, as he is a sergeant and is usually given a small team to support him.
- Heroic Mime: He doesn't talk in-game.
- Player Character: Of the Marine missions in the original Modern Warfare.
- Plot-Triggering Death: It's the deaths of him and the 30,000 other marines and the worlds apathetic response to it that serves as the primary motivation for the second half of the Big Bad Ensemble of the second game.
- Sacrificial Lamb: His death is pretty much made to emphasize that the game isn't exactly holding back any punches. Especially towards the Player Character.
Griggs
Staff Sergeant Griggs
Voiced by: Mark Grigsby (English)note
SAW gunner for Jackson's Force Recon squad in the first Modern Warfare game.
- Author Avatar: He is modeled after and voiced by Infinity Ward employee Mark Grigsby.
- Black Dude Dies First: While he is one of the few Americans to survive the nuclear blast, he is the first major Bravo member to die, though Gaz wastes no time following him.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: His Russian interrogators start looking for a hacksaw, before Price and Gaz kill them.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He gets shot while dragging the paralyzed Soap to safety.
- Number Two: He seems to be second-in-command of Lt. Vasquez's unit.
- Sole Survivor: He's the only member of the player's USMC squad to survive the nuke.
- Theme Tune Rap: The end credits feature a rap sung by him.
- Token Minority: He's this to the joint operation with the SAS as the only African-American member.
U.S. Army Rangers, 1st Battalion, 75th Regiment, Hunter 2-1
A specialized, elite American special operations force capable of conducting direct action operations. Based in Fort, Benning, Georgia. The Rangers are a light infantry unit that can deploy rapidly and are trained to be extremely flexible in the special missions they are assigned, specializing in airborne assaults (both by helicopter and parachute).
Foley
Sergeant Foley
"Everyone get to your vehicles! We're moving out!"
Voiced by: Keith David (English)note
Leader of Ramirez's Army Rangers squad in Modern Warfare 2.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Foley's plastic bump helmet (indicated by its skateboard helmet looking holes) with its attached comms headset may make him look badass, but it's questionable that he's wearing one during the later phases of the game, as it's designed without protection from small arms or the effects of artillery (such as fragmentation) in mind, to protect the wearer's head from blunt force trauma from Improvised Explosive Devices, typically whilst in a vehicle during a a roadside attack.
- Whilst this initially made sense during the start of the game when Foley's unit (as the real US Military was in real life during the games release and the following decade) was fighting the Taliban (or at least their in-universe counterpart which is implied to be affiliated with Al Assad from the previous game). it makes no sense when up against Russian Ultranationalist Forces who have access to far superior supporting arms.
- Regardless if this is an oversight on the developers part or if Folely simply didn't have the chance to exchange his helmet because of the fast paced escalation of of Russian-American hostilities, his and the other Rangers bump helmets are ultimately relics of a very recent but radically different time, when the US was fighting a Counter Insurgency (COIN), as opposed to a Conventional War. With the thought of Afghan War Veterans being recalled from the Middle East to literally fight WW3, at one point taking the form of trench warfare outside the White House being the last thing anyone was expecting.
- As for his headset, it's reduced to a decoration when an EMP from a ICBM affects Washington DC. forcing his squad to use flares to signal with the rest of the Army to avoid getting killed by a planned bombing.
- Badass Boast: He gives one to Shepherd during the intro cutscene of "Exodus":Foley: (to Shepherd) "Just point it out on a map, sir. They won't take it."
- Bash Brothers: With Dunn and Ramirez.
- Determinator: His response to a SAM damaging his helicopter? Damn well not to retreat and land, that's for sure.Foley: Then take us up! If we're going down, we're taking as many of those SAMs with us!
- Expy: He shares the name and rank of Captain Foley from the first Call of Duty; doubles as a Mythology Gag.
- Large Ham: He likes to shout his orders, but then again considering the circumstances. You can't really blame him.
- Sergeant Rock: The man is tough, brave, and cool. He leads his squad through tough all kinds of tough situations and achieved amazing feats, like saving many civilians from the invasion and saving the White House from bombing."Just point it out on the map, Sir. They won't take it."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Is a no show during Modern Warfare 3, although considering that most of the US Military is trying its best to push back the Russians, he and his squad were probably busy with another mission.
- You Are in Command Now: Happens off-screen, but the intro to Wolverines! has him state that he is the acting commander of Hunter Two-One, meaning that their commissioned officer has been killed, wounded, or is otherwise unavailable (i.e. was on leave and unable to return to his unit due to the surprise attack). Which also explains why a sergeant is being directly ordered by NORAD HQ and a Lieutenant General.
James Ramirez
Private James Ramirez
The Ranger shown on Modern Warfare 2 promotional materials, believed to be Private James Ramirez.
Player character for the US Army Rangers segment of Modern Warfare 2.
- The Ace: The scoreboard in The Pit shows that Ramirez has the second-highest score in his entire company, second only to the mysterious "BX". Also a case of Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond, as it's mentioned that Soap and Ghost both beat BX's score by a couple of seconds, which would make them several seconds faster than Ramirez.
- Almighty Janitor: At the rank of Private he already has authorization for and training with basically every weapon system he's ever laid eyes on. And he uses them to pretty much win the war by himself.
- Bash Brothers: With Dunn and Foley.
- Butt-Monkey: Ramirez deserves some kind of award for all the crap he takes during the course of the campaign. The fact that he doesn't die at the end of it like Jackson may well be that reward, though. In fact, by the end of the Modern Warfare trilogy, Ramirez is one of only four surviving playable characters, alongside Frost, the AC-130 gunner, and Captain Price.
- Cool Shades: If it's really him on the cover of the box, then the man has some very slick sunglasses. He even wears them at night!
- Do-Anything Soldier: Ramirez! Do everything! (He was ordered a total of 56 times through the campaign.)
- Heroic Mime: Isn't heard talking in game either in gameplay or in any cutscenes.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's practically the ENTIRE US Army Rangers, despite being just a Private.
- Made of Iron: The amount of punishment he takes is pretty freaking impressive.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Ramirez being ordered to do basically everything short of flying aircraft has reached memetic proportions.
- One-Man Army: Even by COD protagonist standards, Ramirez deserves a mention for density: he's only playable for five missions yet in that brief time he kills several hundred elite Russian paratroops, shoots down six Russian helicopters, blows up eight tanks and IFVs, and pretty much singlehandedly wrecks the Russian invasion force.
- Somewhat subverted in the remaster, although Ramirez still does the majority of the heavy lifting; the remaster made it a point to make it slightly more believable as there are more instances of Foley giving Ramirez an order but also attaching a decent amount of the squad to him as backup.
- Player Character: You play as him during the Russian invasion of the US during Modern Warfare 2.
Dunn
Corporal Dunn
"I don't know what's worse, man - dodging falling helicopters or freezing my ass off in this monsoon."
Voiced by: Barry Pepper (English)note
Foley's right hand man in Hunter 2-1.
- Awesome, but Impractical: His plastic bump helmet with its attached gear such as his goggles become reduced to decorations during later events in the game. See Foley's page for more details.
- Bash Brothers: With Ramirez/Foley, though more often the latter.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Yeah, I'm cutting through History Class now!
- Deadpan Snarker: Has a sarcastic quip for almost every occasion.
- Freak Out: After Price makes the sky fall through overhead nuke detonation.
- The Medic: Dunn is assigned to check over the incapacitated "Raptor", and later on check a downed soldier for a pulse.
- Nervous Wreck: He seems to be suffering a Heroic BSoD throughout "Second Sun" and "Whiskey Hotel".
- Southern-Fried Private: But snarkier and wittier than most.
Delta Force, Team Metal
Delta Force, also known as Task Force Dagger, is an elite special mission unit of the United States Army, under operational control of the Joint Special Operations Command. The unit is tasked with specialized missions primarily involving hostage rescue and counter-terrorism, as well as direct action and special reconnaissance against high-value targets. Delta Force and its maritime counterpart, the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six (also known as DEVGRU), are the U.S. military's primary counterterrorism units.
Sandman
Master Sergeant "Sandman" (Metal 0-1)
"Copy all – we'll get it done."
Voiced by: William Fichtner (English/Modern Warfare 3), Michael Pongracz (Operation Kingfish)note
Live Actor: Ray Davids (Operation Kingfish)
Leader of the Delta Force unit "Metal" in Modern Warfare 3. Commanding NCO to player character Derek "Frost" Westbrook.
- Actor Allusion: William Fichtner previously played a Delta Force operator in Black Hawk Down... a Delta operator named Sanderson and played operator 'Coach' in the game Delta Force: Black Hawk Down.
- Bash Brothers: With Frost and Price.
- Cool Shades: Always seen wearing a pair of shades.
- Determinator: In Scorched Earth, Overlord repeatedly advises Team Metal to abandon the search for Alena, but Sandman insists on carrying through. Even after the Russians drop a damn building on them and Berlin slowly falls, he continues to try and rescue her and end the war. They don't succeed, but not from lack of trying.
- Early-Bird Cameo: He makes an appearance in Find Makarov:Operation Kingfish alongside Frost, covering Task Force 141's entry into the Ultranationalist compound, and later exfiltrating alongside them.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Delta Force, duh.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He stayed behind to cover Price, Yuri and the Russian President.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: They torture Volk to get him to spill information.Price: Did our man talk?
Sandman: They always talk. - Made of Iron: Up until the penultimate level, anyway. He takes a booby-trapped door bomb to the face and still has the presence of mind to wave the squad down from shooting at the escaping kidnappers ten seconds later.
- Manly Facial Hair: He's got a large mustache and also happens to be part of Delta Force.
- Master Sergeant Rock
- Remember the New Guy?: He's revealed to be an old friend of Price, whom he met back in 2013 when they, Ghost, and Soap embarked on Operation Kingfish, the first mission to find Makarov.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Captain Price is considered a terrorist in MW3. Sandman listens to his intel, and works with him to save the President. This is probably because they are old friends.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Word of God has stated that he is the American counterpart to Captain Price.
Derek "Frost" Westbrook
Staff Sergeant Derek "Frost" Westbrook (Metal 0-4)
Live Actor: Justin Major (Operation Kingfish)
An American Delta Force soldier and playable character for several missions in Modern Warfare 3.
- Bash Brothers: With Sandman.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Comes natural with being part of Delta Force:
- The Faceless: Due to wearing goggles & a mask.
- Heroic Mime: Was slated to be voiced, but in the end wasn't. He is a Call of Duty Player Character, after all.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: As per usual. Not to the extent of Ramirez, though still competent.
- Meaningful Name: As a playable character who never speaks, he has the tendency to Stay Frosty.
- Player Character: Controlled by the player character on every mission containing the Delta Force.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: At the end of the mission, "Scorched Earth", he fails to rescue Alena, daughter of the Russian President.
- Sole Survivor: Of Team Metal. He is the only one who is not in the diamond mine when it collapses on top of them. Also, by the end of the Modern Warfare trilogy, he and Ramirez are the only player characters still alive, not including the AC-130 gunner and Captain Price (who's only playable during "All Ghillied Up"/"One Shot, One Kill" and the very last mission of the trilogy).
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Frost does not accompany his Delta Force teammates in "Down The Rabbit Hole", nor does he accompany Price and Yuri on their mission to eliminate Makarov. His absence is never explained. This was due to a last minute change in the mission as there are sound files of Price ordering Frost. Instead he was replaced by Yuri as the player character and his stand-in is killed at the beginning of the mission due to having no pathfinding or dialogues.
Grinch
Sergeant 1st Class "Grinch" (Metal 0-3)
"Shooters in the store below. Switch 'em off?"
Voiced by: Timothy Olyphant (English)note
Another member of Team Metal, who accompanies Frost and Sandman on their missions. Seems to serve as Sandman's right hand.
- Cool Shades: Which he wears even in darkness.
- Deadpan Snarker: Usually to Truck's quips.
- Guns Akimbo: He wields dual Desert Eagles, aimed at different targets in the penultimate mission.
- Note that he is the only NPC to ever dual wield guns, and even the player characters can't shoot them in different directions.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Notable in that he's the only member of Team Metal not to wear a helmet.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Along with Sandman and Truck, he sacrifices himself in the collapsing mine to allow Price and Yuri to escape with President Vorshevsky.
- Southern-Fried Private
Truck
Sergeant 1st Class "Truck" (Metal 0-2)
"What's the score, boss?"
Voiced by: Idris Elba (English)note
The fourth member of Team Metal, and usually the one with the least dialogue.
- The Big Guy: Has shades of this, judging from his tendency to carry the Mk. 46 LMG, his callsign, and his deep voice.
- Captain Obvious: Does it teasingly, often to Grinch.Sandman: Friendlies! Hold your fire!
Truck: That means don't shoot 'em, Grinch.
Grinch: No shit. - Heroic Sacrifice: See Sandman and Grinch's entries.
- The Quiet One: Probably the most dialogue he gets is at the start of some Spec Ops missions, where he's the only one around to talk.
- Token Minority
Other
Warhammer
"Warhammer"
AC-130 FCO: "Ka-boom."
Callsign "Warhammer" is an AC-130 gunship that first appears in the first Modern Warfare to support an extraction of Price's team. Warhammer can be overheard in radio transmissions in Modern Warfare 2, providing fire support around Washington DC. Later on in Modern Warfare 3, they support Team Metal's extraction of Volk from Paris. The names of the crew are never specified beyond their roles in the crew, i.e. "AC-130 TV Operator."
- BFG: All three of the guns on the plane: the 25mm gatling gun, the Bofors 40mm autocannon, and the 105mm howitzer.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Though in the first game, they're not in immediate danger, in the third they actually get shot at by ground fire and Russian planes, but manage to keep their cool.
- The Cameo: Only appears in 2 in background radio transmissions, but they're doing what they do best.
- Death from Above: The actual name of the first level they appear in. It's what they do.
- Escort Mission: You're providing air cover for ground units, containing your other Player Character, both times. It's really cool though, and the ground units are competent.
- Gunship Rescue: Their specialty.
- Heroic Mime: For once in the series, averted. All of them, including the TV Operator, are quite chatty.
- Ludicrous Gibs: "Good hit. I see lots of little pieces down there."
- Player Character: You play as the TV Operator.
- The Squadette: The Flight Control Officer in Modern Warfare 3 is female.
Overlord
Overlord
"Overlord copies all. Good luck. Out."
Commander of the US forces seen throughout the games. Revealed in 3 to be at the rank of General.
- Ascended Extra: Gets a lot more lines and a bigger role in Modern Warfare 3.
- Big Good: The closest thing to one for the US Forces throughout the trilogy.
- The Faceless: His face is never seen.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: His role in the Delta Force-centered missions of 3.
