Name: Reginald Arthur Byrne
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Profession: Retired U.S. Army Sergeant & Sapper. Pest Control/Extermination Expert & General Handyman.
Description: Salt-and-steel hair and rheumy steel blue eyes bright with intelligence, as well as a thick beard and moustache that is generally well maintained but has a bit of scraggle around the cheeks and throat like a proper bachelor. He has a frame just under 6'0" that has slumped a bit with age and introversion so that he tends to look smaller than he is. His skin is deeply weathered, aged by the sun, and fine red capillaries along his nose and cheeks are the mark of someone who has had a lifelong relationship with alcohol. He has faded tattoos on his upper arms, at his shoulder, related to his former military service. One also sits upon his left side, just above his rib cage. The outside of his lower left arm sports a pinup beauty with a magnolia flower tucked behind one ear. All are in the same simple, monochromatic aged ink. A worn gold band is always on his left ring finger. He is usually found wearing layers. A pressed shirt and trousers, a jacket, and a knit cap are his usual. He pairs this with heavy work boots that are well tended. He has added a thick, comfortable grey hoodie and a dense coat with a large collar to help keep out and slick off rain or snow if necessary. Despite his age and size, he is quite wiry and spry. A highly active life has given him the benefits of fitness and flexibility.
Weapons: As a career military man, Reggie had a long experience of martial training in addition to his duties as a seasoned combat engineer. He has explosive ordnance and driver/mechanic experience. Additionally, he was a crack shot with a rifle as a child and young man hunting with his father and brother; and translated that into a hobby of competing in U.S. Army and Interservice competitions. An expert marksman and habitual tinkerer, he still keeps his first childhood rifle, his service rifle, and a handful of others won over the years in his workshop; and uses them to practice a few times a month at least when he can get out of the city. He trades some light maintenance and a cup of joe to the the guard at a firing range for free access to use the facility.
- 1956 Winchester Model 88 .308 Rifle (x1)
- 20 round box of FGMM .308 Winchester ammo (x5)
- Remington 870 SPS Super Magnum Rifle (x1)
- 10 round box of Winchester Long Beard XR ammo (x5)
- Karambit, Folder
- Neck Knife, Tactical
- Boot Knife, Fixed/Thrower
- Al Mar SERE Combat Knife, Folder
- Sheath Knife, Fillet
Equipment: In addition to bulking up his clothing, Reggie has one standard pack complete with all the trappings you would expect to find a combat engineer carry into the field on him and one spattered in blood in his van. The weapons (not all tools) are listed above. The additions to the standard equipment carried are as follows:
- Keys to a Pensioner House (x2)
- Keys to a Dodge Maintenance Van (x2)
- Dodge Maintenance Van (x1)
- Gin Flask (x1)
- Reusable, Deflatable Hydro Flask (x2)
- Jar of Peanut Butter (x1)
- Packet of Tuna (x12)
- Waterproof Matches (x17)
- Green Apple (x2)
- Engraved Pocket Watch (x1)
- Packet of Letters and Photographs (x1)
Background: Raised in the backwoods of West Virginia, Reggie had a happy childhood with a traditional and happy family. He got on well with his brother and was a fairly average student and child. It was pleasant and he took the wide-eyed country boy of his youth into military service when he was old enough as most men in his family did. He came back home on leave whenever possible and fell deeply in love with his childhood sweetheart, Geraldine. They were married in a big ceremony under the tree that bore their initials and his happy life only seemed sunnier. His military service was enjoyable, but he was too gentle and easy a spirit to want to make a career of it. It was only something he did to honour the traditions of his family and see a bit of the world.
A few months before his conscription expired, he received word of an accident at home. Geraldine had been at her family's farm when a fire broke out. While they all rushed to put out the fire, a section of the stables had collapsed and she perished. The leave that sent him home all seemed like a blur and the gentle boy from the backwoods died along with her. That was 21. He said farewell to his parents when his time was up and went back to promptly extend his service.
Though he still returned home to see his family on holidays and leave time to go turkey hunting with his father and brother, he was never quite the same. He served as a U.S. Army Combat Engineer until the age of 40. He had been forcefully promoted to Sergeant, though he had no interest in promotion and declined a further promotion to remain in the service at a desk job. He spent those many years expanding his knowledge across all of the niche areas of engineering, content to quietly and efficiently do his duty.
When he retired from active service, he roughed it for several months, torn between returning home and simply walking off the grid now that his useful years were behind him and he had no desire to be a burden on his family. News of his father's illness drew him home, where he cleaned up and took care of his mother while his younger sibling, who had foregone military service, lent him a hand with managing the farm in addition to his own little adjoining operation.
His father passed and he had spent years recapturing something like happiness with his remaining family. His mother passed peacefully in her sleep when he was 53, and his younger brother passed not long after at only 45 of a massive heart attack. Heavy-hearted, he moved his brother's widow onto the main farm and signed over the land in trust to their children. No longer able to bear the streams and woodlands where he had known so much happiness and so much pain, he decided to follow an old childhood friend to Denver, Colorado where he served as an independent exterminator and handyman alongside him.
The pair shared a small house on the outskirts of the city and took jobs all over and around Denver. They were a bit of an odd couple, but both benefitted from the companionship even if Reggie only did about a tenth of the actual talking. When the outbreak hit Denver and the EMP took out the power, the two had fallen back on their old training and habits, collecting their gear and hoofing it for their vans.
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Originally Posted by Rayne7
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