Salvo

Powers:

(none)

Equipment:

Helmet (s): when in action with the Joes, David wears a helmet at all times, mostly because he knows just how lethal his equipment is. This headgear provides David his Strength +2 protection from attacks that strike him in the head, and has a shatter-resistant visor to protect his eyes from shrapnel and other flying detritus.

the Joe-Com (i): this is a new device given to all Joes since the group's reactivation. This high-tech wristband functions as an audio/video transceiver with various other goodies built in to help a soldier on the go, and is described in greater detail in its own equipment entry.

Missile Launcher (i): the primary implement in his role as an anti-armor trooper, this weapon allows David to destroy most anything he encounters - and that which he can't smash, he can definitely disable post haste. These rockets inflict intensity 10 damage to everything within striking (near missile) range of their impact point.

Submachine Gun (a): supplementing his combat capability should he face an opponent not quite tough enough to need rockets, David can use this to plug foes for his Agility +4 damage with a single shot, or his Agility +5 damage in a semi-auto burst. It has a bottom-mounted laser targeting device for a +1 to hit - even if David doesn't use it.

Hindrances:

(none)

Skills:

Artillery (a): to fulfill his primary specialty of blowing things up spectacularly, David has been trained in the use of most serious military hardware. He can wield most line of sight weaponry, usually devices rated with a really high caliber, at one difficulty level lower than would normally be necessary.

Boxing (s): a large part of David's basic military training, this skill describes his ability to fight the good fight even if he runs out of his considerable arsenal of explosives. He has the ability to divide his pre-cardplay action score between two unarmed melee strikes, the last of which occurs as a contingent action.

Marksmanship (a): another portion of David's Army basic training involved an education in the fine art of utilizing firearms to maximum effect. Whether he's brandishing standard, semi-automatic or fully automatic rifles or pistols, or even a shotgun, David may do so at one difficulty level lower than is usually required.

Military / United States (w): the font of training for his other talents, this skill serves as a handy origin for David; he gets his stuff and talents from the Army after all. This skill gives David has an ingrained understanding of military policies and procedures (the S.O.P.), as well as government benefits and pensions.

Repair (a): David's secondary military specialty involves the repair of malfunctioning explosive devices such as TOW and Dragon missiles. Of course he's pretty competent at fixing most complex mechanical items, and he may attempt to fix most any mechanical item at one difficulty level lower than usual.

Calling:

Thrill-Seeker, with a secondary calling of Soldier: though he's not in it solely for cheap thrills, David really does like blowing things up for a living. The Army lets him do so, so David cheerfully tolerates the downside of the military life in order to regularly generate smoking, charred piles of Cobra armor.

Costume:

David's second Gi Joe uniform is similar to his first. It includes a dark red T-shirt with 'the Might of Right' written on it, gray trousers, black leather boots, a red wrist watch, a black leather belt, black knee pads, and a black helmet with a mirrored visor covering his eyes.

Personality:

While he's something of a luddite, David nonetheless enjoys blowing things up in the most spectacular manner possible. This means he generally enjoys his time with the Gi Joe team, since there's always something or other that needs blowing up. Blowing things up to help your country... it doesn't get better than that!

Real Name: David K. Hasle, Grade E-7
Occupation: anti-armor infantryman, weapons repairman
Legal Status: citizen of the United States with no known criminal record
Marital Status: single
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: Gi Joe

Height: 6'
Hair: light brown (though occasionally shaved off completely)
Eyes: brown
Weight: 200 lbs.
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: other than his occasional shiny cue-ball head, none.

Story:

David is one of those guys that really, really likes blowing things up. Fireworks are fun, mind you, but they just lack the impact (as it were) of a rocket propelled grenade twisting a metal object beyond recognition. As such, David went to get a job at the one place where he could scratch his explosive itch: the Army!

Breezing through his basic training, David managed to get an 11-H MOS assignment, and excelled to the point that he got to regularly deploy anti-armor and anti-personnel mines and TOW missiles in hotspots around the world. Truly enjoying his work, David only improved in the fine art of spontaneous demolition over time.

When the Gi Joe team found it needed another anti-armor operative, the powers that be offered him a position on the team - assuming he didn't wash out of the truly grueling entrance 'exam'. Knowing that the team has been in active combat against various terrorist organizations since 1982, he was more than happy to make the attempt.

Getting on the team with ease, David was quickly put to work. His first documented mission with the Joes involved assignment with Rock 'n Roll and Dusty as infantry support of an armored vehicle moving through the Cobra-besieged nation of Benzheen, where they were in an almost lethal confrontation with the insane Metal-Head.

Him being perhaps the one person on earth that likes blowing things up more than David himself. Mind you, Metal-Head uses all manner of advanced, computerized targeting mechanisms, the sort of devices that David finds to be anathema to the fine art of Doing Business, which makes them perfect nemeses for each other.

Of course, before the two could kill each other with overwhelming firepower, they were called off by the official end of hostilities, this occurring when Cobra Commander successfully blackmailed the Emir into paying him off in exchange for not totaling his precious oil reserves. Not that anyone was happy to stop fighting.

The next major conflict David took part in with the Joes involved a Cobra assault on the Pit III, launched in order to test the group's new radar suppression systems, which were basically a quantum improvement on their old Pythonization process. David took part in the defense against Cobra's B.A.T.-based siege on the complex.

Though wiping the Gi Joe team out would've been a nice bonus, that wasn't the ultimate goal of this particular attack, and as such the villains counted this technology test as a victory, even though they were ultimately routed by the Joes - although they'd suffered serious casualties and untold millions of dollars in equipment damage.

The rest of David's missions with the Gi Joe team have yet to be documented, as most were highly classified 'special missions', the details of which have yet to be revealed - even to this very day. David stuck with the Joe team until it was disbanded in 1994, at which point he was returned to conventional military forces.

Although it was thought the Gi Joe team was no longer needed at this time, world events quickly proved otherwise, and Special Counter-Terrorist Group Delta was reinstated but a few years later. Though not chosen to rejoin the team initially, David was eventually brought back into the fold when the team needed his anti-armor expertise.

Cobra's always coming up with new, more dangerous armored vehicles that could use wrecking, after all. He remained with the team through some of its worst fights in this new era, up through and including World War III itself, when Cobra actually conquered the world itself for a short time.

Thanks to the Joes, this situation didn't remain in play, but the team stuck around once Cobra was finally defeated (again). Remaining in play to help secure the world while it repaired the damage Cobra did, as well as to capture all of that group's remaining fugitives, the Joes will likely be around for quite some time...

Extra Goodies:

Gi Joe directories featuring a version of Salvo: