Soldier of Fortune

Cast of characters

Season 1

Brad Johnson - Major Matthew Quentin Shepherd (former U.S. Army Special Forces; counter-terrorism, special recon, unconventional warfare, infiltration, edged weapons)

Major Shepherd grew up in southern California, the son of a United States Navy A-6 pilot who was MIA during the Vietnam War. Shepherd would later graduate from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. It was there that he excelled at various edge weapons ranging from Japanese short sword, to a sharpened deck of cards.

After he graduated, he received a commission in the United States Army, where he served as a platoon leader at the 82nd Airborne Division and was qualified as a member of both the Army Rangers and the Army's Special Forces. It was during this time that he became an expert in infiltration and small team tactics. Later he would become an expert in counter-terrorism when he joined the elite Delta Force. He would show signs of natural leadership and was promoted to the rank of Major.

While on a peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia, Major Shepherd disobeyed a direct order and returned for an injured soldier under his command. This was the first time he would deliver his code "Everybody comes home." Shortly after the rescue the soldier died in Major Shepherd's arms, but Major Shepherd didn't feel that the rescue attempt was a waste because he got to return the body to the young man's family. After this incident, the Army nearly court-martialled Major Shepherd for disobeying a direct order; however, they instead accepted his resignation. Despite the discharge, he continued to have the respect of his fellow soldiers.

Following his discharge he would be recruited by Xavier Trout, to go on one mission for the U.S. government inside Iraq. Trout felt that the mission would offer the government plausible deniability because none of his team would be connected as active duty soldiers to an actual government. If captured, Major Shepherd and his team would have been executed as spies, so Trout offered them one million dollars if they were successful. Major Shepherd then recruited six others for his mission, Benny Ray Riddle, Margo Vincent, Chance Walker, C.J. Yates, Gunter Hauer and Rico Valesquez. The team would complete the mission but not before the death of Hauer and the injuring of Valesquez. Instead of taking the million dollars, Major Shepherd would ask Trout give the money to Hauer's family and help pay for Valesquez's physical rehabilitation. He would submit a bill for their services and would continue to accept missions like the previous one for the government.

Season 2

Dennis Rodman - Chief Warrant Officer Deacon "Deke" Reynolds (former U.S. Army; helicopter pilot, demolitions)

Deacon Reynolds entered the army after a judge gave him a choice between the military or jail. During his time in the Army he initially served as a demolitions expert before he became a warrant officer and would transfer to aviation. Deke also served in Operation Desert Storm.

Although Reynolds had chosen the army over jail, he never fit into the military culture. He had several insubordination charges in his file, and eventually received a court martial. At this time he would be recruited by Colonel Earl Swanee to perform covert missions for the U.S. government. Swanee could be said to have a similar relationship to Deke that Trout would have with Shepherd's team. However, Deke was not much of team player and would spend most of his time working solo missions. It is implied he has several connections to the underworld black market using this knowledge to provide the team with intel and equipment. When actually with the team, he replaces Chance as the group's helicopter pilot.

After Colonel Swanee's death, Trout asked the team (at this point consisting of only Shepherd, Vincent, and Riddle) to investigate the possibility that it was murder. At the funeral they would meet Deke, who arrived late and kissed Swanee's corpse. Deke agreed to help them find out who had killed his late mentor. When they had accomplished this, Deke, continued to work with the team under Trout. However, he was never a full-time member, usually showing up at the right moment when the team need his help.

This was because in real life Dennis Rodman was still playing basketball with the Chicago Bulls and could not always get time off to shoot for the show.

David Eigenberg - Nick Delvecchio (former DEA Special Operations GS-13; undercover operations, escape artist)

Nick Delvecchio grew in an Italian-American neighborhood in New York City. Delvecchio had a lifelong fascination with magic tricks. He would become an expert at various forms of sleight of hand, lock picking and escape artistry.

Other members

Billy Gallo - Ricardo "Rico" Valesquez (former Navy SEAL; underwater infiltration, combat medic, signals)

Rico Valesquez was a former Navy Corpsmen who joined the SEALs. Little is known about Petty Officer Valesquez, on account that he was not a regular member of the team. When Major Shepherd first recruited him, he was no longer in the Navy but was working as an EMT in Los Angeles, California. After he got a victim to the hospital, he was seen praying for her using a crucifix. This implies that he was probably a Roman Catholic.

Valesquez was injured in their first mission as a team, when he was shot in the arm. He would attend rehab and would eventually get full use of his arm back. Rico would later be seen aiding Major Shepherd in his rehab after the Major was shot in both his legs. It is unclear as to whether or not Rico was doing full-time rehab or if he just came back to help Major Shepherd.

Rico would make another appearance to aid the team when Katrina Herrera would kidnap Benny Ray's son.

Brian Cousins - Lieutenant Gunter Hauer (former GSG 9; demolitions, electrical engineering.)

Gunter Hauer was from Germany, other than C.J., he was the only member of the team who was not an American. During the first mission he was seen portraying a UN inspector in Iraq. However he died before the team left Iraq, Shepard the one who carried him "home"; as such very little about him was ever explained. Shepard had some of the payment go to Hauer and his family.

Although Hauer is supposed to be German, the actor who played him, Brian Cousins, was in fact born in Portland, Maine.

Episodes

Sponsors

Products of certain sponsors would be conspicuously mentioned and/or displayed throughout the show. Sponsors of the show would include SIG Sauer, Ka-Bar, SureFire, Emerson Knives, and Soldier of Fortune Magazine.

In the second season of the show, SIG Sauer pistols (particularly two-tone SIG Sauer .357s) would be in highly visible use by the team, and also verbally mentioned on many occasions. Margot would even be given a SIG P230/232 (sans serial number) for her birthday.

Matt (and other characters) would often be seen wearing a Ka-Bar fighting knife on their torso (Ka-Bar being another regular sponsor of the show).

In one episode, one character would state that he had a subscription to Soldier of Fortune magazine.