Character Concept
Frank Simpson has more in common with the Vietcong than with half of the men in this Army. They're wild sometimes, howling at the moon. They're wily sometimes with their foxholes and their punji pits. Not like half of the sadsack fucks he gets sent out with. Americans forced into service. Forced into service. Vietcong ain't forced into fucking shit. These boys are out here fighting like goddam lions. These Vietcong make for one hell of an enemy, it is almost a shame he has to kill them. It is almost a shame he has to kill every last god damn Vietcong in Vietnam until the job is done and America is safe. Hell someone has to do it don't they? Who better?
This is Frank Simpson's war. These are the enemy. These are the battlefields. It's a hell of a goddamned thing. He calls himself Nuke, at least he used to. Brass didn't like it. Said it was problematic. Doesn't matter. He's going to end this war the same way the Nukes did. He started calling himself Captain America. Maybe the brass didn't like that either but goddam if the men didn't love it. His men. Oorah. My concept with this character is largely to contrast with the 1950s ethos, world view, and upbringing of Steve Rogers' Captain America. Steve Rogers' Captain America has a very rose tinted nostalgic view of what America is, was, and will be. Though that may change. Frank Simpsons' Captain America has a much more jaded view on these things. They have many stark differences and many similarities they are not aware of.
I want to explore how Frank Simpson sees things based on his upbringing and experiences both in life prior to Vietnam and in actually fighting in it. He will have his own perspective on Steve Rogers' Captain America and vice versa, hopefully leading up to an eventual direct confrontation. In regard to America's and Captain America's role in a war, role globally, and role in peacetime they will be largely diametrically opposed.
Part of these differences are due to upbringing and experiences and part of it is due to maturity.
Where Steve Rogers' Captain America is at his core a good man trying to do the right thing and protect all Americans Frank Simpsons' Captain America is a man who has been preparing for war all his life and is now in the thick of it. I want Frank Simpsons' Captain America to be essentially the villain at least for awhile. I haven't quite determined if he will be even partially redeemed, but I want him to be a villain with some positive characteristics rather than a caricature. He will have some stances that are laudable, maybe even some things he is better with than Steve Rogers, but he is a troubled violent man.
I am not quite sure how or if we will address race, sex, and class issues in this, but Simpson will be essentially Animal Mother from FMJ in those regards. From the end of the movie not the earlier bits. He's a little crude, he's a bit of an ass. He's not a racist. He's a pig but not a sexist. He's poor and resents the wealthy, particularly the pukes who have dodged the draft.
Arc 1 : Steve Rogers in San Francisco, trying to figure out who and what he is now. Talking with Dum Dum Duggan and other veterans. Learning about America in the 60s. Frank Simpson in Vietnam, enjoying what he's doing and forming his own opinions about war.
Depending on what happens with events and connected characters I might change future Arcs but I'm thinking...
Arc 2 : Steve Rogers is getting involved in S.H.I.E.L.D. matters and past evils, learning about Frank Simpson, Vietnam, Civil Rights issues, Veterans in general and Communism. Frank Simpson is more fully involved in Vietnam, becoming an independent actor in addition to his more traditional role.
Arc 3 : Steve Rogers is putting things together involving corruption and the legacy of WW2. Frank Simpson is heading toward a clash with Steve Rogers. Trying to find out why.
Key Notes
Name : Frank Simpson
Alias : Captain America, Nuke, Meo Hoang
Birth : 1942, Texas
Mother : Deceased, Access by Special Request Only
Father : Deceased, Access by Special Request Only
Enlistment : 1960
Sample Post
Vietnam
December 31st 1967
Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah. You heard right. Vietnam is hot. It's muggy. It smells different. It looks different. That don't mean everything is different though. People are still people and fuck yes New Years Eve is still New Years Eve.
The last day of December 1967 and goddam if we weren't still riding high off Tam Quan. This shit was what we here for. This shit was one hundred percent the shit that I was here for. Every single one of us who was here to be here had gotten some this December and after we got done getting some and we got back to what passes for civilization out here you know god damn well we got some. If you weren't getting it from someone in your unit you were getting it somewhere. All of it. Sex, booze, smokes, weed, acid, speed, uppers, downers, zips, zooms, and whamwhams.
We'd been just been walking the fences since then. Baking in the sun. Sharing stories and bodily fluids with each other. Training together, talking shit together, playing cards together, listening to music together, killing time in the armpit of the world man, together. There were so many of us, it was so goddamned hot, and we were all still so pepped up on Tam Quan. That was where I met Betsy. Fucking Betsy man. Thinking about her gets me antsy again. Ooo wee.
See December had jumped off quick. Word came down in the tail end of November that Intelligence had heard the PAVN or Vietcong or LASV or some group was heading on down to Bong Son so we were ready. We were itching. PAVN, LASV, Vietcong, those are all just slight variations on enemy. Sure enough in the first few days of December they headed down Highway 1 and started moving on our boys, that's ARVN, Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The good guys, second place anyway. America is Number One and all that shit. So that's how it started, the Battle of Tam Quan.
December 6th and they send the 9th Cav in to investigate. They're pinned down quick so they call in the 8th Cav and they send me with 'em. Goddamned Captain America shit here we go. Hey bartender get me a beer yeah? Whatever you got. Yeah that's right I drink this shit. It's beer man. No. Fuck no they ain't gonna poison me, I'm a regular customer and these are friendlies. Plus I'm just too damn good. Look at me. Just look at me.
You know how we do it. 1725 Hours they tell us to go. 1800 Hours my feet hit the street and I've got a new dancing partner. Helicopter crew was worried, they smelled it so they hooked me up with my girl. Betsy. You know where Betsy came from brother? Goddamned General Electric. No I'm not kidding. General Electric. This sweet piece of ass is a scaled down M61 Vulcan. She can put out 4,000 a minute before she overheats. That's more than your mom. Goddamn, right?
So like I was saying. 1800 Hours we're landed, by 2100 we've got the 9th Cav on their way out and we're setting up perimeter. Betsy wanted to dance. You should really see us go. We do a mean Mashed Potato.
What happened next? Yeah, sure I'll tell yeah. Let me just get a drink. Long story. Shit gets real you know? You want one? I got you mamasan, it's no problem.
7x Thank
