YankeeSamurai — Roleplayer Guild

Name: Harold "Hal" Cho
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Rank: Private First Class
Ethnicity/Nationality: Korean American

Physical Description:

Hal is a wiry guy with sharp, bright almond-shaped brown eyes, smooth, lightly olive toned skin, prominent cheekbones, and a small nose. He stands at 5'8", which while around average for his ethnicity, is likely shorter than most of the white and black soldiers in his unit. His wavy black hair is kept loosely combed within regs and sticks up in places, though his facial hair appears to be growing rather stubbly. Faded acne scars dot his cheeks. Hal speaks with a nondescript middle-class accent, his voice itself is surprisingly deep and has good enunciation. When he laughs, his whole face scrunches up with mirth. He looks much younger than his 19 years and smells faintly of cheap deodorant when he's not stinking of jungle rot.


Skillset:
Hal shot Marksman with the M14 in basic training, much to his own surprise. Thanks to his parents' insistence on speaking Korean at home, he has a working fluency in the language, should it ever become useful. He has no other relevant outstanding talents aside from the infantry combat skills pounded into his head at Fort Benning. He fills a rifleman role in his squad. By and large, he's a scared kid caught up in an ugly war. This is his first tour to Vietnam.

History:
Christened Harold but having taken a liking to "Hal," Harold Cho grew up in Koreatown Los Angeles, the youngest of two children. His parents, refugees of the Japanese annexation of Korea, came to America before the Great War, as children. They lost everything, but eventually scrabbled together a livelihood serving Korean-Mexican fusion food out of a roving trailer.

Hal's childhood wasn't all roses and merry-go-rounds, but it wasn't half bad, either. His clothes rarely fit, and his parents were on the road every day, but that only meant more freedom to explore the city with his friends. There was so much to see, so much to do. It was the 50s, and it was a great time to be a kid. Living near downtown Los Angeles, Hal mingled with people from all walks of life, from the up-and-coming to the homeless. Shades of every color could be found in his circle of friends, but not by design. That's just how it was. They found common ground in their love of comic books, cars, good food, and girls.

Hal's parents pushed him to excel in both school and life. "You can be more than us," his dad often snapped at him while drunk. As Hal grew older, he shouldered more responsibility. He only went out on Friday nights, he stopped smoking pot, did his homewok on time. He did his parents' taxes, he got his driver's license, he went steady with Ellie from history class. Milestones came and went. A gig delivering papers for the LA Times provided him with a steady income, most of which he gave to his parents for rent and bills. Hal was a busy guy, juggling to various degrees of success his studies, friends, job, and a budding relationship. He focused on living his here-and-now. Rumblings of an ongoing conflict in Southeast Asia were heard, but not registered.

The first letter in the mail, an order to report for armed forces physical examination, was concerning. And little by little, rumors got around. Vern from last year's class got drafted, did you hear? Will says he's gonna run away to Canada. Do you remember Ted? He got killed in Vietnam.

It was a Sunday morning, but already warm and bright. Three days ago, Hal had graduated from high school with honors. He was UCLA-bound to study... well, he wasn't sure what he wanted to study, but whatever he committed to, he was determined to do his parents proud. He woke up, not for church or anything; he wasn't very religious. Wondered what Ellie was up to. Walked out the front door yawning, barefoot, to the mailbox. And his heart dropped. 

Once at the kitchen table, he opened the envelope.

The President of the United States,
To HAROLD CHO:
Greeting: You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States...

Hal turned 19 in US Army basic training.

Equipment: 
All standard issue Army equipment. Dogtags, taped together. New utilities, still green and starchy. Jungle boots, still black and shiny, with extra laces. Web gear. Rucksack. Flak vest. Helmet with cloth cover. Hal probably keeps too much shit in the band, including a can opener, bottle of bug repellant, and field dressing. He's crudely drawn a smiley face on the front of it.
M16A1 service rifle. Hal's taken advice from the salts and kept its magazines loaded two rounds short.
Additional armament: M7 bayonet. Fragmentation grenades. Claymore mine. Extra belt of ammo for the M60.
Other miscellaneous gear. Flashlight, water purification tablets, blanket, matches, etc. Whatever else the platoon needs him to carry.
Green towel draped around neck.
Extra socks, extra canteen.
Several meals' worth of C ration pound cake and peaches. A bag full of C ration cigarette packs.
A sheaf of letters and photographs in envelopes. A leatherbound journal.
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