Jackson Burke
He/Him
27 years old
Typical
65 kg
Personality
Jackson was once the typical American boy scout, loyal to his friends, honest to a fault, and direct in his speech and mannerisms. While some elements of that do remain, Jackson has become much more reserved and embittered as he was scapegoated by the US military. He’ll still help out someone on the street if no one else will, but he is more than willing to turn and leave someone to their fate who he feels deserves it.
To those he befriends, he is cordial and reflective of their words and advice, albeit still very bitter of anyone in the US military who blindly follows orders. He is open minded to different perspectives and viewpoints but has his own code he sticks to, and can be very stubborn when setting his mind to something.
To those he doesn’t care for, they’ll get the cordialness but the conversation will be short. Jackson has a fuse, and while albeit a decent one, if pushed, it’s not too hard to make him react violently to someone who he feels needs some humbling.
In a crisis, he’ll follow those leading things, but if no one steps up, he’ll give direction, but will not take the lead for long. He doesn’t say why, dismisses any praise, and just tells those he helps to not be a dick to their fellow man.
Privately, Jackson is very self dismissive and overly critical of himself, which those close to him often sees in self emasculating humor. Sometimes he’ll even apply that to a healthy dose of sarcasm as well to others he feels are getting high opinions of themselves who need to be reminded they are fable … just like he is.
Appearance
Jackson has short dark hair with ocean blue eyes and stands at a burly build of 5 foot ‘11’ inches tall with a fair skin complexion. The veteran has a short well maintained beard, with his frame being honed and well muscled from years of wrestling and his time in the Army, though he has started to put on weight since being out of the service.
He is often seen wearing an open jacket of some sort for warmer weather but he’ll close it up under cold conditions. Jackson will often have a Hawaiian shirt under his jacket with a long sleeved T-shirt underneath, along with wearing leather pants and black combat boots, and his hands are often bandaged, sometimes the bandages are bloodied.
When needing to keep the sun out of his eyes, he’ll prefer a camo patterned boonie hat, and a blue winter hat called a Ushanka for cold weather. Jackson often has a handaxe with him for boat work, a hunting knife for utility needs, and his dog tags still dangle from around his neck.
Notable Skills
Jackson is a capable fighter from his years of wrestling, even getting more experience in fighting hand to hand from illegal private match ups on Braddock island. From his time as a military combat engineer, he knows how to build and destroy fortifications and structures. In terms of explosive ordnance, he doesn’t know how to make anything more than the basic explosives, but in handling explosives safely, he is capable.
Through Braddock’s Scouts program, he learned basic survival skills and is proficient in ASL as his half sister Leena and him bonded over that. He learned Russian from his friend Artyom in high school, and also German from his college days in Columbia University.
As a former US army officer who served alongside NATO in Bosnia, he has a grasp of how militaries work, and understands geopolitics. Also his days working at the docks doing odd jobs for money out on the Atlantic, he is a capable deckhand and fisherman, having a passing understanding of nautical knowledge.
Background
Jackson was born in Sweetwater Texas to an abusive father and a caring mother who promptly got him away from that life. Jackson’s first memories were of the long drive across the United States to their new home, Braddock Island.
When his mother found a better partner and his half sister Leena was born, Jackson was protective of her. Early on, Jackson got into a lot of trouble for standing up for Leena. This combative nature almost led him to fight another boy named Greyson, who mistook Leena for his sister Maeve. But once Greyson and Leena calmed him down and Maeve was found, a steady friendship was formed between them all.
Worried Jackson would keep getting into trouble, his step father placed him and Leena into the Braddock Scout Program, a variant of the Boy and Girl scout National programs. There the half siblings bonded by learning the basics of survival skills as well taking ASL together through one of the scout programs. They both would often use their ASL proficiency throughout the rest of their lives.
When Jackson got to highschool, his size and aggression in PE class made the coaches suggest wrestling to him, which Jackson took to like a duck to water. There he met an exchange student named Artyom whose family had fled the Soviet Union. When Jackson saw Artyom getting bullied by the other wrestlers as a ‘dirty Commie’, Jackson stood up for him, thus making them fast friends. Through Artyom, Jackson grew to love Russian history and culture so much that when Artyom’s mother became Braddock’s island's first Russian language teacher in Jackson’s school, he stayed with the program all through high school.
While Jackson excelled in his wrestling competitions, he struggled in some areas like math, which Leena and her friends Maeve and Greyson helped him from going back a grade. After highschool, his friend Artyom had to move away, and thus Jackson stayed to help his ailing mother by taking jobs at the Braddock docks to make ends meet. Jackson’s mother, worried about her son's restlessness, worked with him to ask Leena if she could move to the island so her son can have a future.
Not seeing much opportunity on Braddock island, Jackson took a wrestling scholarship to Columbia University under the ROTC program. Due to his stocky build, passing grades, and confidence, the United States Army recruiters long had an interest in him. He was not a stellar student compared to his gifted peers, but his great work on the wrestling team plus his gregarious nature earned him friends to help him keep good grades.
With History as his major along with a linguistics minor, he took on Russian and ASL to help him further better his use of the two languages, but as one more was required, he chose to take on German. After getting help from study groups and college friends, he was able to speak German well enough and graduate and keep his officer slot. At the age of 23, Jackson passed the needed Army training to be made 2nd Lieutenant Burke, assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, the Lumberjacks.
Not too long after Jackson joined his unit, they partook in Operation Joint Forge along with other NATO allies in Bosnia and Herzegovina to try and stabilize the region. It was here that the newly promoted 1st Lieutenant Burke, made a fateful choice. Jackson disobeyed orders to blow up a bridge and allowed a refugee caravan of Bosnian Muslims to flee across the bridge while directing covering fire from his unit on Serbian extremists moving to possibly kill the refugees, thus violating NATO’s stance as a neutral party in the region.
Jackson was an easy scapegoat, and was given a general discharge from the US Army. He only avoided arrest and a dishonorable discharge because of his humane actions, his commanding officer, and the refugees he saved speaking for him.
The same day he was kicked out from the US army was the day he found out his mother died back on Braddock island. A myriad of dark thoughts swirled around his mind as he tried to comfort his grieving half sister. Afterwards, feeling too ashamed to look Leena in the eye, he moved away from their mother’s house to his own apartment on the island, taking odd jobs on boats, and fighting in illegal pit fights to make rent. During one of his jobs at sea, a man named Gordon Greene taught Jackson how to be a proper deckhand out on the ocean, but even Gordon’s mentorship could only do so much for him.
Depressed, downtrodden, taken to drink and unable to hold a steady job, he was soon to be evicted from his apartment. His landlord, a jerk named Scott, even tore down Jackson’s fruit plants because of some ‘regulation.’
On the day Jackson was to be evicted, he saw his landlord being beaten to shit by some crazy outside his apartment. Scott pleaded and reached out to Jackson’s window, crying for help.
Jackson’s response?
He closed the blinds, saying to himself, “Fuck you Scott, no rent today.” he then went back to playing his video games and drinking beer to pass the time.
