Mark DeMarco

Character by [Project Elysium] for Worlds Between

Player Username: [Project Elysium]
Character Name: Mark DeMarco
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Nationality: American 
Occupation: Sergeant USMC

Personality: Mark is a fairly cold and focused individual, most may think he's made of ice from the frosty exterior he exhibits and the way he interacts with other people. He is a loner by nature and has a few close friends who truly know how he is, and why he acts the way he does. He has little time for jokes and goofing off when he knows there are responsibilities he needs to take care of. He tends to be blunt and to the point, and doesn't take to beating around the bush to get done what he needs to get done. He knows his place in the rank and structure of the Marine Corps, and doesn't rock the boat by asking asinine questions or doing something he knows he shouldn't really be doing. If his superiors tell him to jump he'll jump, they tell him to march he'll march. They tell him to go in and do the mission he'll do it with little to no questions asked as he believes that the information he is given is all that is pertinent to the mission or task at hand. He has a singular focus for getting the job done as best as possible with the resources given to him.

Appearance: Mark stands about 6 feet tall, with very short cropped brown hair and deep blue eyes. His broad shoulders lead him to look taller and more menacing then he actually is. His body is toned, and skin is tanned to a deep bronze color from the many months spent in the sun. By just glancing at his person you can tell he takes very good care of himself weighing approximately 215lbs his arms from what can be seen are fairly well defined with the hints of tattoos on either side that can just barely be seen. He is usually dressed in his Marine fatigues or favors lose fitting jeans and t-shirts when not on duty or patrolling.

Brief History: Mark was born and raised in the hills of Colorado, in a small rural town with a population of a about 2600 people so everyone seemed to know everyone. He was a smart enough child, but from a young age he was always out and about trying to learn the lay of the land. He had a insatiable appetite for the out doors and would often spend his free time when he was older hiking and mountain biking up and down old trails. Being outdoors so much lent to him developing a decent habit of regular exercise that he has tried to keep up with every day. He quickly picked up from his love of outdoors when his father thought him old enough a passion for hunting and tracking, and just overall gun care and maintenance of said weapons. From that passion he started to develop a thirst for cars and could be found between juggling school life, and his passion for out doors located at a local garage pitching in and learning anything he could from the mechanics and at the scrap yard going through old heaps and trying to repair or fix them up. Through high school Mark was a slightly above average student, but was also a bit of a loner and just did what was asked of him. He never really stood out in peoples minds and never acted out to gain attention. When contemplating his life, and what he really wanted to do with his life, everything was change and his views radically shifted in 2001. Just a senior in high school he had settled into a ordinary life, and was content with the way things had begun to develop he had his friends and dated on and off for about two years or more. Then the morning of Sept 11th everything shifted in his small world when the world exploded in violence and a fire that had laid dormant within him for years was seemingly ignited in a instant. Nothing could have prepared him for the shock and awe of the news events and the seemingly endless anger he had felt at the attacks that shook this nation to its core and shocked so many out of their reveries and security.
Many would say to him over the coming months and even years that it wasn't his fight, and it wasn't his responsibility to do anything. But Mark disagreed, it was his fight it was his calling, it was his generation that would take up the banner as so many had before him in the time of crisis and need. It was his generation that would answer the call of a Nation and march to war to protect with blood and fire that which had been built nearly two centuries before. Time and again he thought about it through out the year, and had on more then one occasion expressed his desire to his parents to enlist into the service. His parents' were supportive of their son's desires, but also held a great reservation about him enlisting as they new he'd be sent off to the front lines as soon as he had finished boot camp. But military service ran deep within their family, his grandfather, great-grandfather, and many of others had felt the same call and had felt the same sense of duty that had seemingly struck and gathered inside Mark. So, at his 17th birth with his parents consent he enlisted into the Marine Corps and upon his graduation in June left not a scant few weeks later leaving behind the small town life he had grown so accustomed to over the years.
Arriving at Parris Island, South Carolina, Mark took his first steps into becoming the soldier he knew lay at the heart of his being. Mark drove himself with a passion to prove himself that he could take and hang with best of them. He took it upon himself to push himself harder and harder, he knew that if he wanted to be the best he had to put for the effort. Throughout boot camp Mark displayed better then average athleticism and had a knack so to speak for all the obstacles that were thrown at him. He dove head first into anything that was assigned to him and learned also that sometimes you have to help your teammate out to get the mission accomplished. He learned through trial and error the core principles and the brotherhood that most marines share through out the world. He could often be found in their down time writing back home to his parents, or polishing his boots and maintaining his weapon or helping his fellow recruits if they were struggling. His DI soon saw this and questioned him about and why he would sometimes speak up and put himself out there for someone else. Mark's response was simple and bluntly to the point stating that they as a team and division were only as strong as the weakest link. And seeing how the division were supposed to watch each others backs someone had to stick their necks out there for them. Quietly stunned the DI who would later remain in contact with Mark and help him bounce back after a tragedy knew he saw something that you only see once in a great while. Mark barely two weeks into boot camp had grasped the concept of the Corps and the brotherhood it shared and the DI couldn't wait to see what Mark could be molded into.
After completion of his training from boot camp and follow on training for Infantry Soldiers Mark was deployed overseas for operations OIF and OEF. Mark would complete two tours of duty performing to the best of his abilities making friends and losing them just as quickly in war. His eyes open, widened at the brutality of what war holds and hardened Mark's perspective of the world and very few after his first tour of duty would be able to get through the walls he had built around his being. During his second tour of duty while on patrol Mark and his squad were ambushed by insurgents and greatly outnumbered. Taking heavy casualties, there squad leader incapacitated, Mark made the call for retreat to regroup and counter attack in doing so took a round too his leg. After all was said and done, and the insurgents repelled all that was left was one fire team whom were all injured. Calling in a evac Mark and the remaining survivors were airlifted to a hospital where he would spend about eight months in traction and rehabilitation. During this time Mark would come to question his purpose and if he was really cut out to be a Marine, but would eventually remember what his DI had said all those moons ago during his time in boot camp and get his ass back in gear motivated more then ever. Pushing himself back with a fervor he had not had since his boot camp days he completed his rehabilitation and re-qualified back into a infantry regiment and went back to what he knew.

Skills:
STR: 7
DEX: 5
CON: 8
WIS: 6
INT: 5
CHA: 4

Skills:
Expert Marksman with Firearms (Instructor)
Quick Thinker (Stems from combat experience, is adept at making decisions quickly while under pressure)
Electronics
Martial Arts (Mixed training through Marines)
Scout (Tracking and knowing how to move to not leave a trail)
Machinist