Lieutenant General Herschel von Sheperd III (5 June 1961 - 16 August 2016), professionally known as Herschel Shepherd, was an American soldier and US Army general during the Insurgency War and opening stages of World War III, having orchestrated the war in a bid to put the power of the military behind him to become a national hero, avenging the 30,000 Marines killed in Basra, Iraq in 2011.
After betraying Task Force 141, a NATO task force constructed by Shepherd, he was assassinated by John Price and John "Soap" MacTavish at his base of operations in Afghanistan.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Herschel von Sheperd III was born into a military family on 5 June 1961 in Arlington, Virginia, his bloodline originating from a German noble family. Like his father, though, he simplified his name to Herschel Shepherd. Shepherd eventually joined the US Marine Corps, serving in the Invasion of Grenada and Operation Just Cause as an exemplary soldier.
Shepherd earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of over 50 men in Panama after being caught by a massive explosion. He was quickly promoted up the ranks of the Army, commanding troops during the Gulf War and War on Terror, eventually being invited to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) by 2011.
Insurgency War[]
Herschel Shepherd spearheaded the relief of Saudi Arabia from Iraqi terrorist Khaled al-Asad and his insurgents, being designated OpFor. Though several battles were fought across the Middle East, it culminated in Al-Asad's capital in Basra, Iraq with a massive invasion consisting of the US Marine Corps, US Army, and the US Air Force. A nuclear device was discovered in al-Asad's palace, Despite the efforts of NEST units and the immediate evacuation of all forces, the bomb detonated and killed over 30,000 Marines from both the explosion and the immense radiation resulting from the detonation. The loss of 30,000 men whose families received little compensation deeply affected Shepherd, developing a pessimistic view of the world, international politics, and his own country.
To further his goals, he created the counter-terrorist NATO Task Force 141 in 2012 with the assistance of Captain John "Soap" MacTavish of the SAS; this was to ensure such a devastation like Basra would never happen again. Secretly, however, he founded the PMC Shadow Company to perform operations that would be normally classified as war crimes or traitorous actions.
Rising tides[]
Vladimir Makarov, Imran Zakhaev's protégé and the leader of the Inner Circle, eventually caught Shepherd's attention. In 2013, Shepherd launched Operation Kingfish to capture Makarov, utilizing elements of Delta Force and Task Force 141; however, the operation ended in disaster, with Captain John Price being captured by Inner Circle forces. By 2016, Shepherd was the commander of the US Army Rangers in Afghanistan, primarily fighting against OpFor. His true purpose there was to recruit a worthy individual to get close to Makarov and unintentionally trigger World War III.
Shepherd oversaw PFC. Joseph Allen's run through the Pit, a TF141 evaluation course at Fire Base Phoenix, before deploying with the Rangers to the Red Zone to rescue BCT One. After Allen's vehicle was destroyed by an RPG, Shepherd helped Allen up near the bridge into the Zone. Soon after Allen's team secures the Zone, Shepherd met him at the extraction point and immediately recruited him into Task Force 141.
Allen was placed in the Inner Circle under the identity of Alexei Borodin, participating in the Zakhaev International Airport massacre in order to get close to Makarov. Secretly, Shepherd leaked Allen's identity to Makarov, hoping that it would result in his death. Allen was shot in the head by Makarov as the team evacuated. Due to the people's cry for blood, Russian president Boris Vorshevsky declared war on the United States, the Russians using the massacre and the body of an American as the casus belli.
World War III[]
Operation Takedown[]
Shepherd commanded TF141 to head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and interrogate Alejandro Rojas, a member of the Brazilian Militia and Makarov's supplier for the airport massacre. However, two hours after they were deployed, the United States' eastern seaboard was invaded by thousands of Russian military, especially around Virginia and Washington, DC. Shepherd was placed in supreme command of the military, commanding the war effort from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Wyoming. Due to his preoccupancy, the TF141 team in Rio was forced to contact "Nikolai" for evacuation.
Operation Exodus[]
Shepherd soon contacted Sergeant Malcolm Foley, ordering his team to secure an HVI in Arcadia County, Virginia after the destruction of a Russian SAM site. Despite Foley's efforts, the HVI was killed by Viktor Ulyanov before they could reach him at 4677 Brookmere Road, though they did retrieve the HVI's briefcase.
Rescue of Prisoner 627[]
A day later, Shepherd organized a joint operation between TF141 and the US Navy SEALs, specifically with infiltrating and rescuing Prisoner 627 - John Price - from the Petropavlovsk Gulag.
However, SAM sites on nearby oil rigs needed to be destroyed before the Gulag could be approached; normally, the rigs would be bombarded from afar by the US Navy, but the Spetsnaz aboard were holding the international oil rig workers hostage as a deterrence. To accomplish this,, the teams were to deploy from the Navy Los Angeles-class submarines USS Chicago and USS Dallas.
The mission was successful, allowing the workers to be rescued and the SAM sites to be destroyed. The teams immediately deployed to the Gulag, with Shepherd delaying the naval bombardments from leveling the whole site. Price was soon rescued, though Shepherd could not delay the bombardments any longer, leaving to be rescued in an extremely risky evacuation. Price was soon reinstated as field commander of TF141.
Tying up loose ends[]
Price revealed to Shepherd his plan to halt the war in America to utilize a Russian nuclear missile from the Rybachiy Nuclear Submarine Base. Shepherd declined his plan, telling Price to focus on stopping Makarov. The line was disconnected by Price, whose team assisted him in this plan at the cost of the International Space Station and collateral damage from falling aircraft; however, this action saved the lives of countless US forces in DC, including Sergeant Foley and his team.
Shepherd was soon given a blank check by his superiors to find and stop Makarov; as a result, TF141 was split into two teams in order to find him at either of his safehouses: an estate on the Georgian-Russian border and an Afghan aircraft boneyard. Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson and Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley downloaded several hundred gigabytes worth of content off of Makarov's laptop, including connections to Shepherd.
At the evac point, Shepherd and Shadow Company met with the two, shooting both of them and taking the DSR before burning their bodies. Unknown to Shepherd, Ghost survived his gunshot and the burning, eventually making his way back to civilization. The rest of TF141 at the estate was soon hunted down and killed, while Price and Soap fought off Inner Circle and Shadow Company at the boneyard.
Death[]
Price contacted Makarov as they escaped, reasoning that Shepherd would continue hunting down Makarov if he was not killed. Makarov revealed Shepherd's location at Site Hotel Bravo in the Afghan cave system. The two soldiers successfully escaped the boneyard with Nikolai's assistance, Shepherd dubbing the two soldiers as traitors to the West. The two infiltrated his base, though they were eventually discovered and assaulted by Shadow Company troops. Desperate, Shepherd ordered the detonation of the caves and danger close artillery strike, killing a great portion of his own men but failing to harm his pursuers.
He made his escape onboard a Zodiac boat, with Soap and Price hot on his tail. After a lengthy chase on the river, Shepherd's boat was picked up by a Pave Low; however, Price fired an underbarrel grenade launcher at the heli, destroying it, before the two's Zodiac fell off of a waterfall. Soap, coughing up water, used his knife to kill the two surviving Shadow Company soldiers with Shepherd before approaching him. Before Soap could stab him, Shepherd instead slammed Soap's head into a rusted car and shoved a knife into Soap's gut.
Explaining his motivations behind the betrayal, including the Basra nuclear detonation and the lack of consequence for the Ultranationalists, Shepherd prepared to execute Soap with his .44 Magnum before Price tackled him, engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat which Shepherd was winning. Soap slowly pulled the knife from his chest, before throwing it into a surprised Shepherd's eye, piercing his brain and killing the warmongering general.