American Michael Stonebridge

After recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Stonebridge went on to the Marine Rifleman Course at the School of Infantry at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Afterwards, he was assigned to a rifle platoon in 1st Battalion 8th Marines. Stonebridge eventually rose to the position of a fire team leader. Soon after, he attended the Basic Reconnaissance Course and was subsequently assigned to the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion. Shortly afterwards, Stonebridge attended the Marine Corps Combatant Diver Course and then the Basic Airborne Course at the U.S. Army Airborne School.

He was later assigned to a force reconnaissance platoon. Sometime later, Stonebridge attended the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) School. He eventually rose to the position of a force reconnaissance team leader. Having honed his skills as a Force Recon Marine, Stonebridge applied to join the Marine Special Operations Regiment. Upon successful completion of the Assessment and Selection Course and then the Individual Training Course, he was assigned to the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion. As an element leader, Stonebridge consistently showed himself to be an experienced professional with exceptional field discipline.

A little while after he received his promotion to Gunnery Sergeant, his exemplary work in leading counterinsurgency operations caught the attention of a high-level official with the Defense Intelligence Agency, Colonel Eleanor Grant. After reviewing his records, she believed Stonebridge would be perfect for a newly-established and highly unconventional anti-terrorist unit within the DIA. In short order, he was offered a position in an elite military black ops organization called Section 20.

So top-secret that it officially doesn't exist, Section 20 is a high-tech tactical operations group that focuses on high-risk, top-priority targets. Directed to attack terrorist threats where they originate, it functions as a highly sophisticated mobile intelligence unit with the capability to move from country to country anywhere in the world, sometimes covertly, sometimes with the agreement of the local government. All of its work is unofficial and "off the books." That allows its small group of operatives to operate independent of the U.S. national security apparatus and therefore disregard various laws and international treaties.

Commanded by Colonel Grant, the missions tasked to Section 20 are deniable covert and clandestine operations that would be completely disavowed by the U.S. government if ever made public. They include targeted killings, false-flag actions, enforced disappearances, clandestine insertion and extraction of operatives, and providing secret military assistance to foreign governments in their counterterrorism efforts.

With his wife's full support, Stonebridge accepted the offer and joined Section 20. He serves as its chief field operative. Although official records accurately state that he is on detached duty to the Defense Intelligence Agency and involved in classified military intelligence operations, the details of the job are not mentioned and Stonebridge leads people to believe that he merely has a logistics assignment. In his capacity as a Section 20 operative, he engages in both covert military direct action and special reconnaissance operations, as well as unilateral espionage operations in which he assumes a false identity and goes deep undercover in order to identify targeted terrorists, track them to a specific location and capture or kill them as necessary.

A clear-thinking and reliable special operations Marine, he brings strategic clout to Section 20. As a premier counterterrorism operative, Gunnery Sergeant Michael Stonebridge has helped save the United States from devastating terrorist attacks on numerous occasions.

Note

 * A British version of this character appears on the UK-US television series Strike Back.