Sarge

"You've just got Sarge'd!"

- Sarge in Two for One

Colonel Sarge is a main character in Red vs. Blue and is voiced by Matt Hullum. He is the aggressive and illogical leader of the Red Team and is the only one to take the battle against the Blues seriously. He has appeared as a main character in nearly every season, with the exception of Season 9, where he only appears at the very end of the season. He briefly becomes an antagonist in Season 15, joining the Blues and Reds due to his demented desire to fight in a war.

Overview
A military man with a Southern United States accent, Sarge is the gruff and regimented leader of the Red Team. Introduced in the first two episodes, Sarge's disposition (particularly his relationships with Grif and Simmons) is quickly established in a conversation (which the writers modeled on one that they themselves had) regarding the resemblance of the Warthog to a puma. Sarge exhibits more discipline than the other Reds (and most of the Blues, for that matter), but is also somewhat sociopathic, bloodthirsty, and eccentric. He is also the only Blood Gulch soldier on either team that is actually serious about the war (or training exercise).

Rooster Teeth has noted that they initially modelled Sarge after Full Metal Jacket 's Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, but, by the middle of Season 2, the character had evolved into, in the words of voice actor Matt Hullum, "every 1950s film stereotype character...melted down into one," exhibiting characteristics of a mad scientist, used car salesman, and "grumpy old dad."

Basic Training
Before his deployment on Blood Gulch, Sarge, as well as several other Red Team commanding officers, is chosen as a candidate for the commanding officer position for the Blood Gulch Red Team. Special Officer Lemons, a soldier from Project Freelancer, puts the Red commanders through several tests to determine which of them should be selected for the position. However, after Sarge causes several mishaps to occur, which leads to the deaths of the other Red commanders, only he remains standing, winning the position by default. Lemons' superior, Captain Flowers, overlooks the entire session and is pleased with the chosen candidate. Sarge is then deployed at Blood Gulch as the commanding officer with his privates Grif and Simmons.

Misadventures in Blood Gulch
Sarge makes his debut in the first episode, ordering Grif and Simmons down from the base to regroup with him. Sarge then shows the two their new vehicle sent from Command but argues with Grif on what to name it. After naming the jeep and informing Grif and Simmons about the arrival of a rookie, Sarge leaves to Command for orders. After some time, he radios his team from a Pelican to inform them of his return, only to find that they are being attacked by Sheila. He then launches an air strike, disabling Sheila for some time. In the aftermath, he sends Lopez to shoot Grif, whom he blames for the ruined jeep.

During Tex's first attack on Red Base, Sarge and Lopez corner her, knock her out and take her prisoner. When the Blue Team launches a rescue attempt, Sarge is possessed by Church, the Blues' deceased, unofficial, leader. Under Church's control, he knocks Simmons out and escorts Tex out of the base, only to be shot in the head by the Blue rookie, Caboose. He then hallucinates a meeting with Church in the afterlife. Grif revives Sarge using CPR. Sarge initially thanks Simmons; upon hearing that it was Grif who saved him, he berates Grif at length for attempting to treat a bullet wound to the head with CPR.

Later, Donut returns with a voice card for Lopez. Sarge damages the card while trying to install it, causing Lopez to only be able to speak Spanish. Later, Tex attacks Red Base again, this time with Sheila's assistance. Sarge and Simmons again attempt to fight her but fail. Donut, fortunately, manages to stick Tex with a grenade, kill her, and disable Sheila. Sarge then watches proudly as Lopez apparently pursues Tex, believing the act to be a suicide run (in reality, Church had possessed Lopez and was attempting to assist Tex).

In Season 2, after the Reds engage in an awkward battle with the Blues Sarge negotiates the Blues' surrender, where they attain the medic Doc for Grif's dignity. Upon retrieving Doc, the Reds' warthog activates, due to Church possessing Lopez, and nearly kills Sarge, prompting the Reds to let Doc go. With Lopez now gone, Sarge turns Simmons into a cyborg and uses his remaining organs to heal Grif after the latter is run over by Sheila.

Into the "Future"
Afterward the Blues kidnap Donut, forcing Sarge to build two permanent robot bodies for the Blues. However, he implants a microphone in one, a bomb in the other, and a voice command which causes Robot Number 2 to punch Grif when he says "Codeword: Dirtbag." During the exchange for Donut, O'Malley, Tex's A.I., ambushes the Reds and Blues, kidnaps Lopez, and escapes through the Red base's teleporter, forcing the two teams to work together to stop him. Sarge passes through the teleporter with Caboose and the two arrive at Battle Creek, where they encounter numerous red and blue Grunts. Simmons helps them escape and the three regroup with the other Reds and Blues at Sidewinder in order to deactivate the bomb in Church's body.

The bomb, however, leads to both teams being blasted into the "distant future" during Season 3. Once there, Sarge takes charge of an assault on a fortress occupied by O'Malley, the common enemy of both teams. His initial ideas for the assault mostly involved sacrificing several team members to ensure his own safety (the first to be killed in his plans would always be Grif, even if this was unnecessary for the hypothetical plan to succeed), but he finally chose a more stealthy and more successful sneak attack. During a battle against O'Malley and his Robot Army, Sarge and the Red Team, in order to go in search of the source of a distress signal, leave the Blues to battle alone and eventually end up back in Blood Gulch.

Return to Blood Gulch
Back in Blood Gulch, Sarge, Simmons, and Donut attempt to get Grif down from a cliff by firing sniper rounds at him. Grif gets annoyed and eventually comes down, with Sarge managing to get a hit before he does. When the Reds make it back to base Sarge tells them to be alert of any danger that may be lurking inside the base, unaware that Sheila drives past behind him. When Simmons tells Sarge about Sheila, Sarge doesn't believe him and thinks he has gone crazy, due to the fact that Grif lies about seeing her. As a result, Sarge demotes Simmons and holds auditions to take his place. Donut eventually wins and is promoted to second-in-command.

Because of this, Simmons and Sheila attack the Red base and kidnap Grif in the process. Sarge, now seeing Simmons as a traitor, is forced to rescue Grif from his clutches. With the help of Donut, Sarge manages to enter the Blue Base and hold Simmons at gunpoint, but is knocked out by Church, who returns to Blood Gulch as well. Church and Simmons have Donut take Grif and Sarge back to Red base, but take their vehicles in the process. At Red Base, Sarge regains consciousness and attempts to make a truce with Grif, until Simmons returns with valuable information. Simmons tells them that the Blues have gotten back in contact with their command, which worries Sarge. While trying to figure out what Vic could be telling the Blues, they spot Donut talking to Lopez.

In an attempt to decipher Lopez's message from Spanish, Sarge kidnaps Andy for help. Unfortunately, the orders turn out to be useless and the Reds are soon attacked by the Blues. Sarge radios command for reinforcements and has a ship arrive. The pilot, Grif's Sister, informs them that she was sent to replace a dead commanding officer. Sarge's undying trust in Command causes him to believe that he is in fact dead, and the other Reds bury him. By Episode 85, he disappears from his grave and falls into the underground cavern, where he finds Donut. After the two reunite with Simmons and Grif, they discover a computer that monitors the entire canyon.

After learning that the Blues took over their base, Sarge calls Vic for support so they can take it back, but Simmons interrupts the call. They come back above ground and head towards Red Base, but they instead go to the Blue Base when they see the tank heading towards Red Base. Later they help the Blues in the battle against Wyoming and his clones. Once they finished dealing with Wyoming, they chase Caboose until Simmons is infected by O'Malley and nearly kills Sarge before Tex saves him. Then Church asks Sarge to disable the ship so Tex can't escape but they instead put Andy the bomb in there and have him detonate the Ship while it's leaving. He later builds a mongoose out of old Warthog parts and calls Simmons and Grif over to help him pick a name.

Later Adventures
As of Reconstruction: Chapter 2, Sarge is the only Red left in Blood Gulch; he vowed not to leave until all the Blues were wiped out, even though the only Blue left is Sister, whom he can't attack because she is a girl, and the fact that his refusal to leave would be considered going AWOL. Agent Washington arrives in Blood Gulch and questions Sarge about Omega. Sarge tells Wash that he can get his answers from Caboose and has Lopez, who now has an entire body, provide him with coordinates. Later on, the Meta deceives him into thinking that the Blue Team has been reassembled under Washington's command.

In Reconstruction: Chapter 9, Sarge saves Grif and Simmons from death and takes the two to hunt down the Blues. Sarge, now with Grif and Simmons, attack Washington and Church on sight in his fanatical attempts to wipe out the Blues once and for all. After an incident with the Meta, the Reds agree to work with Washington after the latter told him his secure codeword that only Command knew (which turned out to be "codeword") and also after Washington demoted Grif from Sergeant to "minor junior private negative first class" to ensure the Reds' help. The group makes it inside Command HQ, and the Reds are ordered to be on lookout duty. Sarge and the Reds manage to delete the Blue records during that time, but are suddenly attacked by the Meta.

Wash tells the Reds and Blues to escape with the Epsilon unit, telling the Reds specifically to protect the Blues, annoying Sarge. When Wash activates the EMP, the Reds' Warthog deactivates, but Caboose, luckily, escapes with Epsilon just in time. Afterwards, Sarge, Grif, and Simmons are stationed together at Valhalla with Caboose, as a reward for bringing down Project Freelancer. Now settled in at their new bases, Sarge constructs an EMP powered Warthog but needs more tools to complete it. So, he calls Lopez to come to Valhalla and build the necessary equipment. When Lopez arrives he builds a Hologram Chamber under Red base, where Sarge tests out his new EMP-firing warthog on some "Holo-Grifs" in the new simulation room. When Grif notices an error in a hologram's appearance, he discovers Donut, who then collapses from dehydration.

In Recreation, Sarge announces an attack on Caboose and calls up the new command (the UNSC) for advice. However, they have no files on Blue Team ever since Sarge deleted them. The Reds then discover Donut missing, and confront Caboose in order to rescue him. Being unable to retrieve him, Sarge establishes a plan to get Donut back, but the latter returns on his own. The Reds then suddenly discover Caboose inside the holo-chamber, where he explains that he is leaving to find Tucker. In order to get the Blues back into command's records, Sarge and Grif agree to join him.

Restoring the Blues
Sarge, Grif, and Caboose go on the mission and end up in a desert, where they meet up with C.T. and his group, who tell them to leave immediately. After the group gets into trouble with C.T., however, Tucker rescues them and congregates them inside the Temple. The four have a brief discussion on recent events and soon discover an ancient artifact, which Caboose installs Epsilon into. When the dig team infiltrates the temple, the group is forced to take cover. While they manage to fend off a few soldiers, C.T. steals Epsilon, prompting the group to make chase. Sarge, Grif, and Caboose manage to eliminate two of C.T.'s men and allow Tucker to get C.T. C.T. is eventually killed by Epsilon and the group is left at the desert.

In Revelation, Sarge, Grif and the Blues dig up C.T. and his men, while the Aliens worship Epsilon. Sarge retains some suspicion of Epsilon and his newfound powers, particularly after Epsilon has a flashback of Valhalla. To ensure the Blues are not up to something, Sarge contacts Simmons by having Epsilon boost a Warthog's radio. After a brief conversation with Simmons, Sarge displays an impressive display of competence by deducing that Donut and Lopez are dead while Simmons and Doc are being held hostage by Washington and the Meta. Claiming to have a plan, he and Grif head to Valhalla, with Epsilon covertly following them.

When Sarge arrives in Valhalla, seemingly alone, Wash approaches him and attempts to arrest him. Suddenly, after many failed attempts to signal Grif, a Warthog smashes out of the wall and runs over Washington, who survives and tries to shoot the driving Grif. Grif, fortunately, manages to send Wash off the Warthog, allowing Sarge to regain his shotgun. As Wash recovers next to some fusion coils, Sarge aims and says "Agent Wash, you just got--," before pre-emptively firing and messing up his own one-liner. Soon after their confrontation with Wash, Grif and Sarge pull up to Blue Base.

As the Meta attacks, Simmons jumps onto Sarge and Grif's warthog, but the Meta quickly destroys it. Meta nearly kills the three Reds until Epsilon appears, giving the Reds the opportunity to flee through the hole in the wall. Once through the hole, the Reds discuss an escape plan, seeing as the warthog was destroyed. When Epsilon reappears Grif and Sarge immediately attempt to make Epsilon angry by insulting him, trying to get him to activate his laser. As the Meta and Washington get closer to the Reds, the sight of Washington makes Epsilon angry and the latter fires his laser, blocking off the two ex-Freelancers. Sarge then tells Grif and Simmons to pack up Epsilon, and they head back to the desert.

Learning the Truth
When Epsilon leaves to the Freelancer facility with Caboose, Sarge decides to follow them so he and the rest of the Reds can put the Blues back into the data base. Upon arriving at the Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility, the Reds make a plan to pose as Freelancers to gain access. This ultimately fails when Grif stated his name as Agent Pluto, leaving Sarge to use his contingency plan: Shotgun to the Face. Inside, the Reds find Caboose blocking a door behind him. After Caboose leaves in fear, the door blasts open in front of the Reds, broken down by a newly revived Epsilon-Tex. The Reds and Tucker get beaten by Tex before Epsilon arrives and challenges her, but is also beaten.

Caboose has F.I.L.S.S. activate the safety protocol armor lockdown, which locks everyone's armor into Recovery Mode. After Epsilon has the Reds agree to not attack Tex he allows F.I.L.S.S. to release them. Sarge then orders Simmons to re-enter the data of the Blues back into the database, in which Simmons does so, with a little help from F.I.L.S.S. Simmons and Grif then go over the records, which reveal that the Reds and Blues only exist to test the skills of the Freelancers and are staffed by the army's worst soldiers. Upon the revelation that the entire Red and Blue war was for nothing, Sarge sadly and angrily declares that he is done with his role as Sergeant and quits.

Soon after, Caboose receives a Recovery Beacon from Epsilon and desperately pleads for Sarge to help him save Church. While Grif and Simmons believe that Sarge would never help a Blue, Sarge, surprisingly, agrees to help Caboose. Grif refuses to tag along, recalling that Sarge quit, but Sarge admits that he wasn't ordering anybody to go with him. Sarge then poses the question: "Do you ever wonder why we're here?", and proceeds to give a bold speech regarding the reasons why the troops remained in the Red and Blue armies. At the climax of the speech, Sarge declares that he will get back at Command for taking them away from their families and using them. His speech convinces everyone to go with him, so they all prepare to board a transport to go help Epsilon and Tex.

Sarge and the others arrive at the Freelancer facility just as the Meta prepares to kill Washington. After their pelican crash lands, the Reds and Blues regroup around the storage unit. Wash orders them to find anything that can be used as a power supply, but when the Meta attacks again, Sarge leads the Reds and Tucker to fight back. As the Meta tries to choke Sarge to death, Sarge attaches the Warthog's tow hook to the Meta's chest plate, dragging the villain over the edge of the cliff to his demise. After seeing Grif get dragged down with the Meta, Sarge joyfully talks about Grif's death, but the latter calls out for help, ensuring his safety. After an interrogation by UNSC Police, the Reds comment on Blue team's newest member, before leaving in a stolen Hornet.

Conflict with Carolina
Some time later the Reds and Blues are met by Carolina to save Epsilon. When Epsilon is pulled out of the unit at the UNSC Archives, Sarge and Caboose recap the events that have happened to them while he was inside. They soon introduce him to Carolina and explain that she is looking for the Director. The group then leave the UNSC Archives with Epsilon in hand and make a pit stop at Zanzibar. While there, the Reds contemplate on Simmons' theory about Carolina and Washington possibly betraying them. Sarge, at first, doesn't believe it, but is soon convinced when he witnesses more of Carolina's actions. The Reds then tell Wash of their decision to return back to their base, but quickly have a change of mind when Wash tells them about a possible ambush that could be waiting for them there.

The group then leave Zanzibar and arrive at the desert, in search of C.T. Sarge gathers the Reds and Blues to discuss their concerns about Carolina and, in an attempt to get more information, insert Epsilon into Carolina's Mongoose. Carolina then leaves to a nearby island, while Wash gathers the Reds and Blues inside the temple. When Carolina and Epsilon return, Carolina tells the group that they are heading to Outpost 17-B, much to the group's surprise. Upon arriving at Valhalla, Sarge and Simmons run off to find Lopez but stumble upon a small hut overlooking a garden. The two not only find a scarecrow Lopez, but Donut and Doc as well.

After their brief reunion, Simmons and Sarge regroup with Grif at Red base, where the three discuss that the death of the Director will not change anything for the better. Sarge points out that now that they have their full team, leaving Valhalla will only make things worse. Afterward, Carolina and Epsilon gather everyone in the Red team's Hologram Chamber, where the final plan to kill the Director is discussed. However, the group refuses to help Epsilon and Carolina on their mission, with Sarge calling it"their personal vendetta" This causes Epsilon to angrily blame them for all his problems, which results in the group to leave the Chamber, disgusted by Epsilon's words.

Rescue Mission
After the Reds and Blues return to their shenanigans, Doc gives an inspirational speech and reminds them on how much they have changed since they first met. Following Doc's speech, the Reds and Blues decide to go help Epsilon and Carolina but Wash reminds them that the mission will be dangerous. Sarge, however, tells Washington that despite their troubles with Freelancers, the Reds and Blues have always managed to overcome them, due to their trust in each other. Suddenly, a trio of UNSC Police Hornets surround the group and attempt to arrest them, but the Reds and Blues manage to steal the Hornets and fly off to help Carolina and Epsilon.

The group finds them being attacked by an army of robotic Tex drones but manage to save them in time. Now together, the group go into battle against the army but are overwhelmed. Fortunately, Epsilon successfully manages to shut down the drones, which Sarge commends him for. Epsilon then tells the group that he and Carolina must complete the next task alone. After Carolina and Epsilon confront the Director, they decide to relocate the Reds and Blues to a place where they can call home. However, on their way back, the group crash land a pardoned ship in an unknown location and decide to build temporary bases to reside in until they are found.

Shipwrecked on Chorus
Sarge soon "borrows" the Blue team's tank and uses it to "rejuvenate" Red base. After Wash regains the tank, Simmons soon contemplates an idea to use parts from a robot kit to help repair the ship, but Sarge instead uses the robot kit to build a new robot: Lopez 2.0. The Reds take Lopez 2.0 to the comm tower and the latter manages to repair it, allowing the group to make contact with Donut. Sarge and Wash explain their situation to Donut and the latter agrees to rescue them. Caboose soon joins the group and introduces them to his pet Freckles, prompting Sarge to order Grif and Simmons to recon Blue team, in fear of Freckles' capabilities.

When only Grif returns back, he informs Sarge that Simmons stayed with Blue team resulting in Sarge engaging an attack on the Blues in the Warthog. As Sarge begins his attack on Freckles, the latter destroys the Warthog. Fortunately, things are halted by the arrival of Donut, Doc and Lopez. However, upon realizing that the three allowed the drop ship to leave, the teams attack Donut. After the failed assault, Sarge decides to eliminate Freckles, so he, Grif, and Doc enter the ship at night to find something to destroy him. Eventually, the three discover a giant Mantis, which Sarge quickly falls in love with. The three dismantle the large Mantis and return the parts back to base, but Grif loses some parts on their way back.

Sarge nonetheless completes his construction on the Mantis, which states its name to be Cyclops. Cyclops, however, detects the Reds and 12 others as enemies and nearly kills them, but shuts down due to its use of diesel fuel. When gunfire is heard over at Blue base the Reds rush over and encounter Felix and Locus. Locus tells the crew to come with him, but they refuse and attack him. When Locus escapes, the group interrogate Felix, who explains that they have crash-landed on the planet Chorus, whose society is currently undergoing a civil war between the New Republic and the Federal Army of Chorus. Felix then asks for the group's help, but they refuse, only wanting to leave the planet. Nonetheless, they agree to help Felix prepare for an imminent attack.

As Sarge oversees the Red Team's fortifications, he orders Lopez and Lopez 2.0 to prep C.C. so he can repair her. However, Lopez 2.0 uploads himself into C.C., takes control of her, and attacks Sarge, prompting him to flee towards Blue base. Suddenly, Locus arrives with an army of Feds, forcing the teams to engage. During the attack, Sarge and Simmons man the Blue Team's tank to kill several Feds, but Locus destroys it. As the Feds advance, Wash and Lopez are injured in front of Sarge. Furious, Sarge leaves cover in an attempt to avenge them, but Locus incapacitates him with his Railgun. Despite their efforts, Simmons, Grif, Tucker, Caboose, and Felix are forced to retreat through the tunnels, with Sarge, Lopez, Donut, and Wash being taken by the Federal Army.

Battling the Space Pirates
During the battle's aftermath, the Feds help recover Sarge, Wash, Lopez, and Donut, and the group is sent to F.A.C. Outpost 37. While there, the four meet General Donald Doyle, who reveals that the Feds are not the enemy, but are fighting the New Republic for their acts of terrorism on the planet. Knowing that their friends have joined the rebels, Doyle promises the four that he will allow them to leave Chorus if they help the Feds defeat the rebels and rescue their friends. The group agrees but unexpectedly run into their friends weeks later at the compound. They tell each other the truth behind why the armies are fighting each other and devise a plan to end the war between the two factions.

Suddenly, the compound is attacked by Locus and a group of mercenaries, who prepare to kill the Reds and Blues. Felix intervenes and betrays the crew, revealing that he and Locus used them as a means to cause further conflict in the Chorus Civil War, angering Sarge. Fortunately, Carolina emerges from hiding, disguised as a mercenary, and uses a Teleportation Cube to escape with the group. Arriving at a secret Forest Base, Carolina and Epsilon explain that their ship was purposely crashed on Chorus by the Space Pirates, who are mass-producing advanced versions of the ship's Freelancer equipment. Unable to contact the Chorus armies, the Reds and Blues decide to analyze Grif's Suppressor, where they discover a connection between it and the Teleportation Grenades.

In order to know who supplied the grenades, the Reds search for the ship's manifest at Crash Site Bravo, while the Blues search the other half of the ship at Crash Site Alpha. When both teams return, with the Reds obtaining the manifest, they interrogate a space pirate named Zachary Miller, who teleported back with the Blues. During this time, Epsilon reveals to the Reds that the manifest is locked, due to Doc accessing it without clearance. After Wash and Carolina gain info from Zachary, more space pirates attack the base, forcing Wash to teleport the group to the fueling station, where he reveals that Freckles' storage unit contains a tracking device.

After Epsilon removes the tracker, he and Tucker engage in an argument, with Tucker wondering why the others aren't angry with Epsilon like he is. Sarge and others explain that while Epsilon made some mistakes, they have as well and convince the two to make amends. After they do so, Felix and Locus contact the Reds and Blues and offer them a first-class trip off Chorus. Distrustful of the two, the group are forced to decide on whether they stop the Space Pirates and save the Chorus armies or take the pirates' offer and return home. The crew choose the former and execute a sneak attack on the mercenaries at Radio Jammer Station 1C.

Going to War
After Felix reveals the Pirates' plans to Tucker, Sarge and the other Reds and Blues disable the radio jammer, allowing Epsilon to send Felix's recorded words to the Feds and Rebels at Armonia, who finally learn the secret behind the Pirates' involvement in the war. Because of this, Felix and Locus teleport away. After the Feds and Rebels form a truce, they pick up the Reds and Blues from the radio jammer and thank them for their efforts. Regrouping at the New Republic HQ, Sarge, wanting to outrank Grif again, demands Doyle to promote him to Colonel, which the latter does. After Epsilon processes the manifest, the crew learn the true identity of Control: Chairman Malcom Hargrove. When the Chairman declares war on Chorus, the Reds and Blues, Federal Army, and New Republic, accept.

A month later, Sarge oversees the capture of a Charon facility, alongside Tucker, Carolina and Epsilon. After Carolina and Epsilon contact Dr. Grey about a nearby alien temple, Grey decides to survey it with Sarge, Tucker, and Caboose. At the temple, Tucker accidentally activates the structure with his sword, causing all of Charon's hybrid weapons to explode. The group then relay this information to the others at Armonia and devise a plan to attack the pirates while they're at a disadvantage. Sarge, as a result, decides to join Kimball, Wash, the Reds and Chorus armies in the assault on Crash Site Alpha while Carolina, Grey, and the Blues follow coordinates the temple emitted.

Upon arriving at Alpha, Sarge, Grif, and Simmons begin the assault, with the Chorus armies following suit in the attack. Unfortunately, a large ship emerges from the sky and releases several space pirate reinforcements, forcing the assault team to take refuge inside the shipwreck. Luckily, Simmons devises a plan to use the ship's damaged engine to create a large smokescreen in order for them to make an escape. After releasing the smoke, the Reds lead the assault team away from Alpha.

Although both the assault team and away team return to Armonia with few causalities and a "rescued" Doc, the Reds and Blues express shame on the final results of their missions, though Sarge admits that he had a great time. After witnessing an argument between Kimball and Doyle, the Reds and Blues ask Doc to help them hold a counseling session for the generals in order to improve their relationship. Initially, there is little cooperation and mostly arguing, however, Doyle ends up complimenting Kimball and expressing a desire to work together, much to the crew's surprise. Unfortunately, the session is abruptly cut off when the Space Pirates attack the city.

Charon's Final Assault
In order to survive the assault, Epsilon suggests eradicating the pirates by overloading the nuclear reactor in the center of the city, with Wash, Carolina, and Kimball being sent to overload it. Meanwhile, Doyle and the other Reds and Blues head towards the Armory to escape on a Pelican, but soon discover that Lopez is trapped inside. While the others prevent the pirates from entering the armory, Simmons removes Lopez from the engine, allowing the crew to escape. Doyle, however, remains in Armonia and incites the Pirates into chasing him.

After dropping the Blues off in a safe area, the Reds return to the city and pick up Wash, Kimball, Epsilon, and Carolina. Meanwhile, Doyle ignites the city's reactor in an act of self-sacrifice, killing a majority of the space pirates and destroying the city. As the blast reaches the Pelican, Carolina uses her Bubble shield to protect the crew. The crew then regroup at Crash Site Bravo with the armies, who mourn over the loss of Doyle. As the crew formulates a counterattack plan to stop Felix and Locus, Kimball delivers a speech to the Chorus armies that motivates them to fight as one.

After obtaining alien artillery from the Temple of Arms, the Reds and Blues assist the Feds and Rebels in attacking the pirates at the Comm Temple. Carolina and Wash, after having destroyed the Purge, soon regroup with them, just as the pirates release several Mantises. While the Freelancers and Chorus armies fight the droids outside, the crew enter the temple's control room and encounter Felix and Locus. Surprisingly, however, Locus betrays Felix and assists the crew in killing him. After obtaining his former partner's sword, Locus activates the Temple for the crew and disappears, allowing them to broadcast their message. The message transmits to numerous comm devices across the galaxy, revealing Hargrove's crimes.

Because of this, Hargrove himself flies the Staff of Charon to Chorus and releases numerous Mantises around the temple to kill the remaining inhabitants. As a result, the Reds and Blues infiltrate the ship in order to shut down the robots and manage to succeed with F.I.L.S.S.'s help. Unfortunately, they end up trapped inside Hargrove's trophy room when his forces attack them. As Hargrove's forces breach their way into the room, the crew prepare themselves for the impending attack, with Sarge inciting the others to make a final stand. However, what the crew doesn't know is that Epsilon deconstructed himself from his memories of the other fragments in order to help them, resulting in his death.

Retirement
Following the end of the war on Chorus, Sarge and the rest of the Reds and Blues retire to a remote moon to enjoy the simple life, though they fail miserably. Sarge, hopelessly depressed due to not having died heroically on Chorus, is driven even crazier by the period of peace and desperately searches for something to fight, such as dinosaurs and gravity itself. Ten months later, IDA reporter Dylan Andrews and her cameraman Jax Jonez arrive at the moon and reveal a distress message of Church. In response, the crew prepares to leave to search for the message's source, though Sarge grows suspicious of the reporters, due to his increased insanity. When Grif refuses to go with the others and quits, Sarge attempts to order him back but to no avail.

The crew and reporters then travel to an abandoned city where they find one of several relays that have been bouncing Church's message. This leads them to a boxed canyon where they encounter the Blues and Reds, a group of former Simulation Troopers who have been executing terrorist attacks on the UNSC. As the two groups get to know each other, they are attacked by UNSC aircraft. Sarge and his counterpart Surge battle together and take down a few enemy aircraft, bonding in the process. As Sarge quickly gains the trust of the Blues and Reds, they fuel his suspicions on Dylan and Jax by having him spy on them.

After collecting supplies for the Blues and Reds' underwater base, the two groups regroup with Wash and Carolina, who were searching for the missing Freelancers Dylan informed them about. The group explains their plan to the Freelancers involving the complete takedown of the UNSC who, according to the Blues and Reds' leader Temple, are killing all Project Freelancer personnel. As time passes, the Reds and Blues notice the disappearances of the Freelancers and reporters and grow suspicious of their counterparts. When the crew confronts them, they learn the truth behind their motives and demand for their friends back. However, Sarge allies with the Blues and Reds and helps them imprison his former comrades.

Soon after, Sarge and the Blues and Reds find Grif sneaking around the base, and proceed to imprison him too. With the entire crew trapped, Temple orders Sarge to kill Dylan and Jax. However, Sarge instead frees them, having seen the errors of his ways, and begs them to tell the others that he was simply acting as a double agent. After the three encounter Locus, who rescued Wash and Carolina, they free the remaining Reds and Blues, where Sarge (somewhat) apologizes for his betrayal. The group then attempt to escape on a Pelican but are forced to fight the Blues and Reds' army of Grunts due to Tucker's reckless behavior.

Personality
Sarge is one of the more eccentric characters in the series, as most of his actions and ideas involve violence, even when it's illogical. Although far from being as detached from reality as Caboose, Sarge's constant military rambling, illogical solutions, and irrational tendencies have suggested that he is one of the less sane characters in the series.

Being a military man, Sarge is very determined, mostly to unreasonable levels, as he still persists to fight the Blues despite knowing the truth of both sides. Sarge is also incredibly adamant as he refuses advice from others while believing that he is right. However, Sarge has the ability to be a loyal and compassionate leader, as he explains all the positive traits of others with a bold speech in Rally Cap and Reckless and has come to rescue his troops and others from mortal danger as seen in Upon Further Review and True Colors.

Excluding Caboose, it could be argued that Sarge is one of the least sane members of the Reds and Blues. The vast majority of his time is spent focused on violence and the upcoming battles, even when there is no battle to look forward to. If there is no conflict in sight, Sarge will try his best to incite a conflict somewhere, in some way. Sarge is impulsive, and borderline sociopathic in his attitude and words to other characters, particularly Grif, but not limited to him. He will often come up with needlessly complicated and violent ways to kill Grif or harm him. He is incapable of adjusting to a peaceful life, going as far as creating an evil robot army and declare war on gravity, just to have an enemy to fight. This makes him very susceptible to insanity, paranoia and manipulation. The Blues and Reds take advantage of this and made Sarge allied with them in their plan to destroy the UNSC, betraying their own friends just for the chance of fighting an enemy, even if he doesn't any grudge against them.

He also has a large ego. He refuses to acknowledge flaws in his plans, and it is clear he values Simmons over Grif primarily due to the fact that Simmons sucks up to him and compliments him, whereas Grif insults Sarge often, which may hurt his pride. In recent events however, Sarge seems to have been humbled slightly, and treats Grif slightly better, only arguing with him seemingly out of habit.

Relationships
Sarge has developed many relationships with both the Red Team and also the Blue Team.

Delusions
Sarge's battle plans tend to be delusively grandiose and seriously flawed, and he favors overly complicated plans that involve heavy casualties in his own forces, primarily Grif, sometimes making suicidal plans even when there is no actual problem to solve. Even if his plans rely on the strength of numbers, he may see fit to have Grif killed anyway. He displays frequent periods of nostalgia and compares his plans to notable figures from film, such as John Wayne and Indiana Jones. At other times, he devises plans that take ideas from popular culture, most of which are purely fiction anyway, including the Incredible Hulk, Star Wars and Spider-Man.

Sometimes he makes incompetent blunders in his plans that are not immediately evident to him, but the rest of the team will criticize him for. He is also rather paranoid, and often concocts implausible theories to explain simple events. Many of these will revolve around the Blues as their primary antagonists, as a result of Sarge's intense hatred of them. Sarge has also showcased a complete dependence on command during the Blood Gulch Chronicles. When Sister arrives in the canyon during Season 5, who the Reds think has joined their team, she informs them that command sent her to replace a dead commanding officer.

Sarge at first refuses to believe it, but when Grif makes a few clever comments about how command could be wrong about other things which Sarge staunchly believes in, he believes that he is dead and, due to his complete trust in red command, allows the other Reds to bury him alive. After falling in the caverns, Sarge and the other Reds find a computer displaying images of their base. Sarge's complete hatred towards the Blues had him believe that the Blues set it up to spy on them, but after seeing images of Blue base, he suggested that the Blues were so arrogant, that they spy on their own base just to see themselves on T.V. Sarge also has some deluded memories when he deleted the Blues. He believes Simmons deleted the Blues, Sarge killed Grif and Simmons turning into a Mongoose.

Weak Passwords
Sarge seems to have a habit of making weak passwords. (i.e. Making his password, "password" or the access code, "access code".) This annoys Simmons greatly. The only times he came up with something original was "Codeword: Dirtbag", which was just so Robot# 2 would punch Grif in the face, as well as using "shotgun" to tell Grif when to crash through a wall in Upon Further Review. He also used non weak passwords to disable Lopez's lying mode and to get root access to the intel message to command (though he still made the access code "access code").

Stubbornness
Sarge has a tendency of being extremely stubborn, especially when it comes to his plans or opinions. He will often refuse to listen to, or even outright ignore, any plan or idea that's not his. This, when paired with his delusions, can cause a lot of tension between him and his forces, and make what should be simple situations into fiascos. During You Can't Park Here, after Sister's ship crashes on top of Donut, Sarge begins coming up with steadily more and more ridiculous plans to rescue him. Simmons keeps attempting to give realistic suggestions, but Sarge refuses to agree with any of them. He eventually deludes himself into thinking he has a "levitation ray" and leaves, ignoring Simmons' suggestions altogether.

When Simmons points out Shiela to him in Fight or Fright, he immediately assumes Simmons is going crazy, and refuses to believe she exists, even later when Simmons attacks Red Base with her, simply because he didn't see her when the others did.

Combat
Sarge is a skilled soldier, having managed to capture Tex as well as fight off, with the assistance of Caboose, the attacking hordes of soldiers in Battle Creek. In the episode True Colors, he (along with his fellow Reds and Blues) managed to eliminate several Tex drones, showing some skill in combat and survived unharmed afterwards. Sarge later uses his shotgun to kill several Federal Army soldiers, and was able to eliminate a Space Pirate in hand to hand combat, with the assistance of Grif and Simmons. In Relocated: Part One, it is revealed that Sarge jumped out of ships during the Human-Covenant war, later identifying himself as a former ODST.

Mechanics and Engineering
Sarge is also skilled in mechanics, though his skill level and success fluctuates from flawed to almost revolutionary genius, having built three separate robots, two of which were assembled simultaneously in a short period of time from color-coded robot kits. He has also created a fully functional weather control device into Lopez, though he never used it as he was unable to find a set of D batteries. Although he initially claims that he is unable to repair their jeep, he later manages to fix a derelict near-identical jeep by installing a solar/cold fission power source with little equipment in the wasteland.

However, his work is not flawless, as when he turned Simmons into a cyborg, the latter claimed that he would occasionally shoot himself in the foot for some unknown reason, which Sarge claims is "user-error". He has also claims to have developed a levitation device. Sarge has a passion for making ridiculously complicated and impressive devices and often uses any technical problem as an excuse to develop them, only to be disappointed when others (usually Grif) point out much simpler solutions. Sarge had also built a new robot body for Lopez before Reconstruction.

He also admits his skills aren't in the same league as Tex's or Lopez's.

Medical Experience
Sarge also appears to act as the Red Team's medical officer, as he has performed surgery on both Simmons and Grif in a relatively short amount of time, and both seem to be healthy. However, Sarge clearly knows very little about bodily functions, as he uses a diagram of a cow as an aid during Grif's surgery, claims that the body can produce any oxygen it needs when under stress without breathing, claiming that "the chest is strictly reserved for digestion", and advises Caboose to lift a heavy weight with his back as opposed to his legs.

Battle Plans
Sarge seems to be capable of planning out attacks quite well as demonstrated when he and Grif outsmarted Washington during Upon Further Review and when he and Lopez captured Tex in Down, but not Out. However, most of the time, he suggests plans that either protect him, kill Grif, or involve the construction of a complicated device in favor of one that actually achieves their goals. However, the aforementioned succeeding plans Sarge had come up with were not very complex nor did they guarantee victory, suggesting dumb luck may have been a factor.

Attention to Detail
Despite formulating unnecessarily complicated plans and wanting to protect solely him, Sarge appears to be attentive to his own team. As seen in Drink Your Ovaltine, Sarge was quickly able to realize his team was in jeopardy after he noticed several differences in behavior than what he normally expects from them: Simmons not responding to a call with the usual Red reply, Donut missing his daily wine and cheese hour, and being informed of the radio being in a state of disrepair, something Lopez would never let happen.

He was also able to figure out Doc was with them, though how he did this is unknown. He was also able to discern who was responsible for this when given only a description of the weather, being able to figure out that rainier weather was actually a hidden message for Mt. Rainier, the largest landmass in Washington. Going on this, he was able to figure out that Wash along with the largest mass associated with him, the Meta, were the ones responsible for "killing" his fellow teammates and holding the sole survivor hostage. However, part of this may have been due to dumb luck as Simmons did not think he had revealed any of this information to Sarge in their exchange.

Kills
Proving his skills and rank, Sarge has killed many opponents: he was able to defend himself against several Grunts in Visiting Old Friends and, with the help of Grif and Simmons, was able to kill the Meta in n+1. He also killed two Wyoming clones and slayed several Tex drones with his shotgun. In Fire, Sarge uses his shotgun and the tank's cannon to kill several Feds. He has also killed Lemons.

Voice Acting
Matt Hullum states that he initially modeled Sarge's voice on that of R. Lee Ermey, the actor who portrayed Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, but by Season 3 the character's voice became more gruff and less nasal. The change in voice is such that people will often ask who voiced Sarge in the initial episodes, believing that Hullum himself did not.

Trivia

 * Despite appearing at the end of Why Are We Here?, Sarge's appearance is discounted by Rooster Teeth as on his DVD bios it states his first appearance was in Red Gets a Delivery, the following episode.
 * According to the PSA, Planning to Fail, Sarge wields a shotgun at most times in order to be prepared for a zombie attack, although it is also his preferred weapon, despite his lack of proficiency with it.
 * According to the Season 2 DVD, Sarge's hometown is Moscow, Iowa.
 * Sarge has appeared on more season DVD box arts than any other character to date (7 total).
 * According to Tenth Percentile, Sarge's preferred nickname is S-Dog.
 * While Sarge prefers the shotgun, he has used a Magnum many times, particularly during Seasons 1 and 2. This is largely due to the fact the idle pose used to depict head-bobbing with lowered weapons while wielding two-handed weapons in the Halo 1 engine results in an exaggerated bent-over pose. With the Lower Weapon function introduced in Halo 2, this is no longer an issue.
 * As shown in Reconstruction: Chapter 4, when the Meta forges the transmission to Red Base, in the right hand corner it says Sarge is a Staff Sergeant.
 * According to The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Sergeant Johnson was once Sarge's mentor (or so he claims). It should be noted that the PSA, in question, was a Gamestop advertisement and is non canon.
 * Sarge has developed a fear of heights from jumping out of ships from orbit due to his previous experience as an ODST, which has been touched upon at random points and in the Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide book.
 * Sarge was the first of the main characters to appear as a Poser-animated character, during Holiday Plans, Part Three: Chestnuts Roasting....
 * During Episode 15, Sarge meets Church in "the afterlife", even though Church is actually an A.I. At the time, the "Alpha Church idea" did not exist, and the scene was presented as the genuine afterlife. However, series creator and writer Burnie Burns confirmed in the Revelation Creator Commentary that the scene had been retconned behind the scenes into Sarge's armor having entered recovery mode (as seen in Snooze Button) after being shot.
 * Sarge claims to have never hit a girl, despite bashing Tex in the head with his shotgun during Down, but not Out, although at the time, due to Tex's voice modifier, he didn't know she was a woman.
 * Since the series first premiered, Sarge's name has never been revealed. In the Season 14 episode Fifty Shades of Red, Sarge states that his real name is just "Sarge," although the episode suggests he had actually changed his name for the sake of obtaining the rank of Sergeant. According to Jax and Sarge himself, his name is 13 syllables long, requires a Mandarin keyboard to spell and that the fifth letter is an emoji. Before then, any attempt to reveal his real name was either vocally pre-empted or visually obscured. Series creator Burnie Burns stated that he and Matt Hullum know his real name but never plan to reveal it.
 * Sarge's gamertag is GrifKilla51, as seen in the PSA, You Know What We Mean.
 * When Church first possesses Sarge in Season 1 and attempts to tell Tex that it's him, she replies by saying he is too short to be Church. This is most likely poking fun at the fact that all of the spartan models in the Halo Engine are exactly the same height. It should also be noted that because of this, Sarge appears significantly shorter than everyone else in Luke Mckay's Red vs. Blue drawings. It could also be a reference to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in which Princess Leia says to Luke Skywalker "Aren't you short to be a Stormtrooper?"
 * Sarge, along with Caboose and Grif, is one of the only characters in the series to appear in every season.
 * Sarge will often utter the words "Ruh-roh" when presented with overwhelming danger, a reference to Hanna-Barbara cartoon star Scooby-Doo. Sarge's voice actor, series producer Matt Hullum, had worked as a visual effects production manager on the 2002 Scooby-Doo film.
 * At the end of Grifball Highlights, Sarge cries, "I'm so sad, I don't think I can go on. End it now, end it now," because the ball-carrier (A.K.A. Grif) scores without dying.
 * Sarge appears in the animated RT Recap alongside characters from RWBY, RTAA, and Achievement Hunter, making Sarge the only character to appear outside of Red vs. Blue.
 * With his "promotion" to Colonel, Sarge is the highest ranking member of the Reds and Blues and, tied with Surge and Turf, the highest ranked member of the Red Army and the second highest ranked character in the series, behind Donald Doyle and Vanessa Kimball, who are Generals.
 * According to the Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide Sarge was transferred to Project Freelancer because he used parts of the ship he was stationed on to make a robot body for the ship's onboard A.I. unit.
 * According to the Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide Sarge has his own three laws of robotics meant to keep a robot uprising from happening, but his own laws are what can cause a robot uprising.
 * It is hinted in the special episode Meta vs. Carolina: Dawn of Awesome that Boomstick is Sarge's son. Though, ultimately, the episode is non-canon.
 * During the Red vs. Blue Panel at RTX Sydney 2017, Burnie Burns stated that Sarge was originally intended to be the mysterious blue soldier in Season 10 instead of Butch Flowers. This idea would have caused multiple complications to the story, however, as Sarge had always been presented as completely unaware of the truths involved in Project Freelancer.
 * While Sarge's appearance beneath his armor is largely unknown, he mentions his "iconic eyebrows" in Belly of the Beast.