Sarge

"You've just got Sarge'd!"

- Sarge in Two for One

Colonel Sarge is a main character in Red vs. Blue and the leader of the Blood Gulch Red Team. He is voiced by Matt Hullum, co-creator of the series, first appearing at the end of Episode 1, and is shown to be aggressive and illogical. According to Tenth Percentile, his preferred nickname is S-Dog.

Overview
A military man with a Southern United States accent, 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."

Misadventures in Blood Gulch
Sarge is the gruff and regiment 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. 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. He 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, Sarge is forced to build two permanent robot bodies for the Blues; 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."

Into the "Future"
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; they end up returning to 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 where the Meta threw a Warthog at Grif, he agreed 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 infiltrate 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 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 soon depart 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 that they are returning 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 if they return. 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 Sarge's, and the others', surprise.

The Reds, Blues, and Carolina soon arrive at Valhalla, where Sarge tells his men that they will now be able to get Lopez back on their team. Simmons tries to convince Sarge that the addition would be pointless, but Sarge does not change his mind. He 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.

Rescue Mission
After talking to Carolina, Epsilon gathers everyone in the Red team's Hologram Chamber, where the final plan to kill the Director is discussed. However, the group refuse 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. After the Reds and Blues return to their shananigans, 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 find 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.

Shipwrecked On Chorus
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. While there, Sarge "borrows" the Blue team's tank and uses it to "rejuvenate" Red base. After Wash regains the tank, Sarge discuss improvements on the base's layout and allows Simmons and Grif to share one half of the base while he possesses the other half. 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 dropship 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 them and 12 others as enemies, and nearly kills them but shuts down due to its diesel fuel. When gunfire is suddenly heard over at Blue base Sarge and the Reds rush over.

Battle at Crash Site Bravo
As the teams regroup, Felix and Locus confront them. Locus tells the Reds and Blues to come with him, but they refuse and attack him. When Locus escapes, the group interrogate Felix, in which the latter explains that the group are considered the greatest soldiers in the galaxy for bringing down Project Freelancer, and adds 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., in order for him to repair her. However, Lopez 2.0 uploads himself into C.C., takes control of her, and attacks Sarge, prompting the latter to flee towards Blue base. Suddenly, Locus arrives with an army of Federal soldiers, forcing the teams to engage them in battle.

During the attack, Sarge and Simmons man the Blue Team's tank to kill several Feds before Locus destroys it. However, when they begin to advance, Wash and Lopez are injured in front of Sarge. Furious, Sarge leaves cover in an attempt to avenge them, but Locus shoots Sarge with his Railgun, incapacitating him. 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 Federation. 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, after being moved around from several Federal Army outposts.

Secrets Revealed
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 previous acts of terrorism on the planet. Knowing that their friends have joined the rebels, Doyle promises Sarge, Wash, and Donut that he will allow them to leave Chorus if they help the Feds fight the rebels and rescue their friends. With no other option, the group agree but unexpectedly run into their friends weeks later at the compound. They tell each other the truth behind why the rebels and Feds are fighting each other, and come up with a plan to end the war between the two factions.

Suddenly, the compound is attacked by Locus and a group of mercenaries, where Sarge witnesses a Fed disintegrate before him. As the Mercenary Team prepare to kill the Blood Gulch Crew, Felix intervenes and betrays the group, 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 Blood Gulch Crew 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.

Going to War
After they do so, Felix and Locus contact the Blood Gulch Crew 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. 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, vowing that they will return.

After the Feds and Rebels form a truce, they pick up the Blood Gulch Crew from the radio jammer station 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 Blood Gulch Crew, Federal Army, and New Republic, accept.

Personality
Sarge is one of the most eccentric characters in the series, as most of his actions and ideas involve violence, even when it's illogical. Being a military man, Sarge is very determined, as he still persists to fight the Blues, despite knowing the truth of both sides. Sarge is also very egotistical 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.

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 time 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").

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. His rank suggests that he is a veteran of combat. In addition, during one of the Episode 100 endings, he is explained to have commanded many Red forces over the years after his tour in Blood Gulch. 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.

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 fusion 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.

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.

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 (6 total).
 * 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, possibly hinting that he was once an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST).
 * 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 Episode 12 (although at the time, due to Tex's voice modifier, Sarge thought she was a male). Though he did attack Tucker, thinking he was Tex, when he was covered in teleporter soot in This One Goes to Eleven.
 * Since the series first premiered, Sarge's name has never been revealed; he has simply been called "Sarge" throughout the series. Any attempt to reveal his real name has been either vocally pre-empted or visually obscurred.
 * 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.
 * 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 Blood Gulch Crew and the second highest ranked character in the series, behind Donald Doyle, who is a General.