AWACS Bandog

AWACS Bandog
Biographical Information
Other Names and Callsigns	Mr. Guard Dog
Affiliations	Osean Air Defense Force 444th Air Base Spare Squadron
Physical Description
Gender	Male (radio officer)
Actors
English Voice	Kevin M. Connolly
Japanese Voice	Kenichiro Matsuda
Appearances
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

"This is the penal unit. I decide when you die."

― AWACS Bandog

AWACS Bandog is the callsign of an Osean Air Defense Force AWACS which participated in the Lighthouse War. Bandog was tasked with overseeing Spare Squadron, the Osean penal unit based out of the 444th Air Base. He finds the base commander D. McKinsey untrustworthy, and often gives orders on his own.

Biography

All right, gentlemen, it's time to clean house!

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Operation High Card

"Prisoners use nothing without supervision. Not even a pencil."

― AWACS Bandog

Bandog's first mission with Trigger was during Operation High Card. During this operation, and presumably in the ones before, he was the one in charge of ensuring the airplanes the prisoners were flying had their Fire Control Systems locked, as their mission was to make a lot of noise and make the enemy think the 444th Air Base had fighters at the base. However, when the bombers attacking the runway hit the control tower and contact with Colonel D. McKinsey was lost, Bandog unlocked the prisoners' FCS and ordered them to shoot down the bombers. Upon completion of the mission, it was revealed that Bandog had bet a large sum of money with High Roller that Trigger would be shot down during the mission, lashing out at the latter over the radio after Trigger had successfully landed.

Operation One Pair

"Don't pretend like you deserve any better! Continue with the operation!"

― AWACS Bandog

After the success of the previous mission, Spare Squadron was tasked with softening up the defenses of Erusean forces at Roca Roja during Operation One Pair. Though initially Bandog had instructions to forbid the prisoners from flying back to resupply, he was persuaded to allow the prisoners access to the resupply base by Count, who played on Bandog's desire to see the enemy base destroyed. Later in the operation, when the prisoners were discussing Osean battle doctines, Bandog threatened the prisoners with solitary after High Roller asked him if he wanted to bet on what the battle doctrine was. Upon the completion of the mission, when Full Band made a joke about High Roller's death, Bandog chided Spare Squadron for not laughing.

Operation Two Pairs

"You will be near thunderclouds. Man, you guys were born unlucky."

― AWACS Bandog

About a week after the completion of Operation One Pair and the destruction of the Erusean Roca Roja base, Spare Squadron is ordered to rendezvous with Cyclops and Strider Squadrons to guide them through the Yinshi Valley and destroy Erusean SAM and radar sites to ensure their safe passage. After the destruction of the sites, Erusean MQ-99s appear and begin harassing Strider and Cyclops, so Bandog orders Spare to shoot them down. After the destruction of the drones, Sol Squadron arrives, and Spare pilot Champ disobeys Bandog's orders to disengage, and is swiftly killed by Sol's leader, "Mister X". With most of Spare Squadron completely outclassed by Sol, Bandog orders Cyclops, Strider, and damaged Spare planes to disengage and leave the battlefield, while Trigger dueled Mister X in the canyon to keep him away from the retreating aircraft. Eventually, Mister X and Sol were forced to leave when the weather deteriorated, ending the operation.

Operation Three of a Kind

"The megastorm Inessa 2 that formed a few days ago is approaching our AO."

― AWACS Bandog

Following Operation One Pair, Colonel McKinsey, in order to curry favor with Osean High Command, gives Spare a mission to attack Erusea's fuel production facilities at Artiglio Port, with the purpose of depriving Erusea's drones of their fuel. When Spare arrives at Artiglio, Bandog orders them to "destroy everything in sight," and they inflict significant damage to the fuel facilities and to the port itself. Just as they finish their attack, however, Bandog receives an update that fuel trucks are escaping into the arriving megastorm Inessa 2. He orders Spare to pursue the trucks into the storm to search out and destroy them, despite their complaints. Ultimately, Spare is able to destroy the trucks despite the perils of the storm and the drones.

Operation Flush

"What's more enclosed than solitary? Commence operation."

― AWACS Bandog

With Spare Squadron beginning to be recognized as an effective fighting force, they are sent a mission to destroy an Erusean communications facility protected by satellite guided SAMs. As the operation proceeds, Spare pilot Full Band begins talking about classified Osean intel that he was able to steal from High Command, despite Bandog warning him multiple times not to speak of it over the radio. Following the destruction of the facility, Spare Squadron is approached by what initially appears to be Osean fighters, but the fighters suddenly attack despite being flagged as friendly on Spare's IFF system. The mission is thrown into chaos, until Tabloid forms a plan to re-calibrate Spare's IFF, by having all of Spare Squadron get in close formation around Trigger and flag anyone not in the formation as an enemy; while the squadron is forming up, Bandog asks for Full Band's location in the squadron. The plan works, and Spare is able to destroy the disguised Erusean planes, but at the end of the battle, Full Band is tagged as an enemy and mistakenly shot down by Count. Despite Bandog claiming it to be an accident, Count and several other Spare pilots accuse Bandog on having done it intentionally.

Operation Full House

"Be on the lookout for camouflaged SAM sites. Seek and destroy."

― AWACS Bandog

With Spare Squadron being pardoned and folded into the Osean Defense Forces in preparation for an assault on Tyler Island, Bandog is assigned with Trigger and Count to escort Colonel McKinsey to Bulgurdarest. As they approach the border, McKinsey's plane begins to come under fire from Erusean fighters and camouflaged SAM sites, and orders Trigger and Count to shoot down anyone that approaches McKinsey's plane, friendly or not. Count retorts by bringing up Full Band's death, but Bandog again maintains that it was an accident and tells Count to shut up. Trigger engages the fighters and SAMs, and as they draw closer to the Bulgurdarest border, Bandog expresses his admiration for Trigger, calling him "a breath of fresh air" and the only pilot in the squadron who "doesn't stink." As McKinsey crosses the border and prepares to land, he comes under attack by an unknown aircraft. Trigger duels and eventually destroys the fighter, at which point Cyclops Squadron, led by Wiseman, enter the airspace and reveal that they had been pursuing the unknown aircraft, and that it was a drone. Regardless if Trigger or the Eruseans end up shooting down Roper 1, Bandog will state the cargo wasn't worth protecting in a deadpan manner.

Post Operation Full House

Following Trigger's transfer to the LRSSG, Bandog's actions and fate are unknown.

Personality

Of all the AWACS units in the series, Bandog is arguably the most disrespectful towards the pilots under his command, directly insulting and scorning them on multiple occasions, calling them "bastards," "cowards," "assholes," "dumbasses," and "mouth-breathing idiot." Bandog is not very concerned with the safety of convicts when they enter hazardous situations, instead showing more concern for the integrity of their aircraft. He often threatens the convicts with solitary confinement or being shot out of the sky should they leave the operational airspace. In Operation Full House, however, Bandog expressed relief to have Trigger join them and adds that he doesn't stink like the other pilots in the now-disbanded Spare Squadron.

Despite his poor treatment of Spare Squadron, Bandog cares for the unit's operational effectiveness while on missions and does his best to keep them informed with up-to-date intelligence. Distrustful of Colonel McKinsey, Bandog tends to give out orders on his own. He also gives praise to those he feels have actually contributed to their mission's success, most often Trigger.

Trivia

• The term "bandog" refers to an aggressive dog originally bred as guard dogs and attack dogs. It is rarely used in modern English and was also used to refer to a bailiff or a prison guard. This matches with the depiction of the 444th Air Base as a prison.