What is/was Bill's rank when he was in the army?

[Urban Samurai]

So working on a national guard uniform mod for Bill with someone and knowing what his rank was when he was in Vietnam would be useful. Tried doing research before simply because I was curious of L4D2's lore, only to get insulted for no reason by some toxic minge so would be nice to get some productive comments this time...

I've had no luck online so it's likely they never gave Bill a rank other then he was in the 1st Special Forces Group.

If anyone knows anything, let me know!

[ggty]

rumor has it he has a Seven of Spades and a Two of Diamonds tattooed up his sleeve so it may be classified ...

[Urban Samurai]

Originally posted by ggty:

rumor has it he has a Seven of Spades and a Two of Diamonds tattooed up his sleeve so it may be classified ...

Hmm... Interesting...

[ggty]

Nobody may know. :P

[Castle]

Did some looking, the only place I could find anything related to his military status is the wiki stating that he was in the 1st Special Forces Group.

"Bill's original issue combat jacket bears no badges of rank (or suggestion that they might once have been sewn on and then removed). This suggests that, as an enlisted man, Bill did not achieve even the most basic step up in promotion. Such a situation would be most unusual for a long-service soldier during the Vietnam War period, especially one with time served in the Special Forces. It may just be a developer oversight."

His concept art also has no markings besides the emblem of 1st Special Forces Group.

So it looks like the only way you are going to get an answer with any extent of legitimacy is knocking on Valve's door and asking nicely.

[Urban Samurai]

Originally posted by Quaccers:

Did some looking, the only place I could find anything related to his military status is the wiki stating that he was in the 1st Special Forces Group.

"Bill's original issue combat jacket bears no badges of rank (or suggestion that they might once have been sewn on and then removed). This suggests that, as an enlisted man, Bill did not achieve even the most basic step up in promotion. Such a situation would be most unusual for a long-service soldier during the Vietnam War period, especially one with time served in the Special Forces. It may just be a developer oversight."

His concept art also has no markings besides the emblem of 1st Special Forces Group.

So it looks like the only way you are going to get an answer with any extent of legitimacy is knocking on Valve's door and asking nicely.

Hm alrighty then, thanks man this helps a lot.

[Catatonic Twitch Streamer]

doom's day moderator

[England is not a real country]

Since according to the lore,bill was discharged possibly soon or before the end of the war,
Like he could´ve simply be a recruit that was full on expections to kill many Vietcons but was discharged and gone home for doing something (Stuff like not a good behaivor)
Or
he served the army for atleast 4-2 years of the war before going back home and being discharged due to problems like a broken leg or massive injuries.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Originally posted by Lung Disease Gaming:

Since according to the lore,bill was discharged possibly soon or before the end of the war,
Like he could´ve simply be a recruit that was full on expections to kill many Vietcons but was discharged and gone home for doing something (Stuff like not a good behaivor)
Or
he served the army for atleast 4-2 years of the war before going back home and being discharged due to problems like a broken leg or massive injuries.

Chances are he got injured than had something to do with his behavior, the sacrifice comic shows him going to the ER for crying out loud!

[England is not a real country]

Originally posted by Cursed Hawkins:

Originally posted by Lung Disease Gaming:

Since according to the lore,bill was discharged possibly soon or before the end of the war,
Like he could´ve simply be a recruit that was full on expections to kill many Vietcons but was discharged and gone home for doing something (Stuff like not a good behaivor)
Or
he served the army for atleast 4-2 years of the war before going back home and being discharged due to problems like a broken leg or massive injuries.

Chances are he got injured than had something to do with his behavior, the sacrifice comic shows him going to the ER for crying out loud!

Well,
the bahaviour possibility can be a thing in the army y´know,
maybe the younger bill simply wasn´t mentally stable to be given a M16 and pass through many stress specially with the Vietnam war
I mean could´ve you even stand the paranoia of constally checking your back before some asian guy attempts to kill isn´t a fair reason to be dischaged!
but its just a hypothesis
nothing said here should been taken too seriously

[JAiZ]

Originally posted by Lung Disease Gaming:

Originally posted by Cursed Hawkins:

Chances are he got injured than had something to do with his behavior, the sacrifice comic shows him going to the ER for crying out loud!

maybe the younger bill simply wasn´t mentally stable to be given a M16 and pass through many stress specially with the Vietnam war

The Sacrifice comic shows him wielding a gun alongside other soldiers.[www.l4d.com]
According to a cut voiceline, he also took part in the Battle of Huế[en.wikipedia.org]

Originally posted by Cursed Hawkins:

Chances are he got injured than had something to do with his behavior, the sacrifice comic shows him going to the ER for crying out loud!

There's no confirmation what his knee injury actually is, it's widely accepted to be shrapnel, but there's no official confirmation of that being true afaik

We do know that Bill has served for a while, and we could make assumptions based on real-life facts from the vietnam war, but Valve likely kept his specific rank and length of service and other such details ambiguous in order to let players identify with him better. Ultimately, he's whatever rank you think he'd be.

I'd also recommend taking info from the wiki with a grain of salt, as there's lots of misinformation there.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Originally posted by JAiZ:

Originally posted by Cursed Hawkins:

Chances are he got injured than had something to do with his behavior, the sacrifice comic shows him going to the ER for crying out loud!

There's no confirmation what his knee injury actually is, it's widely accepted to be shrapnel, but there's no official confirmation of that being true afaik

Given the context of the Vietnam war having a common danger via traps, Bill was likely injured by one of those dead body traps that were extremely common due to just how many people would get killed in Vietnam on the daily, but honestly its a good thing that Valve doesn't make Bill suffer from the PTSD that veterans of Vietnam end up getting other than the rare friendly fire line from Francis because my mom's father was in the Korean war and they needed to be extremely careful around him because so much as an alarm going off would trigger him.