Edward Sledge

Specialist Edward Harland Sledge is a playable character and main protagonist of Danger Close: Red Tide. 
Sledge is a member of the US Army 1st Armored Division "Oak" Company, headed by Captain Norman Wolfe, and is a part of Baker squad, headed by Sergeant Roderick Lafarge. His main weapon is the M16A2.
== Biography ==
=== Early Life ===
According to his in-game bio, he was born in Saginaw, Michigan to a fiercely patriotic and conservative family from the rural Midwest, something that inspired him to devote a career in the military. He enlisted in the US Army with the hopes of fighting in Vietnam, but the war had all but ended by the time of his enlistment.
=== Missions ===
Sledge's first engagement was in the Inner German Border against Soviet mechanized infantry and paratrooper forces. Despite efforts to repel the invasion, Sledge's unit was ordered to retreat West towards the city of Frankfurt, from which he would partake in a counteroffensive against Soviet tanks and artillery deploying outside of Frankfurt. SPC Sledge would later partake in major battles in West Germany before being deployed to the Middle East.
In February of 1981, following the success of the West German campaign, Sledge's unit was redeployed in the Sinai peninsula to kill/capture Soviet commander Rudolf Shvertman. In this mission, Egyptian forces intervened and a short skirmish between NATO and Egyptian forces ensued. The mission failed because of this, Shvertman was able to escape unharmed and relations between Egypt and the West were strained.
After this incident, Sledge and his unit were sent back to the US for relief, but upon the Communist invasion in Florida, he returned to action as one of the first to respond to the Communist landing in the Florida Keys. From May of 1983 to November of 1984, Sledge's unit fought Soviet forces in the South and Midwest before launching an all-out attack to reclaim Washington, D.C. and end the Soviet occupation.
== Personal Life ==
Edward Sledge married Lenora Klostermann (b. 1958), the daughter of Wehrmacht veteran Karl-Heinrich Klostermann. Edward and Lenora had a son, future Senator for the State of Michigan Keith Sledge (b. 1983). 
Sledge's upbringing was strongly influenced by the Red Scare and his parents' anti-Communist beliefs, which were rooted in the fear of the growing control of unions in the auto industry in Michigan. Because of this, Sledge developed a fierce patriotic attitude that is seen by his CO to be his main driving force in the battlefield. However, despite his strong passion for his country, Sledge is unable to justify his country's policies beyond stating that it is "the American way". 
Sledge's attitudes are reflected in his loud, outspoken mannerisms, which if it not were for his lighthearted sense of humour and positive outlook on life, would be dismissed as the ramblings of a deranged conspiracy theorist.