Clayton Abernathy

## Background

### 1972 - 1994: Clayton Abernathy

Clayton Abernathy is the only son & first child of former Maryland Senator Russell Abernathy. Clayton & his family resided in Georgetown, a wealthy neighborhood of the nation's capital. Because of his father's popularity, success & wealth, Clayton & his sister Lisa were given the best of the best & were expected to be nothing less. Luckily, the family was away on family vacation when their hometown was destroyed by an intrinsic bombing. As a result, the family moved to Southern Virginia.

When Clayton made it known that he desired to join the United States military, his father used his resources to get him into West Point with no troubles. Though his father was hesitant about him joining, Clayton did not disappoint him.

### 1994 - 2011: Clayton Abernathy

He graduated with top honors, earning the rank of Second Lieutenant upon his graduation. As an officer, he went on to receive Advanced Infantry Training (AIT) then attended Air Defense Artillery School & Covert Ops School. But military education is not all that he got. He also served as the cadre on the North Atlantic Range Command, the USA ENG COM & EVR Missile Radar Training.

Despite all of this training, he received the brunt of his field experience in Kahndaq & some countries in Central America while serving in a special forces unit as Forward Observer. His time here led to those under his command to respect him as they knew he had gone & done it just as they have. As they would say, he would never give his soldiers a command that he wouldn't do himself.

### 2011 - Present: Hawk

A highly decorated officer, Clayton also became known for his ability to select the right men for any mission & applying the right strategy. While he was never the field commander type, he was willing to do what was necessary should the occasion arise. All of these high acclaims led to Major General Lawrence Flag giving the young colonel the assignment of field commander for the freshly created Joe Team. As the first man to be picked from the team, he was responsible for recruiting most of the team's early members. When introducing himself to those under his command, he took the codename Hawk.

Though he came into the Joe Team with the rank of Colonel, he has been promoted over the years to Brigadier General & then Major General. He served directly under under General Flag up until when he was killed in action. This event led to Clayton assuming full command of the G.I. Joe team, a job he has done diligently & admirably.

When the Joes' conflict with Cobra had become more publicly known, Hawk became the public face of the G.I. Joe team. As the years have gone by, he was come to take on an advisory role as commander in chief, letting field command duties fall to Duke. But nevertheless, no one messes with Hawk.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Hand to Hand Combat:** Hawk is extremely skilled combatant & soldier. He has been regularly referred to as "one tough bastard." He was able to evade a couple of blows from Storm Shadow but was no match for the ninjitsu master.
* **Leadership:** Since joining the military, Hawk has been highly regarded as an amazing leader. Because of his skills & fearlessness, there is not a thing those under his command wouldn't do for him.
* **Network:** With a long & illustrious military career behind him, Hawk has connections that he can call upon to get the Joes more funding, training, equipment, experimental programs & technologies.
* **Tactical Analysis:** Hawk’s experience has given him the capability to reflect upon his career, seeing how he could have improved on his performance & to further study tactics. Over the years, he has used this further hone his tactical mind.
* **Weaponry:** He graduated from Advanced Infantry Training with high marks. He is also a qualified expert in the use of the M16 rifle & M-1911A1 automatic pistol.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **Strength:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Speed:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Occult:** 1 - Nonexistent
* **Weapons:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **Range:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Strategy:** 6 - Expert / Advanced
* **Combat:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **TOTAL:** 130 - Threat Level 3 / General Threat

## Trivia

#### General

* At West Point, he became good friends with Rick Flag (the nephew of General Lawrence Flag) & John Zullo. After the three of them were promoted to First Lieutenant, Zullo was asked to lead a covert unit. His departure only led to a more intense but friendly rivalry between Flag & Abernathy.
* His sister Lisa lives in Metropolis with her daughter. She's a political reporter for the Daily Planet.

#### Military

* His primary military specialty is strategic command operations & his secondary military specialties are ranger, artillery, intelligence & radar.
* He currently has the rank of Major General (MG), earning the enlisted grade of OF-7.

#### G.I. Joe

* Hawk is the Commander of the Joes. He is skilled in strategic command operations, artillery, armor & military intelligence. He graduated top of his class from West Point.
* Some of his favorite phrases are "Eat lead, Cobra!" & "Yo, Joe!"
* Hawk believes that nobody can ask to be part of G.I. Joe. If they were good enough, they would *get* asked.
* Cobra Commander once shot him point-blank in the back but he recovered due to a bulletproof vest.
* Hawk officially took over as commanding officer of the Joes in 2014.
* Rick Flag was in the running to become the Joes' original field commander. But due to his current history & imprisonment, the government couldn't sign off on Rick as the team's commander & the job was given to Abernathy.

## Notes

* Hawk/Clayton Abernathy is a character from G.I. Joe & its related media.
* Russell Abernathy is a retired senator in the DC comics. Lisa & Eloise are his daughter & granddaughter, respectively.
* General Lawrence Flagg is character from the G.I. Joe franchise. On Earth-44, he is the grandfather of Rick Flag.