D.O.B. – February 28, 1950.

PLACE OF BIRTH – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

HEIGHT – Five feet nine inches.

BUILD – Medium and medium weight. Pleasant face. Not imposing physically.

HAIR COLOR –  Brown and bushy by military standards, hint of gray at the temples.

EYE COLOR – Brown.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS – Extremely loud voice and laugh.

FAMILY – Mother, Lois Margaret Crystal, Father, John William Crystal who owned a gas station.

PERSONALITY – Trustworthy, efficient, intelligent, commands and expects respect, only acts when considers it necessary, always chooses the right moment. Good judge of character, not easily swayed by others’ opinions. Trusts his instincts and often gambles on them. Demanding of himself and others. Capable of the political actions and behavior necessary in his job but does not always play by the rules and not afraid of violating laws when necessary. In personal relationships, considerate and good-hearted. Not experienced romantically and doesn’t know how to handle women. Jim and Brush’s boss and friend.

HOBBIES – Helicopters and flying them.

PETS – None.

EDUCATION – Yale University, BA in History. University of California, San Francisco, MD. Attended U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and later the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

OCCUPATION – Head of Biological Warfare Centre (BWL), which he persuaded the Department of Defense to set up.

CAREER – ROTC, active duty, trained as a helicopter pilot, commissioned as captain. Sent to Vietnam 1973. Recruited by the CIA. Helicopter pilot, Vietnam flying Special Ops, at the same time as Jim and Brush. Bret was in his unit at their base. Promoted to Major and sent to Laos 1975 by the CIA. Worked with Hmong in Laos as operative for CIA. Became disillusioned with CIA in the Laotian War. Requested transfer to attend Command and General Staff College. Applied to UCSF medical school. After medical school assigned to Walter Reed Hospital, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, asked to go to Angola by CIA as a medical doctor. Started to see the dangers of biological warfare. Again disillusioned with CIA but performed well. Returned to active army and attended War College, promoted to Colonel and later Brigadier General, 1994, in charge of Biological Warfare Unit at Fort Lewis. Promoted to Major General, 1999.

MODUS OPERANDI – Most important thing to him is safety of his men, despite political borders. He will pull strings and rank to get them what they want and keep them and those they love safe. Likes to solve all mysteries. Gets the best and latest equipment for his lab and personally recruits the best people to his team. Knows their worth and trusts them to succeed. Likes to get out in the field when he can and prepared to put his life on the line. Has contacts with governments (he has the ear of the President of the USA), government agencies and the military and uses those contacts but is aware that egos and sensitivities need to be taken into account.

BOOKS APPEARS IN – Off The Edge; Over The Line; Out of Time, Ecuador, Nemesis, and Remilious.

OTHER INFORMATION – Favorite  helicopter – Huey UH-1. Military call sign, Six Centaur. Favorite music Blues and some jazz — Dina Washington, Billie Holiday (favorite album – Lady Sings the Blues), Ella Fitzgerald, Muddy Waters (favorite album—At Newport 1960), Bo Diddley (favorite album Bo Diddley is a Gun Slinger, plays this in chopper). Also likes some early blues rock—Fleetwood Mac, The Allman Brothers Band, Taj Mahal. Hates to admit it but likes Frank Sinatra.

Favorite weapon Colt 45, M-16.