Roland Saunderson was a minor character in ArmA 2's Operation Black Gauntlet campaign.
Background[]
Hailing from South Africa, Saunderson was a mercenary from ION Services, Inc., a U.S.-based private military company. He was assigned the title of "Field Security Team Member".
Saunderson was initially assigned to Team Shield, one of two security elements assigned to protect the UN weapons inspectors led by Dr. Ivan Ruce.
Operation Black Gauntlet (2013)[]
Saunderson and the rest of security team members awaited for the arrival of Dr. Ruce's team at the airport in Zargabad. Minutes later another of his fellow team members, James Eckersley, detected an unidentified group of individuals moving towards the airport and reported this sighting back to team coordinator Mark Reynolds.
Assuming the worst, Reynolds divided the team into two elements: Team Shield comprising of Saunderson himself, Frank Radcliffe and Eckersley, while the rest of the members would be assigned to Team Sword. A minute later, the unidentified targets turned out to be none other than Takistani insurgents attempting to raid the airport.
Together, both teams repelled the first wave with ease but a sniper began pinning them down. Saunderson stayed behind with the others to provide suppressive fire on the sniper while two of Team Sword's members, Brian Frost and Henry Asano, flanked around to eliminate the sniper.
Shortly afterwards, the UN inspection team arrived with Dr. Ruce and Reynolds exchanging introductions. Their next objective was to move to an abandoned factory complex on the outskirts of Zargabad. Inside the factory were important records left by an important contact. Saunderson would accompany Reynolds inside while the other contractors stood guard outside to deter civilian protestors from entering the compound.
With the information retrieved, Radcliffe was reassigned from Team Shield to join Sword to search the city itself for the contact. Saunderson and Eckersley would stay behind to protect the Ruce's team. As they made their way into the city, they encountered multiple roadblocks mined with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Furthermore, the city was turning into a full-blown warzone as the New Takistani Army (NTA) began shelling the city with artillery. Team Sword would move on ahead to clear the route whilst Team Shield waited in their vehicles.
Once the route was cleared, Team Shield brought the UN team to their contact, a former Takistani official named Abdul, hiding inside his house with some important documents he intended to hand over to Ruce's team. Suddenly however, the city is struck by a massive barrage of artillery and levelling much of the downtown area. Saunderson ushered the team back into their vehicles while Team Sword would retrieve Abdul.
Unfortunately, Abdul had perished in the artillery strike and Team Sword had also lost one of their own after Radcliffe died from being caught in the blast. They suffered another loss after another contractor was promptly struck by a sniper round, prompting the rest of Team Shield to retreat. They eventually managed to return to the ION compound outside the city limits.
Later that day, Team Shield formed a convoy with Team Sword and together, would proceed towards a supposed nuclear weapons testing facility designated as "OKB-754". However, they were delayed for several hours when they had to obtain security clearance to pass through a American military checkpoint. Reynolds would stay behind to negotiate with the Americans; Team Sword's lead vehicle would clear the way forward while Team Shield's vehicles trailed behind them. They fought through multiple insurgent ambushes and narrowly avoided explosive traps set up along the way before finally arriving on the outskirts of OKB-754 was supposedly located.
Surprisingly, they stumbled onto a platoon of NTA forces strangely protecting a bunker-like structure near a massive crater. Team Sword moved in alone to clear the guards by crippling the NTA's armoured vehicles. Once they were eliminated, Team Shield and the inspection team secured the area around the bunker, which turned out to be the actual entrance to the former Takistani government's elusive weapons testing facility.
That evening, both teams came under fire from a horde of armed drones of unknown origins. Saunderson and the others repelled the attack but additional enemy reinforcements were spotted racing towards their position. Team Sword managed to repair and override the controls of one of the drones, utilising it to repel the attacking ground forces. By morning, Ruce's team had discovered hard evidence of the nuclear programme and Reynolds arranged for their immediate extraction with a helicopter. Saunderson's team would be driving on the ground while Frost and Asano covered their vehicles from the skies.
After fighting through more ambushes and numerous pursuing vehicles, the team finally returned to the ION compound at Zargabad and waited for word from Reynolds on their next tasking.
Death[]
Not long afterwards, a heated argument breaks out between Patrick Dixon and Frost. Saunderson wasn't fully aware of what was going on between Dixon and Frost, but it ended with Dixon walking angrily away towards their vehicles.
The next few seconds however, would be Saunderson's last moments as he witnessed Frost and Asano fire multiple rounds into Dixon's back, killing the former. Saunderson - still shocked from his allies' sudden actions, raised his rifle in their direction but was already too late: the duo had begun to turn their sights on him and fired another burst. Saunderson was cut down by multiple rounds to his chest and died instantly.
Personality and Appearance[]
A white South African male, Saunderson had a short, pastel brown-coloured head of hair. For the duration of his contracts, he preferred to wear a dark flannel shirt adorned in the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), blue jeans with kneepads, a tan cap with a pair of ComTac headphones, black tactical vest, along with an olive shemag wrapped around his neck.
Trivia[]
- Canonically, Saunderson always dies at the hands of Frost and Asano in Decision.