Scratch Ex-Military?

[Adventureless_Hero]

For a while I have been suspecting that Scratch is ex-military or has some sort of military type training. There are a number of details that I feel allude to this possibility. I'll just list them out and leave the notion up for debate. I'm really interested in hearing claims to debunk this theory rather than more evidence to support it. Keep in mind some of these are minute details but looked at in conjunction with the rest of all the possible evidence, it could be supporting detail.

Personality and Speech
6-2 We hear a conversation between Latch and Scratch discussing excuses to deliver to Durai as to why they let other survivors take one of 'their" tankers. In this little conversation Scratch says "...there we were, at the edge of our perimeter..." It's that word, perimeter that caught my attention. It doesn't seem like much but I noticed it the way Michael noticed when Pegs says, "Kelly and I will pull security from here..." to which he cracks the joke, "Pull security? Aren't we getting tactical?" The point is that there are just some terms that sound strange coming from civilians. Another example of a terminology catching my attention is in 21-1 in which she shouts over the radio, just after being attacked by a horde, "Get out of the killzone! All vehicles move forward! Regroup three miles south!" The word killzone seems like such an uncommon civilian word. Actually, if you look at that whole quote, there seems to be a very strong military leader presence in there. Then again she may be a bossy witch who just likes to bark orders and assume a military type role.

Knowledge
Some of my stronger evidence for my conclusion comes from some of her knowledge of weapons. Going back to 6-2 Burt threatens to shoot a big rig truck off in the distance in the fuel tank. Scratch laughs at this empty threat saying "Ha! He lies. It's too far and his gun won't pierce it. Hollow points wouldn't." Now I have been a bit of a gun enthusiast for a while but I'm not up and up on what type of rounds are available for what calibur pistols. How did Scratch know that he was likely using a hollow point round in his .50 Desert Eagle? How does she know such a round won't pierce the aluminum fuel drum of a big rig? I realize she isn't a girly girl, but such knowledge seems uncommon for even civilian with moderate weapons training. Then there is the pipe bombs. I will need someones help on finding this quote but I do recall that one of the mallers, possibly Tardust, says to Scratch that he doubts even her pipebombs would do such and such job. I forget what they were referring to but I do remember him saying, "...your pipebombs..." Now I am possibly reading way to much into that but it gave me the impression that Scratch is the creator of these pipebombs. Either that or she is a real bitch who steals others weapons and hordes them all to herself. If not her, I imagine the pipebombs were of Tardust creation as he seems to have demolition knowledge.
She also seems to be quite the strategist. She was able to coordinate a scheme that kept the towers best soldiers, Michael, Saul, and Burt away while she was planned her second assualt/negotiation for Pegs on the Tower. Hell, she was able to bring that sucker down! Her plan to send them off to a distance where return to the tower by vehicle was rather brilliant.

Past?
Not much has been revealed about Scratch in regards to her past, other than she let her older twin brother Latch take the fall for some crime she commited, landing him in Eastern Bay where she was later able to release him and all other Mallers during the onset of the Flesh Biter Blitzkrieg. But in 8-1 a possible history between Angel and Scratch is alluded to. Before even meeting Latch and Scatch face to face, Angel seems very hesitant about even talking with them. He repeats that it "is a bad idea." Later, when they do speak face to face, Scatch immediately seems to recognize Angel. With the thought that Scratch might have some military training already in my mind I immediately thought perhaps they attended OCS together, albeit briefly. She may have screwed up too much and been booted from the program. That is possibly where he could have recognized her and said, "Oh no, this chickadee is trouble."

So looking at all these subtle clues I hold the belief that Scratch has some kind of military training, possibly a little time in Officer Canidate School. Hell, she may be a spoiled kid just like Angel, which would explain a lot of her personality traits. Any thoughts? If you noticed anything to support this that I didn't mention, please feel free to bring it up, but like I said before, is there any hard evidence against this theory?

[7oddisdead]

Total speculation ahead...you have been warned

I like this theory, like many people here...we seem to think if scratch having some form of military training. But what if we are perhaps reading to much into the things she says as knowledge, instead of what they actually are...

Imitation

Its true that we know very little of scratches past, but how much do we actually know of angels? I'll save all the small talk and get to the meat if what I'm saying.

What if....scratch had a military father/mother?...her behavior would make total sense. And what if angel did as well? Looking back through with that in your mind makes the entire situation make sense...even if that's not what the case is..

End/kaw

[Adventureless_Hero]

Possible, but that seems to go further out on a limb than I previously had.

[reaper239]

couple problems: 1 anyone who watches action movies could pick up words like those. peremiter, the edges of a square, killzone, a zone for killing. i'm not sure what else someone might call those things.

2 the .50 AE isn't a military caliber. the military doesn't use the desert eagle handgun (no matter what call of dooty says) they use the .45 cal and the 9 mm. criminals, however, like status symbols. the Desert Eagle is a very expensive gun so any highly succesfull criminal who would want to show off might have one. also, ammo types are pretty standard across the board: you can expect certain types of ammo for just about any gun, and hollow point is one of those. also fuel tanks aren't that thick, anyone with military training, or even just someone who has experience with firearms would know that there isn't a lot that a .50 AE can't peirce. plus anyone who's been to the sandbox can tell you that fuel tanks don't hold up well under fire, unless they've been armored. as has already been established diesel dosn't light easily, or blow up (though if it's presurized it might i guess) so either way his threat to blow up the gas tank would be moot.

having grown up an army brat, i can honestly say that 7odd's idea is very feasible, and imitation would be entirely possible, however based on the evidence presented, i just don't think either is the case. also, scratch is very undisciplined, and doesn't think much for chain of command, and both are qualities that are almost always instilled in soldiers to one degree or another.

[Adventureless_Hero]

couple problems: 1 anyone who watches action movies could pick up words like those. perimeter, the edges of a square, kill-zone, a zone for killing. i'm not sure what else someone might call those things.

True, there could be any number of places she could pick up those words and throw them around to make herself sound more authoritative. I never really thought these points were strong but more like little supporting details to this notion I had. It just seems strange for her to use them. You wouldn't expect Pegs to say things like this until she had some training and spent time around Michael, Saul, and Angel.

2 the .50 AE isn't a military caliber. the military doesn't use the desert eagle handgun (no matter what call of dooty says) they use the .45 cal and the 9 mm. criminals, however, like status symbols. the Desert Eagle is a very expensive gun so any highly succesfull criminal who would want to show off might have one. also, ammo types are pretty standard across the board: you can expect certain types of ammo for just about any gun, and hollow point is one of those. also fuel tanks aren't that thick, anyone with military training, or even just someone who has experience with firearms would know that there isn't a lot that a .50 AE can't peirce. plus anyone who's been to the sandbox can tell you that fuel tanks don't hold up well under fire, unless they've been armored. as has already been established diesel dosn't light easily, or blow up (though if it's presurized it might i guess) so either way his threat to blow up the gas tank would be moot.

having grown up an army brat, i can honestly say that 7odd's idea is very feasible, and imitation would be entirely possible, however based on the evidence presented, i just don't think either is the case. also, scratch is very undisciplined, and doesn't think much for chain of command, and both are qualities that are almost always instilled in soldiers to one degree or another.

I agree that she possibly may have recognized the Desert Eagle from her career as a criminal, especially since it is a popular gun in films (Snatch FTW!). Although it was the confidence she had when she said Burt's gun was loaded with hollow points, as if she knew with 100% certainty. Not a lot of folks I know could speak with that much confidence about a way they eye from 30 yards away. I'm a little confused about your point regarding the fuel tank though. Are you saying Burt's shot likely would have pierced the fuel tank? Scratch and Burt both seemed to agree that it wouldn't. If they are both wrong about that, then I might begin to suspect that she is just a learned civilian with firearm experience rather than a possibly dishonorably discharged ex-OCS drop-out.

[reaper239]

it's a minor point really, the fuel tanks on most trucks (at least the ones i see) aren't that thick. when i was a kid one of my parents friends was a trucker and i used to play on his truck. you know how you can tell about how thick something metal is by the sound it makes when you strike it? well the 50 gallon fuel drums under the tankers running boards aren't very thick. unless they were talking about the tank part of the tanker, the big fuel hauling thingy on the back (i don't know what that's called, don't judge me ) in that case, i have no idea what a .50 AE would do, mostly because i have no clue how thick it is. i do know that a 7.62 round fired from an AK can punch holes in them (reports from the sandbox) but those are rifle rounds, handgun bullets arent as hot. also, there'd be no real way to tell from looking at the DEagle what kind of rounds it held without visually inspecting the bullets themselves, epecially from 30 yards. we could, however follow a different path of logic and arrive at the same conclusion. burt identified the pistols as his stock, then he made it known to scratch and latch that they were in fact taken from his shop. scratch is highly intelligent, i don't really think that anyone would argue that point, so knowing that burt owned a gun shop, she could logically assume that he would be knowledgable about guns. anyone who knows about guns, knows that hollow points mushroom on impact and do a lot more damage to their targets than ball ammo, thus she could safely assume that for his personal arms, burt would have hollow point ammo.

regardless, the only real piece of info we would need to resolve this would be: were they refering to the fuel drums on the truck (which are commonly called fuel tanks (ie "my tank is on empty")) or were they refering to the fuel tank the truck was hauling?

[Adventureless_Hero]

it's a minor point really, the fuel tanks on most trucks (at least the ones i see) aren't that thick. when i was a kid one of my parents friends was a trucker and i used to play on his truck. you know how you can tell about how thick something metal is by the sound it makes when you strike it? well the 50 gallon fuel drums under the tankers running boards aren't very thick. unless they were talking about the tank part of the tanker, the big fuel hauling thingy on the back (i don't know what that's called, don't judge me ) in that case, i have no idea what a .50 AE would do, mostly because i have no clue how thick it is. i do know that a 7.62 round fired from an AK can punch holes in them (reports from the sandbox) but those are rifle rounds, handgun bullets arent as hot. also, there'd be no real way to tell from looking at the DEagle what kind of rounds it held without visually inspecting the bullets themselves, epecially from 30 yards. we could, however follow a different path of logic and arrive at the same conclusion. burt identified the pistols as his stock, then he made it known to scratch and latch that they were in fact taken from his shop. scratch is highly intelligent, i don't really think that anyone would argue that point, so knowing that burt owned a gun shop, she could logically assume that he would be knowledgable about guns. anyone who knows about guns, knows that hollow points mushroom on impact and do a lot more damage to their targets than ball ammo, thus she could safely assume that for his personal arms, burt would have hollow point ammo.

regardless, the only real piece of info we would need to resolve this would be: were they refering to the fuel drums on the truck (which are commonly called fuel tanks (ie "my tank is on empty")) or were they refering to the fuel tank the truck was hauling?

I like that point of reasoning you followed (in bold). Kudos on that!
As for the fuel drum Burt was threatening to shoot, I want to say he was referring to the fuel tank under the sidesteps to get on the truck. He made a snarky comment that he likely couldn't hit a target like that, but then ends up shooting the even smaller side mirror, I guess to prove how bad ass of a shot he is. I could be wrong about that too though. Not 100% certain he meant the trucks fuel tank, or the tanker it was hauling. KC?

[Kc]

I like that point of reasoning you followed (in bold). Kudos on that!
As for the fuel drum Burt was threatening to shoot, I want to say he was referring to the fuel tank under the sidesteps to get on the truck. He made a snarky comment that he likely couldn't hit a target like that, but then ends up shooting the even smaller side mirror, I guess to prove how bad ass of a shot he is. I could be wrong about that too though. Not 100% certain he meant the trucks fuel tank, or the tanker it was hauling. KC?

The fuel tank he was referring to was the one on the side of the truck by the door. Given the distance, they doubted his ability. If it was referring to a BIG tanker, that'd be different. If you miss that you're a horrible shot.

[Adventureless_Hero]

Cool beans. Thank you for clearing that up beyond a shadow of a doubt!

[reaper239]

skraight up yo. so with that, i don't think handgun bullets would have trouble piercing a gas tank, even at a distance, and even with hollow points. i think burt knew that, but scratch didn't, which leads me to believe that she only has cursory knowledge of ammo and really only has experience with firearms from a criminal side. just my thoughts. please, someone let me know if what i'm saying sounds funky.