Walther Wykoff

Walther Wykoff (born 14th of January 1001 - 8th of May 1049) was prior to his death a Savorian career officer acting as the Platoon Commander of Voodoo Platoon, Malden Company of the Savorian Strike and Defence Force. Walther Wykoff is the son of Adrian Wykoff a retired General of the Savorian National Army. Walther Wykoff first appeared in the story when Voodoo Platoon returned from Sebezia. He was introduced as their new Platoon Commander replacing David Schneider who did not return from Sebezia with the rest of the Platoon and was since then considered Missing in Action. During Operation Homburian Safety Senior Lieutenant Walther Wykoff committed suicide when his own soldiers were attempting to arrest him after he was accused of shooting and killing a civilian for no proper reason.

Early Life and Career
Walther Wykoff was born in Mapeli as the son of a Savorian Officer. When he finished school in 1019 he wanted to attend university and study political science but his father Adrian Wykoff pressured him to pursue a career in the military instead. Walther Wykoff joined the Savorian National Army at the age of 18 and served for 4 years reaching the rank equal to Sergeant. He saw combat action 3 times during his time of service. He decided to leave the military at the age of 22 in 1023 which caused a conflict with his father eventually leading to him being kicked out of home. Adrian Wykoff wanted his son to become an officer like him and dedicate his life to serving his nation in the military. After being kicked out of home Walther Wykoff found a job as a bus driver in the city of Andretol in his home state Mapeli and moved there.

Wykoff worked as a bus driver for a decade and after a few years he started earning a fair amount of money for it. At the age of 32 in 1033 he was fired when his bus company went bankrupt and had to downsize. Since Wykoff was one of the better paid bus drivers he was among the top of the list of employees to be fired first. However before those events he reestablished contact to his father in 1031 after his father apologized to him for his past behaviour. But in 1033 when Adrian Wykoff learned of his son becoming umemployed in such a unlucky way he once again pressured Walther Wykoff to choose to pursue a career in the military. Even though that wasn´t Walther Wkyoff´s first pick he decided to rejoin the Savorian National Army and began officer training. The reason he was accepted without much trouble and despite his age of 32 years was that first of all his father was an Officer with an excellent reputation and because of his experience from his service 10 years ago.

Career as an SNA Officer
Walther Wykoff finished Officer training in 1037 at the age of 36 and became the rank equal to 2nd Lieutenant. He was put in command of an Infantry Platoon. In 1038 he saw combat action as a Platoon Commander for the first time. His Platoon was ambushed and lost an entire Squad almost immediately. He was able to lead his men and to push back the attackers but his Platoon suffered 13 KIA and 14 WIA. His Company Commander blamed him for the casualties and claimed that Walther Wykoff did have a chance to avoid the ambush. But regardless Walther Wykoff stayed in command of the Platoon. In 1039 him and his Platoon got into a combat situation again during which Walther Wykoff was hit by two bullets into his right shoulder putting him out of action for 9 months. In 1040 at the age of 39 Wykoff recovered from his injuries and was put in charge of a different Infantry Platoon. Wykoff was promoted to the rank equal to 1st Lieutenant in 1041. In 1042 Wykoff´s Platoon took heavy casualties when they were attempting to attack a rebel hideout. Wykoff claims to this day that the intel he received was inaccurate and that the amount of enemies on the location was at least 5 times higher compared to what the intel suggested. According to Wykoff this left his men outnumbered and fighting for their life while they had to wait almost 10 minutes for fire support and reinforcements to arrive. Regardless Wykoff was relieved from the Platoon Commander position and given a pretty unimportant administrative task.

In 1044 Walther Wykoff was given command of an Infantry Platoon once again mainly because of the help of is father Adrian Wykoff. However Walther Wykoff was disrespected by his soldiers and deemed incompetent by them. This was mainly cause by the fact that after his disaster in 1042 both his former Company Command and the Intel Officers did all they could to make sure that Walther Wykoff was the one to blame for everything that went wrong during the attack against the rebel hideout. This completly destroyed Wykoff´s reputation among the common soldiers. He then became infamous for being a rough and unforgiving leader and he was able to regain respect after he started to handle his Platoon with his changed style of leadership. It went so far that Wykoff´s Platoon was considered the most clean and disciplined Platoon of his whole Regiment. In 1045 his Platoon was thrown into a hot spot in a conflict zone where many things went wrong. At the end of the day the only surivors of his Platoon were him and 5 other soldiers. This time however he was not deemed to be responsible for the events. In the same year his father Adrian Wykoff retired as a General from the Savorian National Army due to his age.

Career in the SSDF
After his father left the Savorian National Army Walther Wykoff was immediately reassigned to an administrative position and was denied any promotion. He was still the rank equal to 1st Lieutenant. This was quite unusual for someone who has been an Officer for 8 years. Many Officers above him held grudges against him since they believed that the only reason Walther Wykoff even became an Officer and got so many chances to lead a Platoon was because of his influential father Adrian Wykoff. Because of the whole situation Walther Wykoff wanted to end his military career in 1046 but then he learned about the Savorian Strike and Defence Force through Mika Silo. Silo told him that the SSDF would be created very soon and in early 1047 when the SSDF was finally founded Walther Wykoff joined the SSDF as a Senior Lieutenant. In follow two years until 1049 Walther Wykoff was quite a successful Platoon Leader. In February 1049 he took over command of Voodoo Platoon, Malden Company.

He commanded the Platoon during Operation Black Iron, Operation Case Gray and during the INC intervention in Hombur.