Staff Sergeant R.B. Vickers was a U.S. Marine who served in China before the Great War.
Background[]
Vickers was deployed overseas in China for the Yangtze Campaign of the Sino-American War. He was deployed in Nanjing from June to August, before being transferred to Shanghai from September to May; the year is left unspecified.[1] The combat armor he wore during the campaign[Non-game 2] lists his name (VICKERS, R.B.), rank (SSGT), and blood type (O POS) on the front.[2] At a later date, his combat armor was acquired by Randall Clark, who left it behind in Stone Bones Cave in Zion Canyon.[Non-game 3]
Appearances[]
R.B. Vickers is mentioned only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts.
Behind the scenes[]
- Joshua Sawyer confirmed that R.B. Vickers was the name of the armor's original owner.[Non-game 2]
- Sawyer also stated that Vickers was not a member of the Desert Rangers,[Non-game 1] and that the writing on the desert ranger helmet is "part of a recurring theme within Honest Hearts."[Non-game 4]
- When asked how Clark could have obtained Vickers' armor, Sawyer stated that "if military gear holds up, it gets passed from owner to owner (willingly or not) and, despite some cosmetic changes, it typically bears some indelible marks of its origins and history."[Non-game 5]
- In 2022, a limited-edition figure of the Desert Ranger combat armor was available for sale on the Bethesda Gear Store. The product's description mentioned Vickers, stating he was a soldier in the Yangtze Campaign.[Non-game 3]
Gallery[]
Nvdlc02combatranger.dds texture file
Nvdlc02crhelmet.dds texture file
References[]
Non-game
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Question: "Ff the Desert Rangers formed after the war sometime in the 22nd century. Then how could R.B. Vickers be a ranger if he was alive before the war?"
Joshua Sawyer: "He wasn't."
(Formspring reply on May 23, 2011; archived link) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Question: "On the desert ranger combat armor R.B. Vickers is painted on the armor. Was this going to be Clark's name and was just changed at the last minute or is it his friend's armor, or just some dude's, that died and Clark was just using it to survive in Zion?"
Joshua Sawyer: "R.B. Vickers is the name of the armor's original owner."
(Formspring reply on May 18, 2011; archived link) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bethesda Gear Store - Fallout New California Republic Desert Ranger Statue (archived): "The armor that this statue wears is carrying a long, meaningful history including two lives—those of Sergeant R.B. Vickers, a soldier who served in the Yangtze Campaign, and Randall Clark, also known as the Survivalist or the Father in the Cave. Three lives, if you count yours as the Courier in Zion Canyon. Behind the figure is a hint of another layer in its story: the flag of the New California Republic."
- ↑ Question: "What's the significance of the "FORGIVE ME MAMA" on the helmet? Also, when did Vickers rotate back to the States? April 2077?"
Joshua Sawyer: "The text on the Desert Ranger Helmet is part of a recurring theme within Honest Hearts."
(Formspring reply on May 18, 2011; archived link) - ↑ Question: "How was Vicker's armor ever really Desert Ranger armor if it was never used by an actual Desert Ranger? Unless Randall Clark was somehow one of them? How would he have acquired the armor?"
Joshua Sawyer: "I own a 1944 German-made Mauser K98k. It has Waffenamt and Wehrmacht stamps. Sometime after the fall of Berlin, it was captured by Soviet forces, stripped, and its parts dumped into bins. The receiver and bolt were re-marked with an electro-pencil using Soviet serial numbers and over time, various bits and pieces were swapped out and the wood furniture was stripped and re-finished. A few years ago, a guy in Michigan bought it, cleaned it, and I subsequently bought it from him. If military gear holds up, it gets passed from owner to owner (willingly or not) and, despite some cosmetic changes, it typically bears some indelible marks of its origins and history."
(Formspring reply on June 14, 2011)