Sam Carter

Sam Carter is UNATCO's quartermaster and a childhood hero of JC Denton.

Background
"When the high command talks of General Sam Carter, they just shake their heads. Carter was once a renowned strategist and a first-rate tactician, proving himself useful both behind the lines and in the thick of battle. There are those who think that without him in command, civilization as we know it would have ended several times over. He was a hero to any schoolchild who dreamed of stopping the bad guys in their tracks. Then terrorists killed his family, and overnight everything changed.

Still committed to the ideals he once fought for, Sam Carter no longer cares to make life-or-death decisions. He resigned his commission and took on a job as quartermaster at the UNATCO Headquarters. He's well liked by the troops, and largely ignored by the brass. He seems to always know what's going on outside HQ, although he no longer seems to enjoy discussions of the current NSF conflict."

- description of Sam Carter to the player Sam Carter was a General within an undisclosed branch of the United States military, and is widely known for his participation in the Merced Operation, which JC read about in school. He also saw service in Afghanistan at one point. JC's dialogue implies that Sam Carter's entire family was killed by the NSF in reprisal for his victories against them. This may be the reason Carter seems to oppose violence, as he reprimands JC if he racks up too high a body count, and approves when the player requests a lockpick or multitool as opposed to ammo. Before he joined UNATCO, he had lost his feet, either through injury or voluntary augmentation. The former reason is more probable, considering his clearly injured right eye has not been replaced with a prosthetic, despite the ease with which it could be replaced.

In 2052, he was transferred to UNATCO HQ on Liberty Island in New York, where he served as quartermaster, supplying agents and soldiers with equipment. When JC escaped from the Majestic 12 prison underneath UNATCO HQ, and, upon learning about the organization's ulterior motives, asking Carter to join the resistance with him, Carter decided to stay on the job, believing that "the only way for UNATCO to survive is for the good people to stay." Eventually he was released by Agent Sherman, when UNATCO dismissed all staff that had served outside of the coalition. After his dismissal, he found and joined his old friend and colleague Gary Savage and X-51 to aid the resistance.

Interactions with the player
The player cannot enter the armory without cheat codes; however, everything inside is usable if you can get in there. The last time you pass by the armory, Carter will let you raid it, and since it changes contents every time, you won't miss out on any loot if you'd raided it before.

The player can log into Carters computer. Doing so will reveal that Carter gave away information to resistance hackers.

There are two ammo crates to the right of the picture frame on your side. If you smash them in front of Carter, he will reprimand you for breaking them, though there is no penalty for triggering this reaction.

When the player is able to get into the command center of Vandenberg Air Force Base (the headquarters for X-51), JC encounters Carter again, who reveals that he was kicked out due to having served outside of UNATCO, as opposed to a soldier who has only been with the coalition, which made him harder for Majestic 12 to control.

Trivia

 * In the concept art, Sam Carter was expected to be much more visibly augmented with a right leg completely mechanically augmented and look like more a retired soldier. In the early render, he wears a black trench coat and keeps his right leg augmented like the concept art. It was changed in the final version of the game, and he has only light mechanical augmentations in his legs.
 * Although Sam Carter never speaks to JC Denton over the infolink, an infolink icon for Carter can be found in the game files.

Quotes

 * "In my day international peacekeepers were citizens first and soldiers second."
 * "I think you should concentrate more on mission objectives and less on the enemy body count."
 * "Being a soldier isn't just following orders, it's following those orders in the service of a higher cause. When that cause is betrayed, we're not soldiers anymore, just pieces on a chess board dying for the wrong reason."
 * "A pistol is more than adequate. Hell, I dispatched a whole platoon one time with a pocket knife."
 * "Come here...I'll show you how it's done."
 * "My unit killed a bunch of Afghans one time, but we weren't proud of it. In fact, our liaison at the UN went to the funeral."
 * "Some say concentrated power leads to abuse, but I believe that if an institution has a solid foundation, it can survive the narrow asperations of the people it employs. [After the Player interacts with him again] We'll get this place back on track."

Gallery
Sam Carter