SoldierHawk
Contents
Forum identifiers
Name
SoldierHawk's username is her preferred internet handle, and is used several other places besides sydlexia.com. She invented it by combing the name of one of her occupations (Soldier) with her personal animal avatar (or more colloquially, "spirit animal"), the red tail hawk.
Avatar
SoliderHawk's avatar is, once again, a fusion of soldier and animal. The US flag represents her military service and the animal that represents her best. The hawk photo was taken by SoldierHawk herself while living in Alaska. The flag was added by Valdronius when SoldierHawk challenged forum members to create her an avatar incorporating her hawk picture.
Signature
SoliderHawk's signature comes from www.militarysignatures.com. She has two versions, combat (depicting the camouflage Army Service Uniform and Kevlar helmet), and a "dress" version based on the Army Dress Blues uniform. Currently she uses the combat version as a default and uses the dress version on special occasions only.
Special signatures
SoldierHawk does, on occasion, change her usual signature graphics to honor specific special days and events (usually national observances that have some connection to the military.) Although most of these observances are only one day, she traditionally leaves the special image in her sig for a week to make sure everyone has time to see it. The special sigs she has used so far (and plans to use every year on the respective date) are as follows:
Quotes
Current
"It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it can be.” -Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
A longer quote, but one of SoldierHawk's favorites, spoken by one of her favorite fictional characters. If her philosophy could be summed up in a single quote, she thinks it would be this one.
“The greatest strength is gentleness.” -Cherokee proverb
Particularly meaningful to SoldierHawk, as she is part Cherokee. (A small part to be sure, but it is something she does identify with and is proud of.) As unavoidable and as necessary as violence can be sometimes, she still firmly believes this to be the truth, and does her best to keep it in mind at all times.
Past
“You grow up when you decide to do right, and not what's right for you, but what's right for everyone, even if it hurts." -Malcolm Reynolds
- A quote SoldierHawk believes to be quite poingient, and very true. From one of her favorite TV shows, Firefly.
"The only sparkling vampires I want to see are the ones I pump full of magnesium rounds." -lordsathien
- This will remain in SoldierHawk's sig for as long as it amuses her, or until the thought of Twilight ceases to make her physically ill.
Mod status
SoldierHawk is a moderator on the Sydlexia forums. The fact that she lives on the West Coast (PST) allows her to keep an eye on things at times when other mods tend to be away.
Just remember...she is watching you.
Gender
To clear up any confusion, SoldierHawk is indeed a female, and it is therefore customary to use feminine pronouns such as "she" and "her" when referring to her. She realizes that this violates a long-held belief among Sydlexia members that there are no women on the internet, and she is hopeful that the boob jokes will stop within the next year or two as she continues to observe them in their natural habitat and gain their trust.
Early Life
SoldierHawk was born in Fort Hood, Texas on February 24, 1984. Her father was in the Marines and Army, and her mother was a school teacher. Her family moved to Southern California when she was 7, and that is where she lived for most of her life except for living a year abroad in the Netherlands in second grade (where she attended a Dutch school.) She went away to college in Alaska, loved it, and hopes to god she can move back there once her school obligations are finished in San Diego.
Employment
SoldierHawk is currently employed as an aide/student teacher/grader/classroom bitch in various high schools across San Diego. Her goal is to become a high school teacher.
Prior to this, she was employed for several years as a ranch hand at Rawhide Ranch in Bonsall, CA. She actually lived on the ranch, and wore boots and a cowboy hat as part of her required work attire. Her duties included breaking and training horses, teaching riding classes and caring for various livestock. (FUN FACT: the only broken bone SoldierHawk has ever suffered was her wrist, which was snapped backwards in a particularly vicious sheep attack.) Before college and during breaks, she also worked at the Old Globe Theatre San Diego off and on for five years, where she attained the near-godly rank of Assistant Box Office Manager.
While in college as an undergrad, she worked in the university library archives, preserving old books and papers, and also worked with archival films. She spent many early mornings and late nights editing, cutting and splicing old 8mm and 16mm films about the history of Alaska. She also worked in the Writing Center, helping students of all levels and backgrounds write and organize their assignments.
In high school she was also a tutor, and held down a job at Target for nearly a year. If she hadn't wanted to go to college before that job, Target would have terrified her into it.
Education
CA Teaching credential, San Diego State University (in progress)
BA in English (minor in anthropology) from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks
High School Diploma, Valhalla High School, San Diego.
Military service
SoldierHawk is currently a member of the California Army National Guard. Her unit is the HHC 79th BSTB out of Kearny Mesa. She the platoon leader of 5th platoon, the Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear (CBRN) quick response/scout team. She is not currently eligible to be deployed overseas as she is also an ROTC Cadet, Aztec Battalion, San Diego State University. She will be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in December of 2011 and is currently being told she will probably be deployed to Afghanistan shortly thereafter unless things change drastically between now and then.
SoldierHawk is eligible for stateside deployment with the National Guard to help with disaster relief during fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, riots etc. She plans to go into Active Duty service after commissioning.
Fool suffering
SoldierHawk does not take kindly to intentional fools such as M3gaMan and Hacker. A demonstration of what happens when one tries to cross her path can be seen here: M3GA MAN vs. SoldierHawk
Binky Birthday Song video
Near the beginning of her forum tenure, SoldierHawk began the tradition of posting a video of Binky the Clown (from one of her favorite cartoons, Garfield and Friends) singing his version of "Happy Birthday" in every forum member's birthday thread.
The correct, official video can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d1Rdx47O4M
Nerd Cred and other interests
SoldierHawk is a child of the 80s. Her favorite show as a child was the Thundercats. She used to have, quite literally, ever single Thundercats toy in existence. These were sadly given away by her mother when SoldierHawk went away to college. In addition to TC, SoldierHawk has very fond memories of watching Silverhawks, Transformers, The A-Team, Mr. Wizard, Nickelodeon's Snick, Quantum Leap, Reading Rainbow and Square One TV.
SoldierHawk's first gaming system was the original NES, with the triple game cart--SMB, Duck Hunt, and World Class Track Meet. Many, many hours were spent pounding on the Power Pad with her hands trying to beat Cheetah in the final race.
Her current preferred gaming platforms are PC and PS2. Her favorite games include Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Kirby's Dreamland, Batman (NES), and Mass Effect. Her most anticipated game of next year is Mass Effect 2.
The geekiest item of clothing she owns is a tie between her Thundercats logo t-shirt, and her 8-Bit Theatre t-shirt.
Her favorite movies are the Peter Jackson LOtR series, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, Sunshine and Equilibrium.
SoldierHawk's taste in music is eclectic to say the least. Her favorite band is easily Iron Maiden, followed closely by Manowar and Metallica. However, she also loves the 70s group America, and has a deep and abiding love for all country music as well.
Besides gaming and being a nerd, her hobbies include reading (anything and everything--she has a special affinity for Shakespeare, Stephen King and Orson Scott Card), writing (she is currently working on a novel, and is trying to get several short stories published) and amateur astronomy. She also enjoys hiking, camping, hunting and other outdoor activities.
Sports
SoldierHawk is a huge fan of both football and ice hockey. She has played both; PowerPuff (yes, she hates the name) tackle football in high school (she was a running back) and ice hockey (played inter-mural in college, since UAF doesn't allow women on the school team--she was a center).
She was, is, and will forever be a diehard fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the Edmonton Oilers. Emmitt Smith is her favorite football player, and Gretzky is her all-time favorite hockey player. She really, really loved Chris Pronger and Ryan Smyth, but its really better not to mention those two names around her anymore.
SoldierHawk also harbors a lesser-known (or at least lesser-mentioned) love of figure skating. Kurt Browning is her favorite skater by far, followed by Scott Hamilton Brian Orser, Brian Boitano and Kristi Yamaguchi.
She is also a second-degree black belt in kempo, and will kick your ass if you make any figure skating jokes.
Websites
SoldierHawk does not currently have a domain or website of her own (she's working on it), but she does maintain a pretty damn good blog. She also has a YouTube account where she uploads gameplay, walkthroughs, and Lets Plays.
