Colonel Hanse Castillo

Background

Colonel Hanse Castillo, Humanity First, was born near Tres Arroyos, Argentina.

Enlisted Paratrooper in Falklands War, awarded for bravery at Battle of Mount Longdon in 1982. Trained U.S. Army School of the Americas, 1985. Served as a line officer or adviser with various anti-communist special operations units and militias in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia in the late 1980s and 1990s. Worked in Pentagon’s Latin America policy arm in 2000s. In 2015, briefly imprisoned in Buenos Aires on war crimes charges stemming alleged activities during Operation Condor in the early 1980s; acquitted in 2016.

Quotes

• 'They are not 'lifeforms' or 'xeno-sapients.' They are demons incarnate. They and the traitors who support them will face our judgment.' - faction blurb
• 'Humanity First forces have have deployed a biological weapon in the alien wormhole, slaughtering most of the species. What few alien forces remain cannot carry on the fight.' - during declaration of faction victory conditions.

Research

• "What the doctor means is that he has convinced atoms to emulate a Spartan phalanx. Just as those ancient warriors locked their shields together to protect one another, these atoms combine into unbreakable armor." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Touring a classified R&D facility, somewhere in Tierra del Fuego
• "One grabs a weapon. Another offers a hand to negotiate. A third falls prostrate, and a fourth runs. Only one of those chose the right, best response; what we're trying to understand is how to ensure we induce that response when the time comes." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Staff meeting with Humanity First morale officers
• "How could one so young, coddled as you are by the modern world, begin to understand what war is? I did what had to be done. Closing your eyes and wishing the monster away only makes you an easier meal." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Closing statement from his trial for alleged war crimes during Operation Condor
• "This is not a war over resources or politics. This is a war to determine the future of humanity. It is imperative that we show them - show anyone - what it really means to fight us." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, comments at the launch of the Indómita spacecraft
• "Maybe you've seen the films. Sadistic drill instructors demanding the impossible of poor, good-hearted men. You think it's inhumane. You think it won't be like that here. But by God it will, because even one weak link gets everyone killed." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Training rebels in guerrilla warfare techniques in Nicaragua
• "Sure, I've seen those shows too. All those starships politely doing whatever some distant admiral tells them to do. All those worlds quietly minding their own business. It's all a dream, boy. Nothing but a foolish dream." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, In an email to his 14-year-old nephew
• "We need men who know no fear. We need men who don't let wounds slow them down. We need men who don't need sleep. Most of all, we need men who don't ask questions." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, In an email to the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
• "Sun Tzu said: 'The art of war is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.' Soon, very soon, we will follow this road across the stars, and face our final destiny." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Troop address, prior to Operation "Crack of Doom"
• "It is not about who hits hardest. It is about who moves fastest. Though even that will get you killed if you have not planned exactly what to do once you get there." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, In an interview with the U.S. Southern Command magazine Diálogo
• "Sir Francis Drake didn't defeat the Spanish Armada by building even bigger ships. He won by overwhelming them with smaller, lighter boats. It's as true today as it was in 1588: if your ship is too slow to turn, you're doomed." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, From a letter to his uncle, during the Salvadoran Civil War
• "You'd be better off surrendering than sitting around on your backsides, waiting for supplies from home. If you don't know how to use what you find in the field, you've lost before you've even begun." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Quoted in his official biography "Five Moves Ahead," (cancelled before publication)
• "Technically, he's more of a super-villain, but he's still my favorite. He's a survivor, he's uncompromising, and he does whatever he must to achieve what he believes in. Cool helmet, too." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Responding to a text message from his 12-year-old nephew
• "I'm not interested in baby steps. Our enemy isn't going to wait for us to catch up. What I want from you is the most devastating force you can possibly imagine, placed in hands of our soldiers today." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Weapons facility inspection, location undisclosed
• "We laud the Romans for assimilating rather than exterminating other nations, but we should not forget that their siege weapons were terrible things to behold. History is littered with accounts of opponents simply surrendering as they watched Roman catapults approaching their walls." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, From a guest lecture at VNGRD Engineer Officer Candidate School
• "Do not seek to be the elephant. Become instead the mosquito, which pierces its mighty hide, which laces its blood with disease, and which cannot be swatted away by its feeble tail. — Colonel Hanse Castillo, As quoted in his (unpublished) biography "Five Moves Ahead."
• "If it isn't ours, it's somebody else's. And if it's somebody else's, sooner or later they'll use it against us. That's why we have to take it, whether we need it or not." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Quoted in his official biography "Five Moves Ahead," 2015 (cancelled before publication).
• "Stop your hypocritical hand-wringing! You think only of the minor threat at the time I quashed it, and not of the insurmountable threat it would have become had I not." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Statements made during his war crimes trial
• "The simple truth is that any spaceship is just a large, metal balloon filled with air: Once pierced, it has lost all its wonder." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Fundamentals of Orbital Warfare
• "The trick is not to look directly at what you're trying to see. Offset your focal point somewhere to the side of where you think you noticed the movement. At night, the center of your vision doesn't work as well as during the day. I won't try to explain the science to you. What matters is you'll see whatever is out there before they see you."
  Hanse Castillo, Chief Training Advisor, To ACDEGAM conscripts; Antioquia, Colombia
• "It's not about who has the biggest gun. Sometimes it's not even about who's got the most guns. Often, it simply comes to down to who can reload fastest." — Colonel Hanse Castillo, Quoted in his official biography "Five Moves Ahead" (cancelled before publication)

Science

• The Roman Empire took nearly as long to fall as it did to build. They bent and creaked and snapped under the weight of overreach. Learn from their hubris, and devise a way for us to extend further without breaking apart.
• You know they're faster. You know they're stronger. You might even think they're smarter and moan how unfair this is. But nature is survival of the fittest, not fairest. Find our edge, sharpen it, then cut their head off.
• It may look great on a screen but it would never work in the field. If you're designing gear that's meant to take a hit, you're doing it wrong. I want armor that keeps our troops mobile and hidden.
• The ocean of history is littered with armadas sunken by the weight of their purported power. I'm not interested in a massive battle axe, I want a perfectly balanced knife.
• Let me be clear: To win this war we need more than just weapons, spaceships, and soldiers. We need information about the enemy, so that we can strike first where it hurts them most.
• As academy graduates, you are the most dangerous personnel on the battlefield -- to your own side. You believe the theories you studied have practical application. Best case: you only get yourself killed. Lean on your sergeants, learn quickly, and perhaps you too will live long enough to despise inexperienced cadets.
• Understanding your enemy will only go so far. Just because you understand their motivation and goals doesn't mean you can beat them. You also have to turn that knowledge into an advantage.