Is Cable an actual soldier?

[TheDeadSpace]

Ends Thread

Well, that does end the debate.

[Dcnewb]

Okay, tracked it down...

In New Mutants #88 when Cable is talking to Pyro and Crimson Commando (who himself was a WWII vet) of Freedom Force, which you have to remember was an arm of the U.S. government at the time, Cable says to them, “You know what I stand for, Pyro. You know my record.”

To which, Crimson Commando replies, “Yes, which is mostly off the record, Cable. Top secret operations... before you went rogue. And you went rogue a long time ago.”

Cable replies, “I didn’t start the fight with... certain elements of our government.”

Later in the same issue, one of the soldiers guarding Cable’s cell calls him a “legend” as Nathan fakes sick, saying he must’ve been exposed to plague in Madripoor (it’s a trick and it works, allowing him to escape). Specifically the soldier says, to the other guard, “Man, Cable’s a legend. I never thought I’d have the honor of guarding him!”

So he definitely did work for the military at some point, either as a solider in their ranks or a contractor/mercenary.

There were other early references in subsequent X-Force issues (maybe the ones with Weapon P.R.I.M.E.?) and also the Cable: Blood & Metal 2-parter where he dropped lines about black ops work he’d done in places like Afghanistan and other parts of the world. I also remember a scene in the Cable & Deadpool series where there’s a flashback to a Six Pack mission in Afghanistan in the 80s, I believe, and he tells Domino that “this place is going to be trouble in the future” or something like that. Don’t have those issues in front of me, but that’s what I recall off the top of my head.

Cheers for that!

Yeah, I’m still not sold on him being an soldier in the sense of enlisted in a military, he seems to be more likely to be a merc or private operating contractor who has no affiliation with the military besides being hired independently/no strings attached to help in a task. Which isn’t a bad thing since a tonne of Marvel’s heroes seem to be former military, which has become a tired and old trope.

Ends Thread

Barely, lol. This title is one of the reasons behind starting the thread - I had been seeing it pop up and yet I haven’t read of Cable being in the military, so I thought I’d make this thread.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Again this argument of semantics because the profession of being a soldier over time has become primarily attach to official governments BUT

-a soldier working in the private sector is called contractor, also this is past was called a mercenary

-a soldier fighting against oppressive regime with no set government is called a freedom fighter . This is some times also guerillas

-Modern Era a person working for official government armed force is called a soldier

Who a soldier is working for and how they are trained at times gets them different names but a catch all term is soldier for a style of fighter is called a soldier(we don't call them knights or warriors). If you ask a Marine if they are soldier they will look at you like you are crazy and you will NEVER get a Marine to say they are soldier. By the catch all definition a Marine is a soldier because Soldier is term for a person who fights in an "army". Why are some people so sure that solider is only a person who has been in government back armed force because in this modern era, most armies just is that and rarely you don't see private armies or professional soldiers who will work for any country with no government backing them. In the past armed forces weren't strictly a government backed, They were land owners and powerful people not part of country government with armies. What do you call a person who fights in organized trained group aka army they are called "a soldier". A soldier is multifaceted term that applies to different things not all Soldiers enlist government backed armed forced. I will end with this is an argument of semantics and if you want to be technical

Captain America is Soldier
John Stewart is a Marine

I say this with supreme confidence only our Army(and national guard) troops is refer to as Soldiers, Nobody in the Air Force, Navy or Marines refers to themselves as "Soldiers". The term "soldier" only applies to someone who is US Army, Army reserve or National Guard. So no Cable is not a "Soldier" if we are applying modern terminology but neither is John Stewart, James Rhodes, Carol Danvers but Thunderbolt Ross, Bucky Barnes,Nick Fury Sr and Jr and Steve Rogers are Soldiers.

What bout mafiosi and gangsters that consider themselves soldiers?

[shooshoomanjoe]

Okay, tracked it down...

In New Mutants #88 when Cable is talking to Pyro and Crimson Commando (who himself was a WWII vet) of Freedom Force, which you have to remember was an arm of the U.S. government at the time, Cable says to them, “You know what I stand for, Pyro. You know my record.”

To which, Crimson Commando replies, “Yes, which is mostly off the record, Cable. Top secret operations... before you went rogue. And you went rogue a long time ago.”

Cable replies, “I didn’t start the fight with... certain elements of our government.”

Later in the same issue, one of the soldiers guarding Cable’s cell calls him a “legend” as Nathan fakes sick, saying he must’ve been exposed to plague in Madripoor (it’s a trick and it works, allowing him to escape). Specifically the soldier says, to the other guard, “Man, Cable’s a legend. I never thought I’d have the honor of guarding him!”

So he definitely did work for the military at some point, either as a solider in their ranks or a contractor/mercenary.

I wish I would have seen where Liefeld was headed with this stuff.

[Jackraow21]

I wish I would have seen where Liefeld was headed with this stuff.

I read somewhere that Liefeld planned for Cable to be an older version of Cannonball, and Stryfe an even older version still who was more powerful and from further in the future. Or something like that. It actually doesn't sound better than what we actually got, which was him being revealed to be the son of Scott and Madelyne Pryor (Nathan) sent to the future after being infected with the T-O virus.

Having said that, with regards to his past military exploits in the 20th Century... absolutely! Would love to know where he might've gone with that stuff, and would love for Gerry Duggan to pick it up when OG Cable comes back.

[Havok83]

Barely, lol. This title is one of the reasons behind starting the thread - I had been seeing it pop up and yet I haven’t read of Cable being in the military, so I thought I’d make this thread.

It flat out says he's soldier. Not acknowleding that is willfully ignoring the facts

[Dcnewb]

It flat out says he's soldier. Not acknowleding that is willfully ignoring the facts

True but as you’ve seen in this thread “soldier” is a broad term. I was asking if he was a military soldier (enlisted). Which is still not totally clear. I’ve been reading zero tolerance arc and Cable seems to call any courageous character a soldier ie Caliban when he overcomes his fears and helps Cable break him out of the mansion.

[ARkadelphia]

I have it on good authority that Cable was in the KISS Army back in the late 1970s.

[Killerbee911]

What bout mafiosi and gangsters that consider themselves soldiers?

In general sense they are "soldiers" but they aren't "military".

The thread starter wants to know if Cable is "military". To which I will refer to the movie the Patriot. In it Mel Gibson characters son joins colonial "army" in the fight against the British. America wasn't a independent country yet so technically people who fought weren't enlisted soldiers of a country.

And bigger point I want to make with that example is that the person I am talking about was thrust into a War without the vast training for an entity that doesn't exist officially. The same would be true for Cable a conquering force took over his country. There was no formal government or formal military because of that. Cable was a part of a structured resistance which is a military force. The nature of resistance you don't get all aspects of regular military experience because normally a superior force is stopping you from organizing that way.

[Alan2099]

Cable was the military leader of a rebellion against Apocalypse. If you're the general of an army, are you not a soldier?

[Dcnewb]

Cable was the military leader of a rebellion against Apocalypse. If you're the general of an army, are you not a soldier?

Depends on the definition: my definition I was using when I started this thread was: an individual who has been recruited by a country’s official military defence force, underwent BCT, Received a rank, etc.

Which seems like this isn’t the case when it comes to Cable (Nathan Summers)

[Killerbee911]

Depends on the definition: my definition I was using when I started this thread was: an individual who has been recruited by a country’s official military defence force, underwent BCT, Received a rank, etc.

Which seems like this isn’t the case when it comes to Cable (Nathan Summers)

By your definition the some of the people who fought in US Militia in revolutionary war aren't soldiers.

[Dcnewb]

By your definition the some of the people who fought in US Militia in revolutionary war aren't soldiers.

I guess not, then. Unless there’s another term to seperate the distinction between the qualities that I provided to that of the qualities of those who thought in the American war?

[Charm]

I guess not, then. Unless there’s another term to seperate the distinction between the qualities that I provided to that of the qualities of those who thought in the American war?

If you don't mind me asking, what is the point of this thread ? You have set a narrow definition of 'soldier', Cable (apparently) hasn't matched up to your definition, but does appear to meet most others' definition - what more are you wanting / expecting ?

[Jackraow21]

Well, if nothing else it gives me an excuse to read old back issues of Cable noting all of his soldier-y exploits in the past.

Just re-read Cable 33 by Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill, wherein it shows how Nathan actually created the villain Post after rescuing him with G.W. Bridge from The Mandarin on a mercenary op in Northern China. Good stuff.