Travis Latham App

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Alkemical
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:40 am

Travis Latham App

Postby Alkemical » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:34 am

Steam Name: Alkemical

Steam ID: STEAM_0:0:47548775

Profile link: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Alkemical/

RP Experience: Well, I've been roleplaying for the better part of five years and have roleplayed on countless servers and have even administrated on some. I've owned three servers in the past, as well. Any long time members of either Zero Hour or Macho Gaming may be familiar with me.

How did I stumble upon your server?: I'm good friends with Legion and Empty -- So naturally I'll play on their servers.

How long have you been with Zero Hour?: Well, I've been here at Zero Hour for quite some time; I was more active at Macho Gaming's RP. When the server was migrated over, I came over once or twice. However, I was busy with college and the like, so I didn't have time to play here as much.

Character Name: Travis Flynn Latham

Character Sex: Male

Character Age: 31

Occupation: Sales Manager, part-time cartoonist

Character Equipment: Vietnam war era equipment which includes as follows: Olive drab M-65 Field Jacket, U.S. Standard issue ALICE backpack, handheld radio, UVG-0018 flashlight, worn fanny pack. Additionally, a tool box with a variety of tools such as a hammer, nails, and a monkey wrench.

Strengths: Firearms experience, Bilingual (English and Spanish), Management experience (Bachelors degree in business administration), Pilot training

Weaknesses: Claustrophobic, Coulrophobia, Kind of really sucks at advanced arithmetic, lightweight drinker

Moral Alignment: Lawful-Neutral

What are you applying for?: Generally, I'm just making this application as a formality to make sure that my character's equipment and experience are acceptable. My character's father was a Vietnam war veteran and imparted some of his knowledge to my character. Though my character has no military background, he has basic survival and firearm's training. Having grown up fishing and shooting with his father, Travis is an adept outdoors-man. With Travis' extra money that he had earned as a cartoonist, he invested in flight school due to an invested interest in aviation from a young age. Travis has a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Business Law.


Backstory:

Backstory:
Image Travis Flynn Latham was born in 1985 to a local construction foreman and a school teacher in the greater Austin area. Travis lead a relatively normal life, and was urged by his father - a Vietnam veteran - to join the service when he came of age to maintain the family tradition of service. Growing up in Texas, Travis had always been familiar with blue skies and wistful clouds. At the age of eight, Travis and his family attended a aircraft show after a friend of Travis' father managed to get the family tickets. It was during that air show that Travis took a particular interest in aircrafts and flight, spending the most of his time researching aircrafts ranging from the earliest prototypes from the Wright Brothers and the B-29 bombers to C-16 carrier and the Bell UH-1B helicopter. All of these Travis took a keen interest in; he even went as far as to build model planes and helicopters.

Thus, Travis' interests in aircrafts swelled to new heights. Over the course of his time in elementary school, all Travis could think of was flight. Attending additional air shows, going to museums and watching documentaries... His love for the skies had no limit. Receiving 'The Big Book of Airplanes' for Christmas one year, Travis spent much of his time perusing the books interior and even going so far as to trace the drawings inside. This also began his art stage, where he would draw plenty of child's drawings of planes, air men, soldiers and his family. Needless to say that the young Travis was a proud American in the making. Though not particularly religious, the family still attended church as a rule of thumb until the age of 13, where finances and school work took precedence over the good word of the bible. Travis and his father also bonded over the years by going fishing and shooting with one another, having been a popular pass-time between the two for quite some time.

As Travis grew older, his father's persistence to join the military only grew. Though Travis was very interested in flying planes, and even considered joining as an airman in the air force. However, Travis was still quite reluctant and had a stable childhood with plenty of love, friends, and family to worry about rather than considering upon enlisting in the service when he came of age. All went well for young Travis through his high school years, having managed to compete in a number art competitions, drawing both aerial cartoons and drawings of cerulean blue skies and landscapes. Graduating from Clear Lake Highschool with decent grades in the summer of 2002, Travis decided against enlisting in the armed forces despite his father's persistence on the subject. Though this caused a bit of strain in the relationship between Travis and his father, they were able to reconcile their differences shortly after Travis' enrollment in university.

Enrolling in TSU - his alma mater - in 2002, Travis pursued an education in business. However, finding that he was crunching for finances and struggling to pay for his tuition and found hat working as a bar tender at TSU barely cut it to make ends meet. Though, Travis managed to find a way. It was also in college where Travis realized that he wasn't the heaviest of drinkers, preferring one side of the counter over the other. After a few close calls with his grades, sleepless nights and debilitating hang overs, Travis managed to secure his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a minor in Business Law in the spring of 2006.

After graduating from university, Travis found work as a meager desk jockey at an undisclosed business firm for a brief period before a successful business deal landed him an opportunity at the lucrative 'Blacklake & Associates' sales franchise -- most known for their security systems. Months into his career at Blacklake & Associates, Travis managed to propose to his long time girlfriend Quinn after having been together for four years, having met some time after Travis enrolled at TSU. The couple were wed in the summer of 2008, the same year that Travis submitted his art to the Dallas Observer -- It was here that Travis began working part-time as a cartoon columnist, making extra cash on the side to pay off his student loans, his wedding and the mortgage on his new home in Dallas after beginning employment with Blacklake & Associates. In 2012, Travis also made a blog called, 'The Latham Report', which was a repository of his personal thoughts and comics, ranging from satire to social commentary.

After three years of working his way up through management at his new job, Travis became a human resources manager at B&A. With the new job title came a raise in salary and multiple other benefits -- including a more flexible schedule. Using his extra funds, Travis invested in flight school to finally realize his childhood dream of flight. As expected, Travis was eager to begin flying. Tacking on twenty four hours of flight training and ten hours of solo flight within eleven months, Travis earned his flight certificate for planes in the Fall of 2014. By 2015, Travis had also received his certification with helicopters.

In 2015, Travis' father Oscar suffered from a fatal heart attack, which left Travis irrevocably distraught over the loss of his mentor, childhood idol, and father. Shortly after Oscar's funeral, Travis had inherited his father's personal effects, including his old Vietnam War memorabilia. The same couldn't be said much for Travis' mother, as Oscar and Emilia had divorced in late 2005, Emilia Latham having moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma with Travis' aunt. In 2015, Travis started to keep a close eye on his health and diet, even going as far as to subscribe to a gym membership in Dallas.

Travis felt rather fulfilled with his life in Dallas thanks to his beautiful wife and successful career, perfectly content with what he has accomplished thus far. That is, until extraordinary circumstances ripped him, like many others, into a life where he is forced to constantly fight not only to protect his wife, but for he himself to survive as well.
Last edited by Alkemical on Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:12 pm, edited 31 times in total.
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Emptybag
Posts: 385
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:41 am

Re: Travis Latham's App

Postby Emptybag » Wed Jul 12, 2017 7:01 am

I personally think the backstory of the reason for army pilot seems a bit forced, as Hyane mentoned (he's at work as of my typing), you could easily jsut go for flying lessons as a civilian. As it stands, we also have alot of people with prior service, and I want the focus to be on relatively normaly people. We aren't on the Marine base in San Angelo, we're in Dallas. So currently I'm going to say nah. Maybe I'll be outvoted though.
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Alkemical
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:40 am

Re: Travis Latham's App

Postby Alkemical » Wed Jul 12, 2017 7:42 am

Emptybag wrote:I personally think the backstory of the reason for army pilot seems a bit forced, as Hyane mentoned (he's at work as of my typing), you could easily jsut go for flying lessons as a civilian. As it stands, we also have alot of people with prior service, and I want the focus to be on relatively normaly people. We aren't on the Marine base in San Angelo, we're in Dallas. So currently I'm going to say nah. Maybe I'll be outvoted though.

I don't necessarily see how it's forced, though. His dad was a pilot in Vietnam and wanted him to do the same. I wanted to represent the character as a real model american. Good job, nice house, wonderful wife and even a veteran to boot. I like to think I put plenty of effort into the backstory.

And just because the character was in the military doesn't mean he constitutes as a 'normaly' character. He flew helicopters and he knows how to shoot a gun. Again, I don't see how it's forced at all.
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HyaneFleischer
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Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:02 am

Re: Travis Latham's App

Postby HyaneFleischer » Wed Jul 12, 2017 7:55 am

-support

The feel of this application is one where you had to write it to get the character, not because you wanted to, just a power grab as early as you can with a trained character.
"But this server is ridiculously democratic" - A hacker with 12K hours in Gmod
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Alkemical
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:40 am

Re: Travis Latham's App

Postby Alkemical » Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:18 am

HyaneFleischer wrote:-support

The feel of this application is one where you had to write it to get the character, not because you wanted to, just a power grab as early as you can with a trained character.

Yeah, and I've gone back and fixed it. I'm making modifications to it. And it's not a power grab. I've been meaning to make a character like this for a long time and I was told four paragraphs were enough. If you wanted me to go into more detail, I would have if I knew that people were going to interpret the application as a power grab.

I've since gone back and made essential modifications. I implore you to re-evaluate your decision; I'll respect your decision either way.

And on a side note: If I knew that we were reaching the limit on character's in service - I wouldn't have made the application in the first place.
Last edited by Alkemical on Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Alkemical
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:40 am

Re: Travis Latham's App

Postby Alkemical » Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:25 am

Updated.
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Alkemical
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:40 am

Re: Travis Romero's App

Postby Alkemical » Fri Jul 14, 2017 7:02 pm

Bump.


After some serious retconning under the advisement of Empty and Zerg, I present to you a completely re-vamped version of my former application. Military background excluded!!!
naze
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 10:47 pm

Re: Travis Romero's App

Postby naze » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:27 pm

I did my best to help ya boii rework this. I'll endorse it with a support since he's not asking for anything too terribly off the wall.
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Emptybag
Posts: 385
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:41 am

Re: Travis Romero's App

Postby Emptybag » Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:49 pm

Upon reading the rewrite, I have no issues with this version. +support from me; I've been a tad busy so sorry for the wait but it happens

It is also my preference that you not name yourself over a famous zombie movie director. We call out everyone on famous names and regardless of if it actually is widespread or not, that is what I'm saying on the matter.
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Pianotugboat
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Re: Travis Latham App

Postby Pianotugboat » Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:48 pm

The manner of how you wrote this is a realistic journey to a dream. Scratching through jobs with some relation to the characters dream, followed by imminent tragedy to humble the character in a way. It took a turn I didn't really expect in terms of how the character became a pilot as opposed to just -going to college and becoming airforce pilot- All in all good backstory and i'm happy to see a rewrite get more praise in the end. +Support

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