Chapter 9
Jack Reacher’s Dossier
A dossier, as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (fourth edition), is “a collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject.”
The closest thing to a dossier in the armed forces is the contents of one’s military personnel records jacket, or 201 file. It contains a wealth of selective information about a service member, but it’s piecemeal: There is no single document that provides a summary of an individual’s career; instead, there’s specific administrative documents—commendations/awards, efficiency reports, health/fitness, promotion orders, etc.—but no records of one’s participation in specific military battles. In other words, it’s not a movie of a service member but a collection of snapshots.
The following compiles significant facts about Jack Reacher, categorized by subject, to provide an overall picture of the man and his military career.
Family Background
Reacher is the second of two sons, born on a US military base in Berlin on October 29, 1960. His father, who died in 1988, was a Marine Corps officer. Jack recalled that his father was a professional killer who felt displaced after leaving military service. Like many former service members, Stan Reacher’s adjustment to civilian life proved difficult. Ideally suited by temperament and inclination to serve as a military officer in an elite branch of the military, Stan was trained to kill in combat and did so without remorse.
Reacher’s mother, the former Josephine Moutier, died at age sixty of cancer, two years after her husband. A French national, she was thirteen when she joined the French Resistance during World War II. Credited for saving eighty British and American airmen from certain capture by the Germans, she earned the French Resistance Medal.
Living in France at the time of her death, Josephine’s last days are chronicled in The Enemy. She was buried in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. At her burial ceremony, Reacher honored her by dropping his Silver Star medal into her grave. (The Silver Star is the third highest military award for valor issued by the US military.) It was her son’s way of acknowledging her heroism during the war.
Jack’s only sibling was his older brother, Joe, who, like his father, dedicated his life to public service. Joe, who was two years older than Jack, graduated from West Point and chose to serve in the Military Intelligence Corps (MI); he attended the basic and advanced courses at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Fulfilling his military obligation of five years on active duty, and three in the reserve, Joe subsequently became an agent with the US Department of the Treasury, quickly rising to executive rank. He died at age thirty-eight during a field investigation in Georgia, chronicled in Killing Floor.
Early Years
Military brats, Jack and Joe moved around the world to farflung bases, including one in the Philippines.
Early on, there was evidence of Jack’s heightened level of aggression. A psychological study, conducted and filmed by the US Army, showed youngsters in a movie theater reacting to what they saw on the screen. Jack, then six, was in the front row; but unlike the other children who were frightened, cowed, or shocked into immobility, Jack reacted viscerally and was ready to fight.
Oddly, throughout his life, and even in his early years, his family members never referred to him by his first name; instead, they always called him, simply, Reacher. The surname stuck. As he grew into adulthood, Jack made it clear that he preferred being called by his last name only—old habits die hard.
Given his father’s profession, which involved frequent permanent change of station (PCS) moves, the family never settled down. Reacher, essentially geographically dislocated, found a permanent home in the US Army—or so he thought.
With all his immediate family members deceased, Reacher stands alone.
West Point
Given his family background, it’s not surprising that Reacher chose military service. He could have followed in his father’s footsteps as a Marine Corps officer but elected instead to follow his brother’s path; he applied to, and was accepted at, West Point. As Reacher has pointed out, his time at the service academy was the longest he ever spent in any one place. (Before attending West Point, Reacher went there on a regular basis to visit his brother.)
As with Joe, Jack’s time at West Point remains a mystery, and we know nothing of his leadership positions, class rank, or even his field of study. What we do know is that he elected to serve in the Military Police Corps.1 Like Joe, Jack accepted an officer’s commission and earned a pair of “butter bars,” signifying the rank of a second lieutenant. Jack then went to the Army’s military police school at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Military Service
Reacher served for thirteen years on active duty, though he was only obligated to serve five, plus three in the active reserves.
As an unmarried officer, he stayed in a government-furnished bachelor officer quarters (BOQ), a studio apartment similar to a motel room. If military housing was unavailable, he would be allowed to live off-base and receive basic allowance for housing (BAH), covering the cost of renting an apartment or house. It’s also tax-free income.
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A military policeman on guard duty.
Reacher, as a unit commander, would typically be assigned quarters on post in case of an emergency, which are frequent in the military, requiring a quick response.
Access to Reacher’s 201 file would provide all the salient details of his assignments and duty stations, but because we are not privy to its contents, here’s what we have gleaned from the Reacher novels:
- He left the Army as an O-4 (a major) in April 1997.
- He is an expert marksman, winning the US Army Pistol Championship and also the US Marine Corps 1,000 Yard Invitational rifle competition.
- He is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat.
- He was once demoted to captain in 1990, but had his rank subsequently restored.
- He is the recipient of numerous medals, including, but not limited to, the Silver Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Soldier’s Medal, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.
The crossed pistols at Fort Leonard Wood’s MP Memorial Grove reflect the official symbol of the Military Police Corps and continue to represent military preparedness.
Reluctant Civilian
In the normal scheme of things, Reacher, who almost certainly received outstanding officer efficiency reports (OER) when on active duty, would be an unlikely candidate for involuntary separation (see chapter 13 for more information). But, to his disappointment, he was separated; and because he didn’t stay in the service long enough to get partial or full retirement, he took involuntary separation pay and reluctantly left the only home he had ever known.
Rolling with the punches, Reacher accepted his lot, however unjust, and reluctantly became a civilian.
Reacher lacks a home of record (HOR), and because he’s not a joiner, subscriber, or property owner, he doesn’t get much mail; and what little mail he gets is sent to the Pentagon, which then forwards it to him. Itinerant by choice, Reacher takes on odd jobs to supplement his savings and involuntary separation pay, though the big paychecks are obtained under unusual circumstances: He most frequently “liberates” it from the cash holdings of the bad guys.
His other financial resource is income realized from the sales of a sports utility vehicle and house of his former bossmentor-friend, Major General Garber. Predictably, Reacher, not wanting to be tethered to property, quickly sells both and hits the road.
Physical Attributes
Reacher is physically imposing. Though he doesn’t work out on a regular basis, his body fat remains low, owing to his physical lifestyle and blue-collar jobs involving hard manual labor. He is six feet five inches tall, and his chest measures fifty inches. He weighs approximately 250 pounds.
Professional Work
Unlike his contemporaries—notably Frances Neagley, a former MP with the rank of master sergeant (MSG, E-8), who is a partner at a private security firm in Chicago—Reacher has chosen not to be gainfully employed as an investigator or a principal in a security firm—financially rewarding work for which he is ideally suited.
Women
Reacher prefers beautiful, brainy women. He appreciates smart, resourceful, attractive, and professionally competent women, especially in uniform. He is not threatened by women who outranked him when he was on active duty.
As a fifty-one-year-old lifelong bachelor, matrimony is a non-issue for Reacher.
Perhaps the closest, and longest-running, relationship he had with any woman was with Jodie Garber-Jacob, whom he met when she was a teenager.
Later in the series, Reacher becomes interested in Major Susan Turner, who currently commands his former unit. The chemistry they share is obvious. We learn a lot about her in Never Go Back, but Reacher’s interest in her will likely wane, since in the end Reacher inevitably stands alone.