Mjr John Rush (Retired)

 John Rush (Retired)

The Major had an interesting life, and he and Brogan have been fast friends for years.

James Brogan was born in the late 50s, he was brought up strictly, and with a reasonable believe system, he left school early and join the marines, this took him to a few places, mainly Vietnam, while there James distinguished himself as a fine soldier and leader.

Returning to his beloved Boston he join the police force and spend almost 20 years on the force, some of which you will see documented here, some we just leave behind, being push off, he decided to open his own Detective Agency and has been solving crimes that others don’t bother with. He remains in good standing with BDP and is sometimes used as a sounding board for investigations and criminal prosecutions, to this day James Brogan walks the streets of Boston.

Character Profile: Major John Rush, U.S. Army (Retired)

Full Name: John Michael Rush Rank at Retirement: Major Born: June 12, 1946, in South Boston, Massachusetts Age (as of 1987): 41 Current Residence: A modest but impeccably maintained ranch house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Weymouth, Massachusetts — ten minutes from the ocean and twenty minutes from the city. The garage holds a spotless 1972 Ford Bronco and a workbench full of half-finished model aircraft.

Military Service (1965–1982)

Rush was a lifer — the kind of soldier who joined because it was the only thing that ever felt like home.

• Vietnam (1966–1972): Enlisted at 19. Served three full tours with the 1st Infantry Division (“The Big Red One”) and later MACV-SOG. Saw heavy combat in the Iron Triangle and along the Cambodian border. Earned two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars with “V” device, and a Purple Heart he never talks about. He was the guy who walked point when everyone else wanted to stay in the wire. Quiet, lethal, and famously calm under fire — the kind of calm that made other men nervous.
• Korea (1973–1978): After Saigon fell, the Army sent him to the DMZ. He ran reconnaissance and training teams along the border, staring down North Korean infiltrators in the dead of winter. He called it “Vietnam with worse weather and better food.”
• Final Years: Staff and training billets at Fort Bragg and the Pentagon. Retired in 1982 with a chest full of ribbons and a head full of ghosts he keeps locked behind a dry, laconic sense of humor.

Post-Military Life

Since hanging up the uniform, Rush has become a highly discreet consultant. He works for corporations, private security firms, and the occasional wealthy individual who needs “problems solved quietly and legally… or at least within the gray areas of the law.”

His specialty: deniable operations — corporate espionage, threat assessment, security audits, and the occasional extraction of assets from hostile environments. He helps the “good guys win” — but his definition of “good guys” is flexible. As long as the client isn’t trafficking in children or hard drugs, Rush will take the job. He has a strict personal code: never work against the United States, never betray a fellow veteran, and never take a job that would make Maggie (his late wife) ashamed of him.

He drives a hard bargain, charges high fees, and keeps his mouth shut. In the Boston underworld and certain boardrooms, he is known simply as “The Major.”

Physical Appearance & Personality

• Tall (6'2"), lean, and still carries himself like a man who can still do fifty push-ups before breakfast.
• Steel-gray hair cut high and tight, even in retirement.
• Calm, steady blue eyes that miss nothing.
• Dresses in pressed khakis, oxford shirts, and a worn brown leather bomber jacket that still has his name stenciled inside the collar from his last tour.
• Speaks in short, precise sentences with a faint Southie accent that sharpens when he’s annoyed.
• Dry, dark sense of humor — the kind that lands like a quiet knife. He rarely raises his voice, but when he does, people listen.

Key Traits & Backstory Notes

• Vietnam & the Bottle: Like Brogan, Rush came home changed. He drank heavily for the first two years after Saigon fell. Eventually he dried out — not because he found God, but because he decided the bottle was letting the enemy win. He still has one beer on the anniversary of the fall of Saigon and nothing more.
• Code of Honor: Rush despises corruption in uniform. He and Brogan actually crossed paths once in 1975 when Brogan (then a young patrolman) helped break up a black-market ring that Rush had been quietly feeding information to. They have a wary mutual respect.
• The Wife: Married once, to a nurse named Caroline he met at a field hospital in Pleiku. She died of cancer in 1984. Rush still wears the plain gold band on a chain around his neck under his shirt. He never talks about her to clients.
• Current Work Style: Rush operates from a small, neatly organized office in Quincy. He keeps two phones — one for legitimate business, one that “doesn’t exist.” He prefers to work alone but will occasionally bring in trusted former Special Forces men when the job requires muscle.
• Relationship with Brogan: The two men are not friends exactly — more like two old dogs who recognize the same scars. Rush respects Brogan’s refusal to play ball with corrupt cops. Brogan respects that Rush never sold out. They have crossed paths on three cases so far. Each time, Rush has quietly helped Brogan when the situation got too big for one sarcastic ex-cop to handle.

Quote that sums him up “Rules are for people who’ve never had to make them up in the middle of a firefight. I don’t break the law, Mr. Brogan. I just bend it until it salutes.”

Major John Rush is ready to step into any story you need — whether as a quiet ally, a reluctant mentor, or the man who shows up at the last possible second with a plan no one saw coming.