Gary "Roach" Sanderson

"He's a Sgt., but reminds me of what I must've looked like coming out of selection; raw, skilled, loyal to a fault"

- John "Soap" MacTavish

Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson was the main protagonist and a playable character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He was a British member of the multinational Task Force 141, falling under the command of Captain John "Soap" MacTavish and operating behind the scenes during World War III.

Early Life
Roach was born on July 5, 1986, lived in, UK. He was brother to Derek, James, and Danny "Raptor" Ellison. He was age between James and Derek.

Operation Kingfish
Roach participated in Operation Kingfish alongside John Price, John "Soap" MacTavish, Simon "Ghost" Riley, Sandman, and Derek "Frost" Westbrook. After Makarov was not located, the team was extracted by helicopter, except for Price, who sacrificed his freedom by staying behind, fighting the Russians until he was captured and sent to a gulag.

Recovering the ACS
Roach’s first appearance in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was in the level “Cliffhanger,” where he accompanied Captain MacTavish on a mission to infiltrate a Russian-controlled airbase in Kazakhstan. While the two climbed mountains on the base's outskirts, Roach nearly fell to his death before being saved by Soap at the last second (an event that significantly references Crew Expandable from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare). The two then approached the base on foot and manage to retrieve a stolen ACS module before escaping on snowmobiles.

Capturing Alejandro Rojas
Shortly afterward, Task Force 141 traveled to Rio De Janeiro on a mission to capture arms dealer Alejandro Rojas, a contact of Makarov. Roach and the other team members pursued Rojas through the Favela and eventually captured him, only to be swarmed by local Militia. The team then mounted a break out and was able to work their way to the Favela rooftops, where they jumped to a waiting helicopter.

Roach, however, narrowly misses the jump and holds on for his life but falls off before Captain MacTavish could grab him and pull him back. He was forced to make his way back to the helicopter completely unarmed with Militia hot on his trail. Just before the helicopter nearly ran out of fuel, he successfully made a second jump landing on the helicopter's ladder and was extracted with the rest of the team.

Raiding a Russian Oil-Rig
While in Brazil, MacTavish and Ghost were able to extract from Rojas that Makarov has a hate-on for Prisoner #627, who was being held in a gulag off the coast of Russia. Task Force 141 initiated a two-stage operation to secure the prisoner. It begun with a raid on a Russian oil-rig platform armed with SAMs that was guarding the approach to the gulag.

Rescuing Prisoner 627
Roach and the rest of the Task Force made their way onto the platform via SDVs and proceeded to neutralize the majority of hostiles and free the hostages being used as human shields. The Task Force then departed on Little Birds as U.S. Marine forces simultaneously touched down to dismantle the SAMs. The second phase of the operation then proceeded with an assault on the prison itself. After freeing Prisoner #627, who turns out to be Captain Price, Roach and a small number of Task Force members managed to be extracted via SPIE rig as the U.S. Navy destroyed the facility.

Assault on the Submarine Base
After rescuing Price, Price takes Roach under his wing like he did Soap five years ago, according to Soap's journal. Now, Task Force 141 facilitated Price's plan to board a Russian submarine and use it to launch a nuclear missile at Washington, D.C. to quickly end the war. During the assault on the submarine base itself, Roach contributed significantly using an MQ-1 Predator Drone to provide close-air-support. Price was able to board the submarine and put his plan into action, air-bursting a missile over Washington D.C. and utilizing it as a massive EMP. This turned the tide during the Russian - American war, disabling electronic equipment for both sides but giving the defenders a substantial advantage.

Infiltrating one of Makarov's safehouses
The U.S. forces in Washington were able to tip the scales in their favour as a result of the blast and saved the city from being carpet bombed by the U.S. Air Force. As a result, Task Force 141 turned its main focus to finding and eliminating Makarov. Ghost and Roach led an attack on one of Makarov’s safe houses on the Georgian-Russian border.

Most of the team was killed during an ambush on approach but Roach, Ghost, Ozone and Scarecrow were able to reach the safe house and break inside. They were unable to locate Makarov, but quickly begun to collect highly valuable intelligence from available computers, documents and photos as Makarov's forces begun to mount a counter-attack.

After the DSM finished downloading, the survivors headed for the extraction point. On approach, Roach was wounded by a close mortar strike. He appeared to come close to blacking out several times before Ghost came to his aid. Ghost ended up dragging Roach to the extraction point, where Shepherd's forces routed the Ultranationalists.

Death
Shepherd emerged from the Pave Low and asked Ghost if they had the DSM, which Ghost confirms. Shepherd then betrayed the two by shooting them both with his .44 Magnum and taking the DSM from Roach's body. Both Ghost and Roach were then taken to a ditch where they were soaked with gasoline by Shadow Company soldiers. Shepherd then throws his lit cigar on the two setting their gasoline soaked bodies alight.

Task Force 141

 * Tian Shan Range, Kazakhstan - Retrieves a downed ACS module with Soap.
 * Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Takes down Rojas and his assistant, fights through the Favela and barely escapes onto Nikolai's Pave Low.
 * Vikorevkha 36 Oil Platform, Russia: Phase one of prisoner extraction operation - Secures the oil rig.
 * 40 miles east of Petropavlovsk, Russia: Phase two of prisoner extraction operation - Participates in the assault on the Russian gulag and rescues Prisoner #627.
 * 14 miles SSE of Petropavlovsk, Russia - Raids a submarine base with Captain Price.
 * Georgian-Russian Border - Raids Makarov's safe house, loads a DSM with intelligence. Betrayed along with Ghost at the extraction point and killed by Shepherd.

Trivia

 * Roach's body is only visible in "Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish".
 * In "Loose Ends", he has a character model in Arctic Camouflage with a black tactical vest, albeit without a head. His model also has four hands. The two can be seen on normal gameplay are gray, but the other two are seen tied behind his back which were used to hold the AK-47 when Ghost was dragging him to extraction point.
 * According to Soap's Journal, Roach too had a journal. Soap wrote that he saw Roach writing in a journal after the events of Cliffhanger. He wrote "Wonder if he's thinking about PT like I was."
 * Roach's weapon of choice seems to be the ACR.
 * In early screenshots of "The Gulag", Soap can be seen from an angle where Roach's seat on the helicopter is visible. The seat, however, is entirely empty.
 * Roach's appearance begins and ends with the disposal of a lit cigar.
 * Similar to Frost and Ghost, Roach's appearance uses a balaclava to hide his face.
 * When falling off the cliff in Cliffhanger, Roach can be heard screaming.
 * Roach is seen to be around Ghost more than Soap.
 * Roach is the first playable British character to die in the series.
 * With the exception of "Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish", Roach is not scripted to have a head