Adrian Shephard

Corporal Adrian Shephard is a 22-year old US Marine Corporal assigned to the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit from the Santego Military Base, Arizona, where he was trained by Drill Instructors Dwight T. Barnes and Sharpe, and the protagonist of Half-Life: Opposing Force.

He is one of the men sent to the Black Mesa Research Facility to kill the Xen invaders and later silence the witnesses, especially a scientist named Gordon Freeman, as part of a classified mission. Early in the game, Shephard finds himself separated from his unit and ends up fighting solely for his life, aided by fellow Marines scattered around the facility and Black Mesa employees.

Biography

 * -|Freeman's Mind Timeline=

Freeman's Mind
Just as Gordon Freeman is about to jump into the portal to Xen, someone shouts something behind him. He can't make out what was said and is already mid-jump so doesn't have time to turn back and face the person shouting him. It almost sounded like "backruuuubs!"...
 * -|Master Minds Timeline=

Shephard's Mind
In 200X, Shephard's unit was assigned to reach Black Mesa aboard a V-22 Osprey designated Goose 7, having undergone extensive training beforehand without being told the exact nature of their mission. With him were other Marines such as Tower and Jackson. When the nearby Osprey, Goose 3, and his are attacked by Alien Aircrafts, it crashes in Black Mesa, killing most of the passengers, including the commander (meaning he never receives the order to silence the science team). Shephard then makes his way through Black Mesa to be evacuated. When he arrives at the extraction point however, the G-Man prevents him from catching the last Osprey, forcing Shephard to leave the facility by other means and going through parts of the facilities not seen in Half-Life and dealing with the Race X aliens and the Black Ops to finally defeat the Gene Worm. Unlike the other Marines, Shephard works with the increasingly distrustful scientists and guards in order to make it out of Black Mesa alive. This is due to the fact that he never received the orders to kill them, as his Osprey was shot down before his commander could inform the squad of their mission. However, he has seen several hints to this. When he first wakes up, the security guard who opens the door for him tells the Corporal that he heard rumours about the marines not being here to rescue them. Later, a surviving scientist informs him that he isn't sure what is worse to encounter, the military assigned to silence all witnesses or the invading aliens. Later still, Shephard sees a scientist who begs him for mercy. It should be noted that not all scientists were killed on sight, as there is at least one scientist being held prisoner at the site of the evacuation.
 * -|Point Man's Mind Timeline=

The Point Man's Mind
"And for the last time Terry, just because they're called replica[nt]s, doesn't make you a Blade Runner! They're clones, not androids! Dumbass."

- Commander Adrian Shephard.

In an alternative timeline where the Black Mesa Incident apparently never occurred, Shephard (now a Field Operations Coordinator in a Delta Force unit, aged in his 30's) was involved in assisting F.E.A.R.'s quarantine of South River Wastewater Treatment Plant following Paxton Fettel's Replica-controlled forces renege from Armacham control and invade the plant. He is heard over the radio calling in to Rodney Betters to say that "I won't be able to send you support for a bit; we just got ordered over to ATC headquarters. Some bad things are going on there.". Betters complains that he has men trapped in there but Shephard says he's "not the one calling the shots". Later, Shephard calls again and asks for assistance dealing with a problem directly at Armacham; he doesn't want to send any more men in until he knows more about the situation and his recon team has lost contact. Betters, theorising Fettel is on his way to Armacham, suggests they coordinate a joint effort to take Fettel down. Shephard agrees but voices his aggravation that his superiors won't tell him anything. Shephard then arranges for The Point Man to be picked up by a Blackhawk.

He is heard calling in just as The Point Man is giving himself a health booster shot; he expresses his hope that it won't "turn my pee blue" to which Shephard responds with "What the- oh God, what the hell are you doing over there!?" He then proceeds to lecture the Point Man over the radio on the dangers of "taking random drugs you're finding in a warzone". Annoyed by this "dangerous and irresponsible" act and having still not been given the full briefing about the situation, Shephard signed off with "I need a drink."

Game Personality
Corporal Adrian Shephard is a soldier of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, (H.E.C.U.) sent to silence the Black Mesa Research Facility. However his Osprey is shot down and finds that he is the sole survivor of his squad. With his sergeant dying before he could give orders, Shepherd does not know the real reason he was sent to the facility and now attempts to help the Black Mesa employees, and fellow soldiers alike, escape from Black Mesa, encountering Xen aliens, Race X aliens, and Black Ops soldiers.

Series Personality
Though the info says a "cowardly individual", Shephard does not seem to be afraid of enemies as one would think, and actually handles the situation more calmly than most other characters.

Trivia

 * His callsign is Den Mother in F.E.A.R. and Centcom in F.E.A.R. 2.