Stargate Supplement

SATURDAY 24 JUNE, 2010
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The Man Who Fell From Earth

Colonel Jack O'Neill (Rtd.)

He represented Earth for four years - so what went wrong?
Rebecca Swanson reports


The Stargate at the J.R. Reed Space Terminal

In a little under a month, it will be ten years since Earth first made contact with a race of aliens called The Aschen, and nine and a half years since the Stargate project became public knowledge. Until then the American Government had been running the project in secret, their mandate officially being 'to determine threats against Earth and search for allies in the fight against the Goa'uld'.

Needless to say, they accomplished their task.

Once the initial shock of the project faded from the public eye, the spotlight inevitably fell on the man who seemed to symbolise the entire point of the project, Colonel Jack O'Neill. As leader of the SGC's flagship team - SG-1 - he had fought the Goa'uld time and time again and was naturally seen as a hero.

It was with some surprise then, that he openly spoke out against the alliance with our friends. They had provided vaccines and cures for virtually every known disease, a serum that extended the human life span, and deftly defeated the Goa'uld - that last act at least one would assume O'Neill would be pleased about.

Born in Chicago in 1957, but raised in Minnesota, Jonathan O'Neill is the son of an Air Force officer and a computer expert. His parents divorced when he was nine, and it was then that what has become known as his 'rebellious streak' began to show itself - a character trait that persists to this very day.

The military was a family tradition, but it was O’Neill’s Uncle Fred who eventually inspired him to try it himself.

It's unclear what specific work he undertook after completing basic training, but it is known that he became involved in special operations; work so secret that even now its details still cannot be revealed. No doubt this reckless - though brave - activity helped him to express that rebellious streak he was so fond of exploring.

Then, at the age of 27, he met his future wife, Sara Kirkby; by all accounts a marriage that tamed him in a way the Air Force never could. Dropping out of special operations by the time he reached the rank of Major, he focused on work that wouldn't put him in such reckless danger and with good reason: the birth of his son, Charlie Tyler O'Neill.

'[It] was supposed to be a suicide mission'

It seems life passed happily away for the O'Neill family for the next few years; a segment of his story that is depressingly free of any information that would lure even the most sturdy of reporters. Until, at ten years old, Charlie O'Neill accidentally shot himself with his father's gun.

It's fair to say the bottom dropped out of Jack O'Neill's world. Now a Colonel, he buried his son, was abandoned by a wife who couldn't forget, and has never been able to forgive himself for his son's death.

When the Air Force contacted him for what was supposed to be a suicide mission through something called a 'Stargate', he jumped at the chance.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Finding something in the Stargate project worth living for, he was soon assigned as leader of the first ‘team’ to travel through the Stargate on a regular basis. Joined by those whose names are now known throughout the nine planets – archaeologist Dr Daniel Jackson, Dr/Colonel Samantha Carter (Rtd.), and Teal’c, the Jaffa – they visited countless worlds and explored the galaxy.

So what made him turn against the saviours of Earth, while his teammates firmly accepted them?

From the many memoirs that have sprung out of the SGC since its public inception – from Walter Davis’ ‘Wrong Number’ to Sylvester Siler’s ‘Holding The Wrench’ – it’s become known that Jack O’Neill wasn’t particularly fond of any member of his team when they first started working together. He perceived Dr Jackson as a ‘geek’, and there has also been some talk of the fact that he didn’t want Carter on his team simply because she was a woman – although this, of course, is purely hearsay.

SG-1 as they were; L-R, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Samantha Carter, Jack O'Neill, and their commanding officer Major General George Hammond

His fellow team members have all declined to be interviewed for this article, so it seems that the only person who may have been able to throw some real light on the situation was O’Neill’s commanding officer at the time, Major General George Hammond. Unfortunately the General passed away of a heart attack several years ago, so his opinion will forever go unheard.

O’Neill’s disrespect for authority was also legendary. The information on his personnel file – which became public knowledge when the President introduced the new Privacy Bypass laws – for his first three years at the Stargate project alone included kidnapping an alien child, two counts of refusal to obey orders, and five counts of direct insubordination to a superior officer and a U.S. senator.

The senator these records refer to at the time was President Kinsey, when he was still Chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Perhaps it comes down to a personal dislike of the President. All sources confirm that O’Neill never liked him; from initial clashes at the SGC to documented reports of O’Neill being forcibly removed from the Oval Office. There was even one alleged report that he held the then-Senator at gunpoint – though this, of course, is only rumour for the more litigious of our readers.

Or perhaps, as some suggest, there is another reason.

After all information pertaining to the Stargate project became open to the public, the general population absorbed that information like a sponge; including the fact that SG-1 had encountered several alternate realities, and in all of them Jack O’Neill and Samantha Carter were romantically involved.

The nation, then the world, then the nine planets were intrigued. While there were no official records of Carter and O’Neill ever being involved, the alternate realities they interacted with were not so different as to be unrecognisable. It is hard to forget those first few months when every copy of The National Enquirer and The Daily Whisperer claimed to have another new update on ‘the romance of the galaxy’.

They, and many of their readers, were more than a little disappointed when she married Joseph Faxon, Ambassador to Earth – though no doubt their distribution numbers went up.

'He didn't trust anyone except for his team'

So, what is the truth? Of those that worked at the SGC who have been interviewed, none have flatly denied it. Dr Janet Fraiser, Chief Medical Officer at the time, responded with: “Don’t waste my time with such a ridiculous question.” Responses from others included, “They are colleagues,” (Teal’c), “Are you serious?” (Major Paul Davis) and “He was her commanding officer for crying out loud!” (General Jacob Carter – Rtd).

Though this by no means confirms the rumour, none of the interviewees actually said “No.” In fact, it seems many of them went out of their way not to say that.

As for Samantha Carter herself, in one of her rare interviews all she said was “I respect him immensely, care for him deeply, and was honoured to work by his side. I’m sorry he felt the need to do what he did, but I can’t say it was entirely unexpected.”

And her response to why it wasn’t unexpected?

“For four years, he didn’t trust anyone except for his team. Now, I’m sad to say, he doesn’t even trust us.”

And maybe that’s all there is to it. Maybe, for a man so driven by recklessness, rebelliousness and passion, this was far too easy. Maybe he still wants to be out there, chasing the stars.

'He openly spoke out against the alliance'

While his former comrades move on and continue to build their lives – including an appearance next month at the J.R. Reed Space Terminal, where they will receive a personal address from the President in recognition for their work – Jack O’Neill has retreated to his Grandfather’s cabin in Minnesota. A place where, allegedly, the fishing is terrible.

We may never know his true motivations for his behaviour or his actions. We can only hope that the isolation and time alone will help him come to realise the errors he has made, when he will be openly welcomed back into a world that has long wanted to understand him.

In the words of the man himself, in the only interview he ever gave:

“You think it’s easy being the guy who fell from Earth?”

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