Gary "Roach" Sanderson



Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson was the main protagonist and a playable character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He was a field operative of the multinational counter-terrorism unit known as Task Force 141, falling under the command of Captain John "Soap" MacTavish and operating behind the scenes during the Russian invasion of the United States in 2016.

Task Force 141
Roach’s first appearance in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is in the level “Cliffhanger,” where he accompanies Captain MacTavish on a mission to infiltrate a Russian-controlled airbase in Kazakhstan. While the two climb mountains on the base's outskirts, Roach nearly falls to his death before being saved at the last second by MacTavish. The two then approach the base on foot and manage to retrieve a stolen ACS module before escaping on snowmobiles.

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

Roach, however, misses the jump and hangs on for dear life but falls off before Captain MacTavish can grab him and pull him back. He is forced to make his way back to the helicopter totally unarmed with Militia firing upon him. As the helicopter nearly runs out of fuel, he successfully makes a second jump landing on the helicopter's ladder and is 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 is being held in a gulag off the coast of Russia. Task Force 141 initiates a two-stage operation to secure the prisoner. It begins with a raid on a Russian oil-rig platform armed with SAMs that is guarding the approach to the gulag.

Rescuing Prisoner 627
Roach and the rest of the Task Force make their way onto the platform via SDVs and proceed to neutralize the majority of hostiles and free the hostages being used as human shields. The Task Force then departs on Little Birds as U.S. Marine forces simultaneously touch down to dismantle the SAMs. The second phase of the operation then proceeds with an assault on the gulag itself. After freeing Prisoner #627, who turns out to be Captain Price, Roach and a small number of Task Force members manage to extract via SPIE rig as the U.S. Navy destroys the facility.

Assault on the Submarine Base
With Price back in the fold, Task Force 141 facilitates his plan to board a Russian submarine and use it to launch a nuclear missile at Washington, D.C. During the assault on the submarine base itself, Roach contributes significantly using an MQ-1 Predator Drone to provide close-air-support. Price is 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.

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

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

After a DSM with intelligence finishes downloading, the survivors head for the extraction point and General Shepherd’s forces. On approach, Roach is wounded by a close mortar strike. He appears to come close to blacking out several times before Ghost comes to his aid. Ghost ends up dragging Roach to the extraction point, where Shepherd's forces rout the Ultranationalists.

Death
Shepherd emerges from the Pave Low carrying him and asks Ghost if they have the DSM, which Ghost confirms. Shepherd then betrays the two by shooting them both with his .44 Magnum and taking the DSM from Roach's body. Both Ghost and Roach are then taken to a ditch where they are soaked with gasoline by Shadow Company soldiers. Then, Shepherd looks down and throws his cigar onto them, resulting the pair to be set on fire as a result of the gasoline.

Roach and Ghost's death's deeply affected Soap and Price who went on a vengance mission to kill Shepherd to avange the two as well as the other 141 member's. Soap was mortally wounded but succeded in killing Shepherd with a Knife.