Damon S. Baird

Damon S. Baird is one of the main characters from the Gears games.

Damon is a Gear soldier who is an expert in several technical and mechanical fields. He also appears to be an expert in collecting and analyzing Locust weapons, other equipment, artifacts and documents. He joined the Coalition of Ordered Governments army on Emergence Day, and soon after met Augustus Cole, who became his best friend. Fourteen years later, he was a member of Alpha Squad during the Lightmass Offensive, but joined Delta Squad along with Cole after the rest of the squad was killed. After the successful conclusion to the offensive, he was assigned to lead Sigma-One with Cole, taking part in several battles against the Locust. During Operation: Hollow Storm, he once again rejoined Delta, and fought through the campaign to sink Jacinto. He joined the rest of the COG in its evacuation to Port Farrall and later Vectes, where the COG was forced to deal with the Stranded Insurgency, and later the Lambent Pandemic, during which Baird was often on the front lines helping formulate plans with the rest of Delta and Command. When the COG collapsed, Baird joined the rest of Delta aboard the CNV Sovereign as part of the rapid response force that would assist several settlements the remnants of the COG had set up on the mainland.

Personality
Baird is a rather negative and sarcastic person, and is usually unkind. He speaks his mind freely, a trait that often annoys (and sometimes even hurts) others, and most often gets him into trouble. Baird offended Marcus when he talked about his mother, and was actually punched by Bernadette Mataki because he ran his mouth off too much. Despite this, his intelligence and ability as a mechanic make him a valuable addition to any squad, though during the Mission to Jilane, Baird showed a chauvinistic attitude towards Alex Brand and Jilane survivors. During the Evacuation of North Gate he berated Cole for giving a group of stranded children ration bars, referring to them as 'Parasites'. Baird can also be considered anti-social, as he backs away from people to machines. This may be because of the way he grew up and the way his parents had raised him. He is sometimes noted as, "his love of machines is more than his love of people." There was an exception with Cole, who Baird felt he was the first person to ever have his back unconditionally. As he spent more time with Cole and the rest of Delta, Baird began finding himself acting unselfishly, acting to save others rather than himself.

Cole says that in all the times Baird had ever mentioned or reminisced of his childhood, he hardly mentioned his parents, rather the many inventions he created, leading some to believe he was not on very good terms with them. Baird says that he never wanted to join the army in the first place, but rather claims that his father forced him to, as he wouldn't receive his inheritance unless he made it through at least one tour of service. A comment by his mother seems to confirm this and that his parents thought little of his dreams. Baird claims that he sold out his future for money that should have rightfully been his, and has since come to believe that in a world where people are in a constant struggle to survive, "skills" will be the new money, earning your place by your usefulness, rather than the money you have. Baird's skills prove very useful in the new world and he earns the appreciation of the COG Navy for his work on repairing and upgrading their systems which prove incredibly useful with the Stranded Insurgency and Lambent Pandemic. Baird was also able to align and fire the Hammer of Dawn, a duty usually allocated to Anya Stroud when she was unavailable at a critical moment. Despite a moving target and a very hard target lock, Baird is able to successfully fire a blast that destroys the target (and severely damages New Jacinto) despite likely never having fired the Hammer before. When doing it, Baird was confident that even Anya wouldn't have been able to pull what he did off and may have been right. Afterwards, Baird may have been assigned this duty if needed as during the Second Battle of New Jacinto, Marcus hoped that it was Anya and not Baird that was firing the Hammer. During the Battle of Anvil Gate, despite being told the Hammer was basically useless, Baird went to work on it, believing he could get it working again. He succeeds in firing off three bursts that kill all the Lambent attacking the fort except a Lambent Berserker that survives a direct hit.

Despite all of this, Baird has shown a caring attitude towards Cole, risking his life to protect the Clement just because Cole was onboard and worrying about his safety when he's away from him to the point where Dom at least notices but doesn't say anything. When Baird is chosen to fire the Hammer of Dawn since Anya is unavailable, he's reluctant as it will separate him from Cole who has to play a very dangerous role in the operation and will be very close to the blast. Eventually Baird began caring about others besides Cole and the rest of Delta, and became friends with several Gorasni like Yanik Laas and Borusc Eugen. He was also greatly saddened after Dom was killed by his sacrifice. After being more kind to Sam, it hints that the two are in some form of relationship together with Baird joking about a relationship when she saves him from falling and awkwardly wishing her luck at Azura.

Unlike other Gears, Baird does not have nightmares, and sleeps soundly despite all of the things that he has gone through.

Baird also regards all officers, except for Hoffman, as parasites who were promoted until they couldn't do any more hands-on damage.

Abilities
An expert at all things technical, Baird's very proficient at science and the inner workings of the Locust Horde, as well. Every squad, ship captain, and helicopter crew want him to be transferred to their command for his skills, something which he knows and relishes.

Like the other male Gears, he's built like a tank, but is just as good an engineer as he is a soldier.

Trivia

 * Baird is voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
 * Baird "hosts" all the official Top 5 Gears of War Series videos, providing typical in-character color commentary even as he breaks the fourth wall.
 * After saving Baird from being trapped, you will unlock an achievement called "Freebaird!" This is a reference to Lynyrd Skynyrds' song "Freebird".
 * Baird was named after a childhood friend of Cliff Bleszinski.
 * Baird and Cole's roles were originally reversed, with Baird being a former sports star.
 * Baird was one of the characters included in the Gears of War 3 HeroClix Toyline.
 * The symbol in the centre of Judgment's Baird's chest armor stands for: Rank, Glory to Royal Tyran Infantry.
 * Baird's original visual inspiration was based off Denis Leary.
 * In the chapter Straight to the Top of Gears of War: Judgment, a Stranded asks Baird and his group who they are twice before getting killed by a One-Shot, which Baird response to by saying "A boring conversation anyways..." which is a reference to a line given by Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
 * The logo on the front of Mechanic Baird's hat reads: Baird Services.