Maximilian Schenker
Maximilian SchenkerEast German, Age 33
Kampfschwimmer, Unified German Navy (formerly GDR Volksmarine)
Max and his twin sister Mina were born in Dresden in 1967. At an early age, both siblings displayed an aptitude for water sports, catching the eye of party scouts while still in grammar school. At age 10, Max and Mina said goodbye to their parents and became wards of the German Democratic Party's National Olympic apparatus. Max's party-selected track led him to the GDR water polo team, while Mina was funneled into the swimming program. Starting in their late teens, both siblings were strongly encouraged to receive regular injections of "vitamin supplements", which further enhanced their already genetically-gifted tall, muscular builds. Despite his beyond-average strength and athleticism, Max didn't quite make the cut, but Mina qualified for the 1988 Olympic team in multiple events (she took silver in the 100m butterfly, a result which several western Olympic commissions disputed).
Soon after being dropped from the water polo team's starting 7- subsequently ceasing the "vitamin" regimen- Max learned that the squad was a recruiting pipeline for the GDR's Commando Frogman force. Approached with an offer to join the secretive, elite unit, Max acquiesced, beginning his rigorous military training. He sailed through the program and, upon graduation, was posted to the naval base at Kühlungsborn, GDR. Mina failed to medal at the '92 games, and was promptly "medically retired" from the team. She was relocated to Leipzig to become a swim instructor for the next generation of superior Socialist youth athletes. Two years later, she was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer and given a few months to live, a prognosis Max was not informed of until Mina lay in her deathbed. Requests to allow her to travel to West Berlin for advanced treatment were denied. To make matters even worse, his leave approval came too late; he barely arrived home in time to attend her funeral.
It was at this point that Max turned against the party, blaming it for using, and then callously discarding, his beloved sister. He secretly vowed revenge and bided his time; he didn't have to wait very long. When the Federal Republic of Germany invaded the GDR in October of 1996, to force the matter of German reunification at gunpoint, Max enthusiastically joined the turncoat faction within the Volkmarine. After being vetted by West German counterintelligence, Max joined the Unified German Kampfschwimmer Company (who, as per the unit tradition of assigning each new probationary member a nickname, dubbed him 'Seehund') and shortly thereafter began conducting combat operations against Warsaw Pact forces in the Baltic region.