Gunnery Sergeant Goforth

Gunnery Sergeant Goforth or Gunny Goforth was the Gunnery Sergeant on the Mars Base in the first of the Doom novels, 'Knee-Deep in the Dead'.

He is from the South of the USA, though his exact state of residency is not exactly confirmed (he is said to have a "thick Georgian drawl" in Knee-Deep in the Dead, but Fly claims that he is from South Carolina in "Endgame") and is known for his crack-shot abilities with his sniper rifle.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot details follow.

Goforth was the oldest Marine in Fox Company and the second-in-command under Lieutenant Weems. He is said to have warmed up to Flynn Taggart upon his arrival in the company and is the one who gave him the nickname "Fly". During the invasion of Phobos, Taggart encounters Goforth walking toward him down a corridor and believes him to have actually survived ("The failing light made it difficult to make out skin tones; but the smooth, purposeful way he walked made me think he couldn't be a zombie"). At first, Taggart believes that Goforth is actually alive, but this is quelled when Goforth begins shooting at him. Goforth turned out to be the most challenging zombie to kill, and during this battle, Taggart notices that he is the only zombie who can show any signs of humanity such as blinking (Taggart noticed that other zombies he'd come across never blinked, thus rendering their eyesight poor and affecting their aim). Taggart kills Goforth, described a rather interesting way: "It was the biggest mess I'd made on this godforsaken rock of a moon so far. The splatter was some sort of an artistic statement". Afterwards, Taggart realizes that he was laughing upon his death, something he chides himself over.

Goforth isn't mentioned again until a flashback scene in "Endgame" in which Taggart recalls an incident in which he was Goforth's second-in-command at an officer's academy when he first made Corporal. Goforth had always hated officers, moreso than Taggart, and when one of the students questioned an order Goforth gave him, he went "bug-freak" and chewed the "falkin' piece of SHEE-it!" out for several minutes in proper Marine CO fashion.