FOXHOUND

High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND (sometimes "FOX-HOUND" or "FOX HOUND") was an elite black ops unit of the U.S. Army that was established by the "Legendary Soldier" Big Boss at the end of 1970. Although its function changed over the years, FOXHOUND specialized in covert, solo infiltrations, to cope with local revolutions, regional complications, and global terrorist activities in "unauthorized" combat zones too politically-sensitive to intervene through conventional means. All its members were battlefield hardened veterans, with many coming from a mercenary background. It was officially disbanded by the U.S. Government after 2005.

History
The unit was formed unofficially in 1970 by Naked Snake (Big Boss) and Roy Campbell who were both prisoners of the incident at the San Hieronymo Peninsula. The two established the group in order to take down the rebelling members of the FOX unit (led by Gene) as well as clear the names of Naked Snake, Major Zero, Para-Medic and Sigint.

In 1970, the group was organized into an official unit within the U.S. Army (though the concept of such a unit was considered as early as 1964 ). Big Boss originally commanded the group with Campbell acting as a tactician, and the two led them in a series of intense and difficult covert operations. However, Big Boss soon left FOXHOUND and America to form the Militaires Sans Frontieres in 1972 and it would be 20 years before he would return to the country to re-take command of the unit.

In 1995, rookie agent Solid Snake joined the unit and aided in the rescue of veteran agent Gray Fox from the soldier nation Outer Heaven after the latter was caught by the Outer Heaven forces, and defeated its mysterious leader, who turned out to be none other than FOXHOUND's commander Big Boss, who had established the facility in secret.

After 1995, FOXHOUND's existence became public knowledge and gained worldwide fame, thanks to Solid Snake's actions. With Big Boss presumed dead, Campbell was placed in command and helped Snake in 1999. Under Campbell's command, the code name regime for FOXHOUND members was discarded, and a greater emphasis was placed on utilizing advanced technology.

Some time between 1999 and 2005, Campbell retired and Liquid Snake was placed in charge. Under Liquid's command, the code name regime was reinstated, with its members choosing particular skills to specialize in, and the unit flourished, until it went "rogue". In 2005, Liquid's FOXHOUND unit (along with the Genome Army) staged a revolt on Shadow Moses Island and formed the Sons of Big Boss terrorist group. But in actuality, FOXHOUND was already under investigation long before the rebellion occured. Campbell was then forced to come out of retirement and hire Solid Snake to infiltrate Shadow Moses and kill Liquid Snake and the renegade members of FOXHOUND.

After the revolt, FOXHOUND was officially disbanded with no successor unit named or known.

Members
Known FOXHOUND Members:
 * Big Boss (Naked Snake) (founder/original commander)
 * Roy Campbell (co-founder, later second commander)
 * Jonathan (first recruit)
 * Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov
 * Gray Fox
 * Master Miller (McDonell Benedict Miller)
 * Solid Snake
 * George Kasler
 * Dr. Clark
 * Dr. Naomi Hunter

Possible members:
 * Python (if defeated non-lethally)
 * Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov (if rescued from imprisonment)
 * An untold number of soldiers, officers, scientists, and engineers joined FOXHOUND who were all former members of the Red Army and FOX. All of these soldiers were given animal codenames (e.g. "Raven" and "Bison") and helped Big Boss and Campbell in 1970 to clear their names.

Members of FOXHOUND in 2005:
 * Liquid Snake (third commander)
 * Revolver Ocelot
 * Decoy Octopus
 * Vulcan Raven
 * Sniper Wolf
 * Psycho Mantis
 * Next-Generation Special Forces (reserve members)

Pseudo-FOXHOUND
Examples of FOXHOUND affiliations have been seen post-2005, when the unit was no longer thought to exist:


 * In 2009, Raiden infiltrated the offshore decontamination facility, believing himself to be a FOXHOUND member due to the Patriots's AI's maniputation.
 * In 2014, an Army CID team (led by Meryl Silverburgh) wore FOXHOUND insignia to disguise their true identity.
 * Also in 2014, The Beauty and the Beast Unit had codenames that were partially inspired by the FOXHOUND members from 2005, with Drebin 893 once referring to them as SNAKEHOUND.

Selection and Drills
When FOXHOUND was first established in 1970, the process of recruitment was not fully developed, due to the circumstances at the time. Potential recruits were usually abducted or rescued, and then convinced into joining the unit. However, those with skills, such as quick recovery, the ability to adapt to changing situations in combat (quick-thinking), and a certain amount of combat experience were highly desired, as evidenced by Big Boss's compliments to Jonathan during his recruitment as well as the reasons behind the rescue and recruiting of Raikov.

After FOXHOUND was organised into an official unit, very strict selection procedures were adopted. Firstly, potential recruits were only chosen from those already within the military and various special forces. Recruits must also pass exams in three different aspects:

Physical
 * Physical Fitness Test
 * Short-distance running
 * Uninterrupted performance of 80 push-ups
 * Uninterrupted performance of 100 sit-upsFOXHOUND_excercise.gif
 * 50 meter freestyle-stroke swim
 * Combat diving skill
 * Cross-country march (travelling 64 km [40 miles] in under 15 hours, carrying a 30 kg [67 pounds] backpack)

Psychological
 * Mental recovery, concentration, endurance, self-control and the fortitude to overcome difficult situations
 * ESP expectancy score
 * Marksmanship
 * Recognizing and making decisions in emergency situations

Intelligence
 * Foreign languages
 * Foreign geography
 * Knowledge of world events
 * Advanced technology
 * Medical procedures
 * Detonation operations
 * Stealth communication
 * Foreign weaponry

After passing the selection courses, the recruits then partake in professional training exercises (also known as drills), which include:
 * Battlefield survival (14 weeks)
 * Shooting practice (must score at least 95% for a target at 914 m [3,000 ft], and 100% for a target at 548 m [1,800 ft])
 * Guard patrol
 * Mountaineering
 * Hand-to-hand combat
 * Border infiltration
 * Guerrilla warfare
 * Land navigation
 * Map-reading
 * Escape and evasion
 * Combat medical skills
 * Rebelling and Ranger practice
 * Weapons familiarization
 * Nautical vehicle control and navigation
 * Diving and underwater infiltration
 * Canoeing
 * Basic military parachute skills (4 weeks)
 * Special operations freefall practice (High-Altitude, Low-Opening [HALO] and High-Altitude, High-Opening [HAHO])
 * 11 jumps carrying little to no combat equipment ("Hollywood")
 * 15 jumps with full combat equipment
 * 2 nighttime jumps
 * 2 mass-tactical strategic jumps
 * Intelligence gathering
 * Language and customs of the destination country (4 weeks)
 * Stealth techniques
 * Improvised explosive devices
 * Utilization of high-tech equipment
 * Communications (16 weeks)
 * Medical exam (10 weeks)

Equipment and Uniforms
See FOXHOUND equipment

Units within FOXHOUND
During the inital formation of FOXHOUND, there were four primary units within the group. They were:


 * The Sneaking Unit, which specialized in infiltration missions as well as abducting or rescuing potential recruits. There are four units total within this unit, with four members in each unit:
 * Alpha Unit
 * Bravo Unit
 * Charlie Unit
 * Delta Unit


 * The Spy Unit, which carried out espionage into enemy territory, transmitting intel to FOXHOUND on opportunities or events that could be exploited. There were eighteen units total within this unit (counting the Silo Entrance, Silo Complex, and Launch Control Room as one location), with four members per unit.


 * The Tech Unit, responsible for the development of new technologies and weapons. There were eight members in this unit during the San Hieronymo Takeover.


 * The Medical Unit, responsible for fixing up any of the soldiers who were injured or wounded in battle. There were eight members in this unit during the San Hieronymo Takeover.

Codename system
A FOXHOUND codename originally comprised an animal codename and a personal prefix to distinguish between those with the same animal codename. Often this prefix represents either the individual's weapon of choice or particular skill that they specialize in, but sometimes these codenames are a bit more ambiguous in nature. The original codename system appears to have awarded animal codenames based on ability (the top codename being "Fox"). However, this may have only been the case with that codename and not the others.

When David joined FOXHOUND, he was assigned the codename Solid Snake. Since Big Boss was the command of the unit at the time and was aware of David's true lineage, he gave him the name ‘Snake’ in reference to his old FOX codename Naked Snake. The codename may have also been part of the ranking system, wherein "Snake" would represent soldiers with a skill level similar to Big Boss during his time with FOX. David's clone designation of "Solid" was used as his personal prefix, though it is unclear why this was used or which individuals knew the meaning behind the designation.

After Campbell became FOXHOUND commander, he abandoned the codename system, though some agents (at least Solid Snake) still chose to use their codenames. Sometime before 2005, a new codename system was implemented wherein the animal codename was also a personal identifier (Ocelot, for example, used his long time codename and added "Revolver" as his additional prefix).

It's unknown at what point a soldier received the codename Liquid Snake. It is possible that he chose the name himself as the other members of FOXHOUND did around that time or chosen his name as a reference to his brother Solid Snake since he may have already been aware of their relationship upon joining the unit.

It should be noted that the name "FOXHOUND" itself is used to identify any member of the unit, regardless of rank.

Behind the Scenes

 * According to the MSX2 user's manual for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, FOXHOUND was originally formed within NATO in 1990. However, this has since been retconned in later games in the series, where FOXHOUND is a unit within the U.S. Army, officially established in 1971. Big Boss's article in the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, however, mistakenly refers to the former account, in which the unit was formed in the 1990s.
 * In the original MSX2 versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, a FOXHOUND agent was referred to as a "Fox Hounder". The name remains in the title of the BGM track, played during the end credits of Metal Gear, called Return of Fox Hounder.
 * The spelling of FOXHOUND's name continually changed throughout the Metal Gear series. It was originally "Fox Hound" in the MSX2 games, then "FOX-HOUND" in Metal Gear Solid and "Fox-Hound" in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel before finally settling on "FOXHOUND" in Metal Gear Solid 2, and remaining so ever since (including the later re-releases of the MSX2 games).
 * In the non-canonical game Ghost Babel, FOXHOUND's fame around the world became too great after the destruction of Outer Heaven. With its every move being watched by intelligence organizations, truly covert operations became impossible, and so the Black Chamber unit was created in response to this. Their fame was revealed to have been staged by the U.S. Government in an attempt to deny any involvement in the formation of Outer Heaven.
 * According to the Metal Gear Solid Official Mission Handbook, Decoy Octopus did not have any military experience outside of VIP decoy missions for the CIA, thus making him an exception to the qualifiers for being a FOXHOUND member. However, due to nature of the source, it is unknown whether this is canon.
 * The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database mistakenly refers to FOXHOUND as a CIA unit in the Outer Heaven Uprising entry.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Snake briefly referenced FOXHOUND's revolt on Shadow Moses Island when fighting Fox McCloud and contacting Campbell via Codec.
 * In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the limit of how many recruits that can actively participate in the resistance is estimated to be about 100. However, it is unknown if this is the maximum amount of bag-and-tag recruits in terms of in-canon, as this was a gameplay limit.