Cunningham

Lt. Cunningham (formerly known under the codename of Boa) was a member of FOX during the San Hieronymo Takeover. He had an artificial leg which replaced the one he lost in a mission, and was FOX's interrogation specialist.

Early Life
Cunningham's early life is unknown, but it is known that he suffered a grievous wound to his left leg during a mission that required it to be amputated, and fitted with a prosthetic. After losing his leg, he ended up being shuffled to a desk job at Langley by the CIA, much to his consternation and anger. He also learned at an unspecified time about at least some of the details about the true nature of The Boss's defection and the CIA's role in her "defection" during Operation Snake Eater, thus making him even angrier and hateful of the CIA, as he revered her (The Boss) as "the mother of the Special Forces". Eventually, he was scouted by the United States Department of Defense to try and smear the CIA's reputation, and he agreed, wanting to pay the CIA back for removing him from active duty.

In 1970, Cunningham had Naked Snake kidnapped and brought to the former Soviet missile base on the San Hieronymo Peninsula, utilizing the "Perfect Soldier" Null, along with drugs to keep him sedated during the trip there. Cunningham's reputation as an expert in interrogation preceded him, as Snake was able to identify him after only hearing his name. He demanded that Snake tell him the location of the missing half of the Philosophers' Legacy. After Snake denied having any knowledge of the missing Legacy, Cunningham struck him with an electrified baton and pressed his artificial leg into Snake's groin, explaining that his methods of persuasion were to "apply the right type of pain, to the right degree, at just the right location." He then revealed to Snake that the CIA had only recieved half of the Legacy after Operation Snake Eater, and thus they suspected that he had stolen the other half. When Snake further denied any knowledge of its location, Cunningham struck him again with the baton and then departed (although not before hinting that while his being there was part of an official FOX mission, it soon wouldn't be).

Sometime after Snake's and Roy Campbell's escape from imprisonment, Cunningham, along with Ursula and Gene, conducted an aerial search of the area aboard a Hind A gunship. He also radioed forces on the ground, demanding to know why they hadn't caught Snake or Campbell yet, and threatened that he would make them regret it if the prisoners got away. He then ordered them to call Python and have him lead a search unit, as well as to keep the research lab secure. Cunningham, Ursula, and Gene later arrived at the lab, where he asked the research staff about Null's status, adding that had brought along Elisa to help speed up the preparation of his culture tank. However, he was caught unaware by the collapse of some nearby scaffolding, with only Gene's and Ursula's precognition saving him at the last second.

After Snake attempted to infiltrate the missile silo, Cunningham arrived with a number of soldiers to recapture him, telling him that he had been "quite a handful." He then knocked Snake unconscious by whipping him with the butt of his rifle, catching him off guard after having just fought with Null. He later used the same rifle to try and get Null to stand down with the stance that his mission was complete. Snake was taken to the guest house, where he was stripped of his clothing, tied to a chair, and tortured further by Cunningham in the presence of Gene. Though Gene felt that information extracted via torture was unreliable, Cunningham reassured him that his treatment of Snake wouldn't even qualify as such, seeing as he was a former FOX member. He then proposed the use of a recently-developed truth serum to force Snake to reveal where the other half of the Legacy was, with the side-effect of acting as an anesthetic. Gene initially opposed the idea, feeling that truth serum was just as unreliable, and asked why Cunningham why he was in such a rush to get the information. Cunningham replied that he felt it was necessary from an efficiency standpoint, with Gene ultimately agreeing to the plan, but only under the condition that he would talk to Snake first.

Sometime later, Cunningham was tipped off by Ursula that Snake would escape with the help of his men during a rescue mission. With this knowledge, he ambushed Snake aboard his customized flying platform, and attempted to force some answers from him by using his soldiers as target practice (as well as inadvertantly giving a hint at his true loyalties). Elisa, after stealing a transport truck, knocked Cunningham off of his platform, although not before he noticed her.

After successfully infiltrating the silo complex, and proceeding to the launch control room aboard a cargo elevator, Snake was once again confronted by Cunningham piloting his flying platform. It was then that Cunningham revealed the truth to Snake: while he feigned loyalty to Gene, he was actually working under direct orders from the Pentagon. His objective was to force Gene to deploy Metal Gear and launch a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, and thus, tarnish the CIA's reputation as an efficient organization (or, as Cunningham put it, "The CIA'd lose face and the military's influence will start to soar"), as well as to erase any evidence of what happened by destroying the missile base afterwards. He explained about his loss of faith in the CIA due to his past experience, and attempted to gain Snake's cooperation, but the latter refused to take part in the Pentagon's plot and attacked Cunningham (with Cunningham declaring Snake as "a real traitor"). Cunningham fought Snake using the gatling gun, side-winder missiles and laser of his flying platform. However, Cunningham was defeated, lamenting Snake's decision to disobey his mission, as both he and Snake would have received "the highest honors a soldier could achieve", he then attempted to destroy the base with a Soviet-made Davy Crockett, intending to take Snake down with him, but his platform was badly damaged during the previous battle, causing it to explode, killing Cunningham before he could launch it. Shortly thereafter, Gene expressed pity that Cunningham had died without ever realizing that he had been used.

Trivia

 * Cunningham's unique Sneaking Suit color was yellow.
 * Cunningham's accidental divulgence of information to Snake that the latter hadn't known previously resembled Colonel Volgin's "backward" interrogation of Snake during Operation Snake Eater. Both assumed that Snake knew more than he was willing to let on, with Cunningham letting slip that the Pentagon was somehow involved with the events of the San Hieronymo Incident.

Behind the Scenes

 * He shares his surname and a similar facial appearance with the Benson Cunningham character from Snatcher, although their clothing and roles are drastically different. Also, the password to recruit him is a direct reference to Snatcher (JUNKER).
 * To unlock Cunningham outside of a password, the player needs to not only defeat Cunningham non-lethally, but also defeat him before January 1st, 1971.
 * His career stats reveal him to be an Arms Specialist and a Quarterback.
 * He also has a unique set of animations during gameplay. All other characters use all of Snake's animations while Cunningham has unique run and sneak animations. His movement sounds are also unique because of his artifical leg.