Operation Rebirth had an apt name – from this experiment, the hope of the United States, and the free world would create an army of super men to stop the evil of invasion and expansionism. The Aryan race, while propagating the ideals of perfection, was in an expansion of its own – and that the Nazi movement of Hitler was striving for this self-same perfection… espousing their race as one with perfection as a birthright, yet also experimenting to further its superiority. Operation Rebirth was targeting to outshine this seeming arrogance with an army of super soldiers of their own.
What the world saw was a race for supremacy by way of fire power and ordnance. The race they did not know, was to who could come up with their own super soldier creations faster and better. Lucky for the United States, their scientific community was already making some headway in this department. For example, there was rumor of a an artificial life (android) actually created by Professor Hamilton… unfortunately, his prototype was seemingly too dangerous to the world during peace time efforts, yet seemingly a great tactical advantage in the war against the Axis.
Aside from Hamilton, rumors of seeking our specially gifted individuals were going around. Many of these beings were living private lives, but were possibly approached by the U.S. government. Still, many more would be needed if the war efforts were to succeed. Hence the need for ‘Rebirth’ and the genius of Professor Emil Erskine – a man who’s conscience dictated he help the west, rather than his country of origin; hence his being labeled a traitor to his kind. To protect his identity, Erskine was given the alias “Reinstein”, and this was how he was introduced to everyone.
It was in this backdrop that Reinstein was working on – both Nazi Germany and the United States was on a race to find or build the perfect human – the thing is, Nazi Germany was using P.O.W.s in a concentration camp as their subjects, so they had the seeming edge with experimental progress… not to mention body bags to show the extent of their experimentation.
“Reinstein”, as the head scientist for Operation Rebirth, was a crafty fellow. He never committed his work and formula fully on paper thus preventing anyone from stealing it. Yes, he documented certain procedures – but he left out key ideas. He was serious about not letting his knowledge fall into the wrong hands – and I can only surmise that ‘wrong hands’ did not necessarily just have a particular Aryan streak. His fears – it seems, would not be unfounded as we would later learn. Many thought the Erskine was eccentric and he may have played the part for others to simply tolerate his idiosyncrasies.
Yet it was these same idiosyncrasies that not only kept the formula safe, but helped Erskine choose who he felt were acceptable test subjects for his serum. He probably looked at psychological profiles and by extension, the stability of his test subjects. It may also be possible that Erskine treated his serum to better configure with the subject he would be using the serum on.
He did not want to commit to any actions of injecting the serum too hastily for even this experiment, despite all his possible fail safes and caution had its share of dead test subjects – if not necessarily from his own hands, definitely in the hands of others. Whether it was Erskine’s suggestion or the fact that they may have been running low on volunteer subjects in the military, the fact was that the idea to seek volunteers to include non-enlisted personnel was decided and one of the proponents for this move was General. Philips – and of course, being a general, his opinions were given much weight.
Unknown to Erskine, (but possibly foreseen as a possibility by him) there were certain military experts did not share his or General Philips idea of getting a non-enlisted person. They did not like the idea of a super soldier being a civilian, someone outside the military, hence someone they could not fully trust and control. They needed someone they knew – who was loyal to the chain of command. So they stole the (unknown to them) incomplete Super Soldier formula and gave it to someone else. Their subject was Clinton McIntyre, (later to be known as Protocide) and if he became their super soldier, they would have a preemptive strike on the experiment and not have to worry about dealing with Erskine’s, or Philip’s timetable and subject.
Erskine’s methods were seemingly slow and had too many pauses – thus making impatient people all the more, well… impatient. But there was an apparent reason for this. A side effect of the serum affected the subject’s mind – making them very aggressive and paranoid, two traits not exactly ideal for anyone – much more, a super soldier.. McIntyre, having been the recipient of the incomplete serum, became violently insane, forcing his superiors to literally put him on ice (in cold storage) and be forgotten as a shameful disaster – that is, until his cryogenic containment is discovered decades later by Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM).
Still, McIntyre was just a setback and as time went by, there would be a near continuous experimentation for trying to reverse engineer the serum of Erskine by way of the Weapon plus program. After all, Steve - or whoever else was to be a successful super soldier, was just to be ‘first amongst many’. Such was Erskine’s dream.
Steve, having been found by Philips, and having agreed to volunteer in the secret operation, was flown to Washington, mere minutes upon his acceptance. He was given a battery of tests which helped prove that he was psychologically stable enough. It would have to be mentioned though, that these medical tests may have also been a necessary prerequisite of Erskine to know the physiology of Steve better – perhaps to personalize the serum he would put into Steve. He did not share this little fact, of course, but given the fact that Erskine had a conscience, he likewise needed to make sure Steve’s survival rate was high.
Perhaps Erskine did not want Steve to come in with false hopes, and resolved that Steve had to be told how dangerous and potentially deadly the process was and how it may end up killing its subject – but Steve had decided as early as when he was first approached that he was willing to give his life to further the cause of helping fight and defeat the seeming wrongs of the Axis powers… so he did not back down.
Steve is led to a lab with a viewing section – together with General Philips, other top brass, scientific and VIP personnel are ushered into the viewing area to observe this round of experiment – it should be noted that security is tight, but not tight enough to prevent a spy from joining the observers. Despite Erskine’s excitement, not everyone is convinced that this experiment will end differently, so the crowd may be a mix of hopeful and (somewhat) skeptical witnesses. Erskine introduces Steve to the crowd and proceeds to work on the young man.
Erskine gives Steve an injection and oral ingestion of the serum – all the while trying to explain his actions to the viewing observers. Then Steve is bombarded with controlled bursts of Vita rays that supposedly activate and stabilize the serum that has just been introduced into his system. For a moment nothing happens and everyone in the room feels some disappointment that perhaps this experiment had not yet achieved its purpose. For most, it was a slight setback – for one person in the observation room, it was a promise of success for his country in this new race to achieve perfection.
Steve starts feeling woozy – but that was expected, and Erskine guides the young man through – talking to him to relax and breathe slowly. This is the crucial stage, and Erskine is hoping that his combination serum plus vita rays may be the solution he and everyone else had been waiting for. Suddenly to his and some other’s surprise, Steve’s body expands – his muscles grow, and in a seeming heartbeat, a newly transformed Steve Rogers stands before everyone.
Erskine claims success, and amidst the start of celebration, the spy sent to observe Operation Rebirth’s progress resolves to stop this experiment from progressing further and decides to shoot Erskine regardless of the need for blowing his cover. He knows the danger of having an army of super soldiers, so he stops the process by killing its founder and keeper of knowledge.Seeing the spy shooting Erskine, Steve reacts with uncharacteristic speed, but is not fast enough to save Erskine, who is too shocked to react and is then hit at the chest – presumably at the heart.
Erskine dies in Steve’s arms, and the dream of having an army of super soldiers dies with his last breath. The spy joins Erskine soon enough, as he accidentally backs into some electrically active equipment, while running and avoiding an enraged Steve Rogers. The spy dies claiming victory for the Reich. Thus does Steve realize who is behind the murder of Erskine and in the process becomes not just the prototype, but one very unique recruit – possibly the first and last of the proposed super soldier, at least, until Erskine’s formula can somehow be repeated.
Operation rebirth, however, would be tried continuously but unsuccessfully – for though the super soldier would be an idea worth reverse engineering and experimenting on, specially since they saw its effects on previously scrawny Steve, many soon realized that Erskine was one who did not diligently take notes of discoveries and without any documentation, recreating the formula was not possible – and as mentioned earlier, Erskine did not commit the formula anywhere but in his mind, thus his secret died with him… but the continuous efforts for reviving the program is a story for another setting.
If the first part of the selection process was to find a viable candidate, the second part was more for training and preparation. Steve was taught the many types of combat-related training available to the free world, all the while, not being told what he was being prepared for. I can imagine his every progress being monitored by General Philips, who possibly made adjustments and used his influence to get the best teachers that the U.S. and its allies could offer. He also personally taught Steve the strategies, tactics of both the U.S. military, its allies and possible opponents.
It is apparent that with Steve being the only super soldier the country has, Philips decided (possibly with the ‘go ahead’ of the President) to ensure that Steve’s training and further military education took in some – if not all, the officer’s training courses as well. If he would be the country’s representative, a morale booster and a beacon of hope, then Steve should not only be capable of fighting – he must be competent in leading people into battle as well.
Steve, immersed full-time in the program, quickly learned combat – armed and unarmed, strategy and tactics, weapons training, survival training, gymnastics and various unarmed combat like boxing, karate and other unique techniques – he also easily absorbed all his lessons and showed real focus in his new assignments. The fact that Steve was able to learn these things, even through a rigorous pace, could have been a by product of the serum, or it also showed that given an intellectual challenge, he was up to the task. More possible was the consideration that this was a drive – by Steve, not to let the efforts of Erskine go to waste – more so since the Operation Rebirth experiment was apparently stalled, for lack of direction and knowledge on how to proceed.
Steve Rogers was based in Camp Leheigh for the most part of his training. To make his comings and goings easy to explain, the army set up his bunk and training retinue at the Camp where he met and became friends with James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes.
Stories used to tell of how Bucky accidentally discovered Steve’s secret identity as he excitedly entered and saw Steve as he was changing from Cap uniform to his regular uniform – later, it was retconned to seem that Bucky was already part of the program and knew who Steve was – thus lessening the burden for Steve of keeping the secret of who Cap is all to himself, and later, Bucky would be asked to go into missions that the government did not find suitable for Cap’s high profile image.
First, for this to be plausible, we would have to consider why Steve would need to share his secret and why he’d need a partner. Remember that Steve may not have yet any inkling of what his role cold be – far as he knew, and based on how he was being schooled, he was definitely joining the war efforts – maybe as a military officer (hence tactics and strategies) and quite possibly deep into enemy territory – or at least, in place with a lot of action (hence all the lessons on armed and unarmed combat).
Since Steve was an ardent fantasy fan, he might even favor the notion of leading an army of troops into unknown territories, fighting exotic weapons and people, prevailing and saving the world from itself by single-handedly stopping the war. If you think this to be too outrageous, remember… Steve was about 18 or 19. So romantic notions of war was what he might have been thinking of. General Philips’ training may have, of course, given him a more pragmatic view.
Whether it was from previous experiences of other soldiers or people having kept secrets, perhaps General Philips or someone else in the Rebirth circle, considered the undocumented pressure of keeping a secret identity a secret. Of course it has to stay secret, but that is where the pressure is… in having the burden unshared to someone, this might be a potential problem in the long run, thus the need for Steve to have another individual to share this burden with – to help ensure that this does not happen.
Another, more pragmatic reason for having a partner in the field was a simple fact that Steve’s missions would be extremely dangerous, and great human fighting capabilities, speed and stamina, not withstanding, Steve was still human. All it would take is a lucky shot and America could lose its super soldier.
Why Bucky Barnes? Maybe he was already in the service, maybe he was lucky, maybe he was connected to the higher ups in one way or another – the honest truth is, at this point I do not know what made Bucky so unique to have been considered as super soldier partner material. At least, I the old stories, cap recruited Bucky since the latter stumbled upon his secret identity, so he was left in a quandary as to what to do with the boy. In this newer version, the Winter Soldier arc is still far from over, and such reasons may still emerge. Getting back to Steve…
It was only when he was deemed ready that Steve got the real reason for all the intensive training. Steve was to become America’s symbol for freedom. Said image was to be a living opposite of the fear and hate that an Axis agent called the Red Skull seemed to present to the world… and in the process, Steve was supposed to inspire the troops in the field. They needed someone to look up to – thus the creation of the identity Captain America, with the costume being a stylized play with the color and symbols of the American flag.
Steve’s personal belongings may have been taken by people from the U.S. military intelligence, to allay suspicion as to why he suddenly turned muscular. I could also imagine that he may have had been given orders to stay away from his neighborhood – to protect the secret identity that is Captain America. Part of his belonging would be his only picture of Sarah, his mother – the only reminder he would have of her, one he would always keep in his foot locker.
Next: Cap goes to action.
What the world saw was a race for supremacy by way of fire power and ordnance. The race they did not know, was to who could come up with their own super soldier creations faster and better. Lucky for the United States, their scientific community was already making some headway in this department. For example, there was rumor of a an artificial life (android) actually created by Professor Hamilton… unfortunately, his prototype was seemingly too dangerous to the world during peace time efforts, yet seemingly a great tactical advantage in the war against the Axis.
Aside from Hamilton, rumors of seeking our specially gifted individuals were going around. Many of these beings were living private lives, but were possibly approached by the U.S. government. Still, many more would be needed if the war efforts were to succeed. Hence the need for ‘Rebirth’ and the genius of Professor Emil Erskine – a man who’s conscience dictated he help the west, rather than his country of origin; hence his being labeled a traitor to his kind. To protect his identity, Erskine was given the alias “Reinstein”, and this was how he was introduced to everyone.
It was in this backdrop that Reinstein was working on – both Nazi Germany and the United States was on a race to find or build the perfect human – the thing is, Nazi Germany was using P.O.W.s in a concentration camp as their subjects, so they had the seeming edge with experimental progress… not to mention body bags to show the extent of their experimentation.
“Reinstein”, as the head scientist for Operation Rebirth, was a crafty fellow. He never committed his work and formula fully on paper thus preventing anyone from stealing it. Yes, he documented certain procedures – but he left out key ideas. He was serious about not letting his knowledge fall into the wrong hands – and I can only surmise that ‘wrong hands’ did not necessarily just have a particular Aryan streak. His fears – it seems, would not be unfounded as we would later learn. Many thought the Erskine was eccentric and he may have played the part for others to simply tolerate his idiosyncrasies.
Yet it was these same idiosyncrasies that not only kept the formula safe, but helped Erskine choose who he felt were acceptable test subjects for his serum. He probably looked at psychological profiles and by extension, the stability of his test subjects. It may also be possible that Erskine treated his serum to better configure with the subject he would be using the serum on.
He did not want to commit to any actions of injecting the serum too hastily for even this experiment, despite all his possible fail safes and caution had its share of dead test subjects – if not necessarily from his own hands, definitely in the hands of others. Whether it was Erskine’s suggestion or the fact that they may have been running low on volunteer subjects in the military, the fact was that the idea to seek volunteers to include non-enlisted personnel was decided and one of the proponents for this move was General. Philips – and of course, being a general, his opinions were given much weight.
Unknown to Erskine, (but possibly foreseen as a possibility by him) there were certain military experts did not share his or General Philips idea of getting a non-enlisted person. They did not like the idea of a super soldier being a civilian, someone outside the military, hence someone they could not fully trust and control. They needed someone they knew – who was loyal to the chain of command. So they stole the (unknown to them) incomplete Super Soldier formula and gave it to someone else. Their subject was Clinton McIntyre, (later to be known as Protocide) and if he became their super soldier, they would have a preemptive strike on the experiment and not have to worry about dealing with Erskine’s, or Philip’s timetable and subject.
Erskine’s methods were seemingly slow and had too many pauses – thus making impatient people all the more, well… impatient. But there was an apparent reason for this. A side effect of the serum affected the subject’s mind – making them very aggressive and paranoid, two traits not exactly ideal for anyone – much more, a super soldier.. McIntyre, having been the recipient of the incomplete serum, became violently insane, forcing his superiors to literally put him on ice (in cold storage) and be forgotten as a shameful disaster – that is, until his cryogenic containment is discovered decades later by Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM).
Still, McIntyre was just a setback and as time went by, there would be a near continuous experimentation for trying to reverse engineer the serum of Erskine by way of the Weapon plus program. After all, Steve - or whoever else was to be a successful super soldier, was just to be ‘first amongst many’. Such was Erskine’s dream.
Steve, having been found by Philips, and having agreed to volunteer in the secret operation, was flown to Washington, mere minutes upon his acceptance. He was given a battery of tests which helped prove that he was psychologically stable enough. It would have to be mentioned though, that these medical tests may have also been a necessary prerequisite of Erskine to know the physiology of Steve better – perhaps to personalize the serum he would put into Steve. He did not share this little fact, of course, but given the fact that Erskine had a conscience, he likewise needed to make sure Steve’s survival rate was high.
Perhaps Erskine did not want Steve to come in with false hopes, and resolved that Steve had to be told how dangerous and potentially deadly the process was and how it may end up killing its subject – but Steve had decided as early as when he was first approached that he was willing to give his life to further the cause of helping fight and defeat the seeming wrongs of the Axis powers… so he did not back down.
Steve is led to a lab with a viewing section – together with General Philips, other top brass, scientific and VIP personnel are ushered into the viewing area to observe this round of experiment – it should be noted that security is tight, but not tight enough to prevent a spy from joining the observers. Despite Erskine’s excitement, not everyone is convinced that this experiment will end differently, so the crowd may be a mix of hopeful and (somewhat) skeptical witnesses. Erskine introduces Steve to the crowd and proceeds to work on the young man.
Erskine gives Steve an injection and oral ingestion of the serum – all the while trying to explain his actions to the viewing observers. Then Steve is bombarded with controlled bursts of Vita rays that supposedly activate and stabilize the serum that has just been introduced into his system. For a moment nothing happens and everyone in the room feels some disappointment that perhaps this experiment had not yet achieved its purpose. For most, it was a slight setback – for one person in the observation room, it was a promise of success for his country in this new race to achieve perfection.
Steve starts feeling woozy – but that was expected, and Erskine guides the young man through – talking to him to relax and breathe slowly. This is the crucial stage, and Erskine is hoping that his combination serum plus vita rays may be the solution he and everyone else had been waiting for. Suddenly to his and some other’s surprise, Steve’s body expands – his muscles grow, and in a seeming heartbeat, a newly transformed Steve Rogers stands before everyone.
Erskine claims success, and amidst the start of celebration, the spy sent to observe Operation Rebirth’s progress resolves to stop this experiment from progressing further and decides to shoot Erskine regardless of the need for blowing his cover. He knows the danger of having an army of super soldiers, so he stops the process by killing its founder and keeper of knowledge.Seeing the spy shooting Erskine, Steve reacts with uncharacteristic speed, but is not fast enough to save Erskine, who is too shocked to react and is then hit at the chest – presumably at the heart.
Erskine dies in Steve’s arms, and the dream of having an army of super soldiers dies with his last breath. The spy joins Erskine soon enough, as he accidentally backs into some electrically active equipment, while running and avoiding an enraged Steve Rogers. The spy dies claiming victory for the Reich. Thus does Steve realize who is behind the murder of Erskine and in the process becomes not just the prototype, but one very unique recruit – possibly the first and last of the proposed super soldier, at least, until Erskine’s formula can somehow be repeated.
Operation rebirth, however, would be tried continuously but unsuccessfully – for though the super soldier would be an idea worth reverse engineering and experimenting on, specially since they saw its effects on previously scrawny Steve, many soon realized that Erskine was one who did not diligently take notes of discoveries and without any documentation, recreating the formula was not possible – and as mentioned earlier, Erskine did not commit the formula anywhere but in his mind, thus his secret died with him… but the continuous efforts for reviving the program is a story for another setting.
If the first part of the selection process was to find a viable candidate, the second part was more for training and preparation. Steve was taught the many types of combat-related training available to the free world, all the while, not being told what he was being prepared for. I can imagine his every progress being monitored by General Philips, who possibly made adjustments and used his influence to get the best teachers that the U.S. and its allies could offer. He also personally taught Steve the strategies, tactics of both the U.S. military, its allies and possible opponents.
It is apparent that with Steve being the only super soldier the country has, Philips decided (possibly with the ‘go ahead’ of the President) to ensure that Steve’s training and further military education took in some – if not all, the officer’s training courses as well. If he would be the country’s representative, a morale booster and a beacon of hope, then Steve should not only be capable of fighting – he must be competent in leading people into battle as well.
Steve, immersed full-time in the program, quickly learned combat – armed and unarmed, strategy and tactics, weapons training, survival training, gymnastics and various unarmed combat like boxing, karate and other unique techniques – he also easily absorbed all his lessons and showed real focus in his new assignments. The fact that Steve was able to learn these things, even through a rigorous pace, could have been a by product of the serum, or it also showed that given an intellectual challenge, he was up to the task. More possible was the consideration that this was a drive – by Steve, not to let the efforts of Erskine go to waste – more so since the Operation Rebirth experiment was apparently stalled, for lack of direction and knowledge on how to proceed.
Steve Rogers was based in Camp Leheigh for the most part of his training. To make his comings and goings easy to explain, the army set up his bunk and training retinue at the Camp where he met and became friends with James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes.
Stories used to tell of how Bucky accidentally discovered Steve’s secret identity as he excitedly entered and saw Steve as he was changing from Cap uniform to his regular uniform – later, it was retconned to seem that Bucky was already part of the program and knew who Steve was – thus lessening the burden for Steve of keeping the secret of who Cap is all to himself, and later, Bucky would be asked to go into missions that the government did not find suitable for Cap’s high profile image.
First, for this to be plausible, we would have to consider why Steve would need to share his secret and why he’d need a partner. Remember that Steve may not have yet any inkling of what his role cold be – far as he knew, and based on how he was being schooled, he was definitely joining the war efforts – maybe as a military officer (hence tactics and strategies) and quite possibly deep into enemy territory – or at least, in place with a lot of action (hence all the lessons on armed and unarmed combat).
Since Steve was an ardent fantasy fan, he might even favor the notion of leading an army of troops into unknown territories, fighting exotic weapons and people, prevailing and saving the world from itself by single-handedly stopping the war. If you think this to be too outrageous, remember… Steve was about 18 or 19. So romantic notions of war was what he might have been thinking of. General Philips’ training may have, of course, given him a more pragmatic view.
Whether it was from previous experiences of other soldiers or people having kept secrets, perhaps General Philips or someone else in the Rebirth circle, considered the undocumented pressure of keeping a secret identity a secret. Of course it has to stay secret, but that is where the pressure is… in having the burden unshared to someone, this might be a potential problem in the long run, thus the need for Steve to have another individual to share this burden with – to help ensure that this does not happen.
Another, more pragmatic reason for having a partner in the field was a simple fact that Steve’s missions would be extremely dangerous, and great human fighting capabilities, speed and stamina, not withstanding, Steve was still human. All it would take is a lucky shot and America could lose its super soldier.
Why Bucky Barnes? Maybe he was already in the service, maybe he was lucky, maybe he was connected to the higher ups in one way or another – the honest truth is, at this point I do not know what made Bucky so unique to have been considered as super soldier partner material. At least, I the old stories, cap recruited Bucky since the latter stumbled upon his secret identity, so he was left in a quandary as to what to do with the boy. In this newer version, the Winter Soldier arc is still far from over, and such reasons may still emerge. Getting back to Steve…
It was only when he was deemed ready that Steve got the real reason for all the intensive training. Steve was to become America’s symbol for freedom. Said image was to be a living opposite of the fear and hate that an Axis agent called the Red Skull seemed to present to the world… and in the process, Steve was supposed to inspire the troops in the field. They needed someone to look up to – thus the creation of the identity Captain America, with the costume being a stylized play with the color and symbols of the American flag.
Steve’s personal belongings may have been taken by people from the U.S. military intelligence, to allay suspicion as to why he suddenly turned muscular. I could also imagine that he may have had been given orders to stay away from his neighborhood – to protect the secret identity that is Captain America. Part of his belonging would be his only picture of Sarah, his mother – the only reminder he would have of her, one he would always keep in his foot locker.
Next: Cap goes to action.
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