Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service

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For other iterations of this force, see UBCS (disambiguation).

The UBCS logo

The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (U.B.C.S.) was a private military force owned by the Umbrella Corporation, specializing in rescue operations during biohazard outbreaks. It was founded by former Soviet Colonel Sergei Vladimir.

Overview

Although the U.B.C.S. has been very successful in every operation but one, the unit suffers a high mortality rate due to the hazardous nature of their missions. Thus, the U.B.C.S. is comprised almost exclusively of convicted war criminals and mercenaries from around the world who joined the U.B.C.S. as an alternative to capital punishment for any crimes. The unit consisted of about 120 operatives divided into at least five platoons, named in the N.A.T.O. Phonetic Alphabet as "Alpha", "Bravo", "Charlie", "Delta," and "Echo".

History

The U.B.C.S. became a critical element of Umbrella's bio-weapons enterprise in the 1990s. Due to the volatile nature of the trade and the secret nature of creatures like the Hunters, only the U.B.C.S. had sufficient training to counter accidental releases. A further benefit they had over typical soldiers was access to medication to assist in resisting exposure to the t-Virus.

UBCS operatives being deployed.

In mid-September 1998, the t-Virus infection reached Raccoon City, brought on in no small part by Dr. William Birkin's sabotage of Umbrella facilities. Five platoons of U.B.C.S. mercenaries were given orders to enter the city and assist in the evacuation of survivors and high-ranking Umbrella personnel. Further objectives to Monitors within their ranks were to investigate the city for information on the G-Virus; destroy facilities holding incriminating data, and to record the effectiveness of escaped B.O.W.s in combat against their comrades. Umbrella did not anticipate the speed the t-Virus consumed the city, owing to contamination of the drinking water, and found themselves up against a zombie population in the tens of thousands. The five platoons were almost entirely eradicated within hours. A number of survivors made their way to the Saint Michael Clock Tower, which was the planned evacuation site, though some are known to have perished within the clock tower before a helicopter could be called. The only known attempted evacuation occurred on the night of September 28, in which the helicopter was shot down preventing further escape attempts.

A Delta Platoon team consisting of Cpt. Mikhail Viktor; Sgt. Nikholai Zinoviev and Cpl. Carlos Oliveira had taken shelter in a Raccoon City tram and allied themselves with the former S.T.A.R.S. officer Jill Valentine on September 28. Viktor soon killed himself with a grenade in an attempt to destroy the Nemesis-T Type, and Zinoviev disappeared, leaving only Oliveira and Valentine to reach the clock tower. It was later discovered that Zinoviev had in fact survived, but his Monitor nature made him extremely untrustworthy and he made further attempts to prevent their escape. Zinoviev stole a helicopter at Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A, with Oliveira and Valentine being rescued by another former S.T.A.R.S. officer Barry Burton.

By the night of September 30, only two U.B.C.S. teams are known to have been alive and participating in their missions. One team under Arnold was commandeered by an Umbrella executive named Tommy Nielsen. They set up camp on the highway overpass and an adjacent office block to take part in a stand-off against a U.S.S. agent who had stolen the Nyx prototype B.O.W. from the company. A minefield was set up in the shopping district to prevent escape, with a rocket launcher ready in case he attempted to escape by helicopter. The operation would be endangered when Arnold learned of the plan to destroy the city and deserted.

The rogue U.S.S commando succeed in escaping by helicopter, although the container containing Nyx was lost when he was forced to dodge rocket fire. The U.B.C.S team approached the container just as the creature broke free, effortlessly slaughtering and absorbing them.

Another team was given orders to capture or kill Thanatos, a Tyrant engineered by a former Umbrella scientist who'd rebelled against the company, Dr. Greg Mueller.This would be called Operation: Emperor's Mushroom. The U.B.C.S tracked the creature down to Raccoon University, but were quickly killed when it became enraged from a blood sample being extracted. The team leader survived and executed Mueller later on, but fled without killing the creature.

Monitors

Monitors were special operatives within the U.B.C.S. whose purpose was to gather combat data from B.O.W.'s and the various other infected creatures wandering Raccoon City whilst maintaining a clandestine profile within the U.B.C.S. ranks. They were also tasked with gathering samples and destroying all evidence of Umbrella's involvement in the research and production of the t-Virus. To better coordinate their efforts, Monitors were acquainted with each other prior to the beginning of the operation.

Due to the traitorous nature of this occupation, Umbrella selected only the most heinous of war criminals to serve as Monitors, specifically those displaying anti-social and sociopathic tendencies, as well those displaying absolutely no regard for their fellow members. Nikolai Zinoviev and Tyrell Patrick were merely two of several Monitors within Raccoon City conducting "Operation: Bravo-16" (the code used throughout the mission by Monitors regarding their true objectives). Monitors were naturally given preferential treatment over regular mercenaries, as they were provided with means of communications to contact their superiors, were implanted with higher-quality vaccines and were provided with instructions on how to reach certain extraction points.

Every Monitor participating in "Operation: Bravo-16" was killed during the course of the mission. This was, for the most part, due to the cunning handiwork of the particularly ruthless operative, Nikolai Zinoviev. Intent on hoarding all research and combat data for himself, Nikolai systematically murdered his comrades before stealing the information they had gathered.

Even with the complete annihilation of the Monitor unit, "Bravo-16" was deemed a resounding success, due to the massive amount of combat data Umbrella had garnered from the incident.

Uniform

UBCS unit as seen in Outbreak series.

In keeping with their important and dangerous role in anti-B.O.W. combat, U.B.C.S. mercenaries wore military-grade tactical gear. The standard uniform consisted of black combat boots; beige-colored fatigue pants; a green fatigue shirt, webbing over the shirt to carry equipment, and a black balaclava and tactical goggles. The U.B.C.S. emblem was imprinted on the back of their uniform as a further means of identification. Individuals had freedom to customise elements of uniform such as shirt length. Only officers are known to have worn the U.B.C.S. green beret. Mercenaries working near water were provided with orange life jackets carrying the U.B.C.S. insignia.

Some mercenaries are known to have carried their pistols in drop-leg holsters, whereas others used a cross-draw holster attached onto their webbing.

Materiel

U.B.C.S. mercenaries were armed with weapons intended for military use. The standard rifle was the M4A1, with no accessories. The standard sidearm was the SIG Pro SP2009, though some mercenaries are known to have possessed STI Eagle 6.0s.

Mk3A2 H.E (High Explosive) grenades were common, and were notably used by Mikhail Viktor and Tyrell Patrick. For heavy conflict, each platoon was also equipped with several disposable AT-4 anti-tank rocket launchers.

U.B.C.S. members armed with the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun were encountered fighting Thanatos to little effect. Nikolai Zinoviev used a special launcher attached to a Heckler & Koch PSG-1 to take a blood sample of the same Tyrant, but the rifle itself was never actually fired. The U.B.C.S. unit tasked with hunting down the bio-weapon Nyx were also armed with MP5 machine guns. Another operative, Arnold was seen using a PSG-1 as well.

The weapons used by Claus' team were similar to the standard weapons used by Delta Platoon, though the M4 carbines used by Claus' unit had M203 Grenade Launchers mounted beneath the barrel, along with a single Benelli M3 shotgun. Throughout their mission, the unit rode in a flatbed HUMVEE with an attached Browning M2 .50 heavy machine gun. While most of Claus' team carried the same SIG SP2009s as the U.B.C.S. members in Resident Evil 3, Claus carried an additional SIG P225.

The U.B.C.S. had a compliment of light armor personnel carriers and transport aircraft such as the Aérospatiale Puma helicopter. A U.B.C.S. armored personnel carrier was also used in the Raccoon City Destruction Incident.

Known U.B.C.S. personnel

Umbrella sent 120 mercenaries into Raccoon City. The following are confirmed members of the unit:

Name	Role	Team	Status
Arnold	Squad leader	Unknown	Alive
Billy	NA	Unknown
Campbell	NA	Unknown	Deceased
Clint	NA	Unknown
Mac Dowell	NA	Unknown
Dustin	NA	Unknown	Deceased
Ed	NA	Claus' squad	Deceased
Karl	NA	n/a	Deceased
Claus	Squad Leader	Claus' squad	Deceased
Matt	NA	n/a	Unknown
Norman	NA	Claus' squad	Deceased
Carlos Oliveira	Squad A	Platoon Delta	Alive
Tyrell Patrick	Monitor	Platoon Bravo	Deceased
Robert	NA	Claus' squad	Deceased
Roger	Monitor	Claus' squad	Unknown
Murphy Seeker	Sniper; Monitor	Platoon Alpha	Deceased
UBCS 3	NA	n/a	Deceased
Mikhail Viktor	Captain; Platoon leader	Platoon Delta	Deceased
Nikolai Zinoviev	Sergeant; Monitor	Platoon Delta	Unknown

Gallery

Klaus' squad member

Further notes

• In Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles, Umbrella's forces are seen being transported by a variety of aircraft including UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
• The APCs featured in Outbreak resemble M8 Greyhounds. This is strange because M8s are quite old APCs dating back to the Second World War, though it does remain in service in some countries.

Bibliography

• Davis, H. Leigh, ed (2011). Resident Evil Archives II. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis. Indianapolis: BradyGames. ISBN 0744013216.