Antwon Ridgeway

"You can tell a lot about a man by the way he bleeds. Me? I bleed only for my country."

- Antwon Ridgeway

Colonel Antwon Ridgeway is a colonel of the Maryland National Guard and the self-appointed "General" and leader of the True Sons in Washington, D.C. and serves as one of the four main antagonists in Tom Clancy's The Division 2. He appears as the final boss in the final Stronghold, at the Capitol Building.

Ridgeway served during the start of the outbreak in Washington, D.C. and was given the responsibility to administer the quarantine on Roosevelt Island to make sure everything ran smoothly. When the chaos erupted in the quarantine, he deployed guards to make sure nobody could leave the area. He let people starve to death and withheld medicine from the infected.

Ridgeway abused his authority for a long time until the commander of the JTF discovered him and imprisoned Ridgeway for his actions. Once loyal members of his unit freed him, Ridgeway gathered men from his former unit and the stockade where he was held prisoner, they captured JTF officers that had imprisoned him and held a symbolic tribunal for them, only to execute them all moments later.

Biography
Ridgeway was once a top salesman as well as "weekend warrior" in the Maryland National Guard. Having financed his college studies through ROTC he went on to become a reserve officer and his effortless charm and dogged salesman's perseverance won him early favor with his superiors. He was commanding a company of the Maryland National Guard as a Colonel when the pandemic struck.

As the National Guard was assimilated into the JTF, he became increasingly disgruntled with how things were run, and led his unit in a rebellion in early February, taking command to form the True Sons militia. After some infighting amongst the primary instigators, he emerged as the sole and undisputed leader of the True Sons and he has led them ever since, promoting himself to general, as he will never take orders again.

The creation of the True Sons
"There's no room for weakness. Cowards die on their knees. It's gonna be great."

- General Antwon Ridgeway

When the pandemic broke out, chaos and panic quickly spread across Washington, D.C. In an attempt to control the spreading of the virus, the newly formed JTF established a quarantine on Roosevelt Island, Colonel Antwon Ridgeway formerly of the Maryland National Guard was given the responsibility to enforce the quarantine and ensure that everything ran smoothly. Seeing all the tragedy caused by the virus and how overwhelmed the JTF had become, Ridgeway started to lose faith in his commander's ability to save Washington, D.C. He quickly came to the conclusion that there needed to be drastic actions taken to ensure their survival.

As a strong believer in the need for proper authority and discipline, Ridgeway decided to take matters into his own hands. In frustration and fear for the city's future, he ordered his guards around the quarantine to bar the entrances and exits and not let anyone in or out even the medical staff attending to the sick. He started to redirect essential resources from going into the quarantine, letting people starve to death and withholding medicine. In his eyes, the sick and the weak were already dead, so his number one priority became to secure the future of his own men. When confronted by a CERA doctor that she would report Ridgeway's actions to his superiors, he murdered the doctor right in front of terrified civilians. He then ruthlessly ordered his men to put down any resistance from inside the quarantine.

Ridgeway's actions were tainted by his willingness to do whatever it took for the well-being of his soldiers and his repulsion of the sick. Due to the chaotic state of the city, he was able to abuse his authority for a long time before the commander of the JTF found out and dispatched a Division agent to investigate. This led to a confrontation at the CERA Constitution Camp where the Division agent witnessed Colonel Ridgeway murder a civilian for breaking quarantine, this led the agent into shooting one of Ridgeway's unit and place Ridgeway under arrest on 55 counts of murder. He was then court-martialed along with several officers of his unit and found guilty on all counts and imprisoned in the American History JTF stockade. However, it did not take long until Captain Keates and Major Ashford, two loyal members of Ridgeway's unit seeing the JTF's actions as a betrayal, broke into the stockade with Corporal Masters and Staff Sergeant Greystoke and freed him.

In Ridgeway's eyes, he had done nothing wrong. According to him, he was the only one with a realistic and viable solution to the situation. Therefore, the betrayal of his fellow JTF officers and imprisonment filled him with rage and hate towards the JTF and the federal government. As soon as he got out, he gathered men from his former unit and the stockade where he was held, prisoner. Together they captured the JTF officers that had imprisoned him and held a symbolic tribunal for them, only to execute them all moments later – and so the True Sons were born.

Personality
"I give you an order. You follow it, or you don't. But don't think for a goddamn second that I won't have your ass strung up for disobeying it."

- General Antwon Ridgeway

Ridgeway is ambitious and has a strong desire to lead. He will always dominate the conversation and express his concerns if he disagrees with the people. He can become decisive when under intense pressure. He is extremely aggressive as the leader of the True Sons and wants to achieve victory at any cost.

During his time with the JTF, Ridgeway was likely dutiful and possessed competent leadership and planning skills as he achieved the rank of Colonel and was tasked with administrating the quarantine on Roosevelt Island. During the quarantine chaos, Antwon demonstrated to be quite cold as he prioritized the safety of his men over the infected and allowed them to die. Conversely, he can be caring and charismatic to his men as some of his soldiers defended his actions during his arrest.

He can tolerate those who question his priorities as he can easily persuade them into agreeing with him. However, Ridgeway will not tolerate insubordination, and worse, desertion, and will personally execute those who try.

Ridgeway seems to have established a cult of personality within his faction as he self-promoted himself as a General and has the fierce loyalty of those under his command. He also views himself and the True Sons as the only hope in restoring order in Washington D.C. and thus justifies the act of demanding tribute from other settlements. He and his men believe it's mutually beneficial as the settlements get protection in exchange the True Sons get supplies despite some settlements wanting nothing to do with the faction or believing the demands as too harsh.

Consequently, Ridgeway considers those who offer tribute (willing or by force) to be considered, by default, part of the True Sons and thus as his "citizen" he expects them to obey. A phone recording between him and a random civilian showed him intimidating the civilian into handing over his supplies by indirectly threatening him by mentioning the civilian's neighbor was "not a good citizen" and was dealt with.

Throughout the conversation, while Ridgeway clearly intimidated the man, he treated the civilian nicely by calling him a "good and model citizen" and that he was doing his part by contributing to the True Sons but nonetheless told the civilian that he expects more supplies to be handed over the following week.

As the True Sons started to lose more men and territory to The Division, Ridgeway became incredibly more impatient and egotistical, ordering a large counter-offensive while they still had the chance. Although a True Sons' Strategist advised there would be heavy casualties, Ridgeway retorted that they would either lose men, or lose control.

Ridgeway has even developed hypocritical and delusional beliefs, as an ECHO shows him executing True Sons Deserters and talks about loyalty which has some irony in it because he went rogue from the JTF, he talks of hordes of degenerates, yet it was because of him that the Outcasts exists because of what he did at Roosevelt Island and mentioning the corruption in government shows he is the corruption as he went AWOL.

Ridgeway is a strong believer in discipline and authority, talking harshly and brooking no insubordination.

Abilities
"I’ve been shot plenty of times, Never once it has been enough gun to get the job done."

- General Antwon Ridgeway

Colonel Antwon Ridgeway is the final boss of The Capitol Building Stronghold. He is a unique Heavy Weapons Unit armed with a Military M60 E4, Carl Gustav RPG, and M9 pistol. He also possesses an armored helmet and Black Tusk medical drones that revive fallen True Sons, similar to a Black Tusk Medic.

He usually lays suppressive fire on the agents to stop them moving, though he often switches to the Carl Gustav to knock the agent out of cover. His weakness is the ammo box on the back of his waist, which if shot will set off a spray of bullets, distracting him and making him a prime target for about 20 seconds. If this is shot he will then act as an elite RPG, using his pistol and Carl Gustav.

Trivia

 * Despite being listed as a National Guard, he may have also previously served in the U.S. Marines, as he wears a coat that resembles Marine Dress Blues. The same goes for his True Sons, who all have elements of Marine Uniforms in their outfits.
 * He also possessed the Liberty Exotic Pistol at some time.

Appearances

 * Tom Clancy's The Division 2