Jad Bell is a member of JSOC.
The Joint Special Operations Command is a department of the U.S. Military tasked with identifying and eliminating terror cells around the globe. As such, it works, sometimes closely and sometimes begrudgingly, with "civilian" agencies such as the NSA and CIA to discover, track down, and stop those who would bring destruction to the United States. Its members, especially the actual boots on the ground, are made up of Special Forces personnel trained to operate in all terrains and skilled to hit and hit hard.
Jonathan Bell, Jad to his friends of which he has a fair number, is one of the most experienced and qualified of the men and women in the field for JSOC. Over his two decades of service to his country he has risen in the enlisted rank to the position of Master Sargeant (E-8) and as such often fills the roll of First Sergeant for his group, earning the title of Top Sergeant.
At or near 40 years old, Bell's body shows the penalties of all that he has endured with scars from bullets, shrapel, knives, and other deadly intrusions but for all the wear and tear it has seen, it still is in better shape than most men his age. Forcing himself to run seven miles a day as well as other exercises keep him fit and able but with each year, the effort gets a bit harder.
Bell's private life has suffered from the many years he has given his country. Married to the love of his life, Amy, for almost his entire adult life, that relationship has come to an end just before the first recorded adventure, a casualty of ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan and not at home helping raise their daughter, Athena. The love is still there but time and distance proved too much. Athena also has paid for her father's absence. Deaf, she had learned how to deal with hardship but learning how to deal with a dad she loves but does not really know is a strain.
As the series begins, Bell, freshly divorced, has left the Service and moved to Alaska for a clean break. The fight against terrorism will not let him go for long and he is brought back into the battle. Alongside some of his old Army buddies with nicknames like Bonecrusher and Chaindragger, Jad Bell, with his own nickname of Warlock, goes where duty calls.