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« Those hills were a sullen, lifeless mass of rock and dirt; yet, they betrayed an ominous presence. My lads were fresh - boys in every sense of the word. I felt a paternal connection with them - I had to keep them safe: safe from those bastards, safe from the hills, safe from themselves...
Brian Frost

Brian Frost is the main protagonist of ArmA 2's Operation Crimson Lance and Operation Black Gauntlet campaigns.


Born to a middle-class family, in his early twenties, Brian Frost started helicopter training in the year 2000, supervised by his uncle, who was a professional pilot.

A few days after completing his training, Frost's helicopter crashed during takeoff. This experience has shaken his trust in helicopters severely, despite surviving with only a few scratches.

A few months later, Frost enlisted with the British Army and worked his way up to Pegasus Company, the Parachute Regiment's training ground in Catterick.

After passing selection and training, he was eventually assigned to the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) due to his excellent record from the battalion's previous operations during the Iraq War. This also earned him a promotion to the rank of Sergeant, and an opportunity for even more specialised training.

With the onset of Operation Arrowhead in the Green Sea Region nation of Takistan in 2012, Frost was given command of a paratrooper squad, callsign Lancer Red.

Operation Crimson Lance (2012)


Post-Operation Crimson Lance

« Operation Crimson Lance was rough. I lost a lot of good lads and for no good reason.
Frost reminiscing bitterly post-Crimson Lance

After several more months of routine counterinsurgency operations in Takistan, the country begins to spiral into chaos again due to bitter infighting between government forces and the regional warlords. Frost becomes jaded with the seemingly futile situation of the country and eventually leaves the British Army.

Soon after he is recommended by his close friend, Tanny Radcliffe, to take up a job offer as a mercenary with the ION Services private military company. Though initially hesitant due to his inherent dislike for security contractors, he eventually accepts and is thereafter assigned as part of Team Sword with the callsign of Poet, working under its coordinator Mark Reynolds.

He becomes friends with his fellow team member Henry Asano as well as (to a limited extent) with Patrick Dixon, though he shares a rocky relationship with the latter over his callous attitude and reckless behaviour.

Operation Black Gauntlet (2013)

Frost is later given the task of protecting a United Nations inspection team led by Ivan Ruce. Their mission was to investigate whether a nuclear weapons program was developed under the former regime.

Early in the mission however, Tanny is killed by enemy insurgents and causes a devastating blow to Frost's state of mind. And to further complicate things, evidence of an actual program is eventually discovered by the inspection team. After this revelation, Frost is suddenly given with a new assignment by Reynolds: assassinate the inspectors before they can reveal the truth.

« It seems like there's so much at stake: international relations, the domestic jobs market - hell, my whole future back in Cali could be defined by my actions in this backwater of humanity. Can I do this? I trust Reynolds - I mean, I thought I did. I just don't know what's going on. Where do these orders come from? ION? Vrana Corp Industries? Reynolds acting alone as a loose cannon?

Hell, I don't know what's better right now - or what's worse.
Frost is forced to make a pivotal decision

With Tanny's death still lingering in his mind and affecting Frost's ability to make rational decisions, he asks his fellow team members for advice on whether to follow through with the contract. Asano remains undecided, while Dixon vehemently disagrees with Reynolds, telling Frost that he'll either have to kill him or join him in stopping Reynolds.

Left with no alternative, Frost shoots Dixon to silence him and agrees to Reynolds' new plan. Along with Asano, the duo disguise themselves as militants and prepare to ambush the UN convoy. The inspectors are eventually killed in the attack, and Frost makes a clean escape before security forces could arrive to help the convoy.

Take On Helicopters

In one of Joe Larkin of Larkin Aviation's flashbacks, Joe described a time his helicopter was shot down and was being surrounded by enemy forces in Takistan, South Asia. After holding out for some time with an M4A1, Joe was rescued by an ION team in a helicopter led by none other than Frost himself. Joe did not want to leave the area before his other crew members from the crashed helicopter can be rescued, however Frost blatantly ignored this and stated that the contract only covered his rescue. Joe and Frost, along with the team's helicopter left the area with Joe's crew left behind.

After leaving Takistan, Frost, along with Asano and Reynolds, were transferred to an ION base at Seattle, USA. During this period, ION contracted Tom Larkin from Larkin Aviation to fly one of their own MH-6 based helicopters to provide exercise to a few ION contractors, led by Frost.

On the day of the exercise, Frost brought contractors with him to meet up with the company-supplied MH-6, flown by Larkin. Frost ordered Larkin to fly extremely low and fast around trees and mountains, much to Larkin's disagreement due to his inexperience and the extremity of the maneuvers. Eventually Frost orders Larkin to land at a hilltop exercise area with ION operators nearby, dropping off the contractors and simulating a landing under enemy fire. Frost is unimpressed by the trainees' performance, but is nonetheless satisfied with Larkin's flying.

Before sending off Larkin, Frost gave Larkin one last order - to rotor-wash his colleague Asano who was nearby. Much to Larkin's disagreement, Frost pressured Larkin and noted that 'Asano did the same thing to him back in Takistan'.

Unknown to other participants, the extreme flight used up much more fuel than expected, forcing Larkin to land at a privately owned property to refuel.

Frost appears once again in the events of TKoH, this time to take a transport flight. Unknown to Frost, Larkin this time had malicious intent to extract information from Frost about the mysterious cargo Vrana Corp has been asking Larkin Aviation to secure. Frost, being extremely reluctant, initially resisted. However Larkin then threatened Frost by flying extremely dangerously. Frost finally caved in and provided Larkin with instructions to gather intel from Mark Reynolds by using his name.

Before Larkin set off to Mark Reynolds, Larkin landed and dropped off Frost to a remote island with no infrastructure in the middle of Seattle, effectively marooning him. Frost was never seen again, though he likely survived since not only has he trained in the military, he is also literally in the middle of Seattle and can easily reach ashore or attract rescue attention.

Personality and Appearance

A white young adult in his early thirties, Frost wore the standard-issue gear of a section leader during his service with the British Army.

As a security contractor working for ION Inc., his outfit changed to a more casual attire with a Combat Integrated Releasable Armor System (CIRAS) body armour vest and black baseball cap. In both cases, he also (usually) wore a set of black shades.

Frost possesses a somewhat cynical outlook on life. But in spite of this, he is extremely thorough and responsible, and tries to support others whenever he can mentally; his fellow squad members in Lancer Red and later on, Henry Asano being good examples.

But while he initially remains this way for a good portion of his tenure in the Army, he gradually becomes jaded by his experiences in the aftermath of Crimson Lance.

« I don't know what's right, Ry-man. I don't know what to feel any more.
Frost's state of mind after choosing to help Reynolds

He begins to question the merits of his actions and, being unable to lean on anyone for advice, slowly loses sight of what's right and wrong. As a mercenary, this is only further exacerbated by the death of his close friend Tanny, and the moral crises that he is eventually forced to choose between.

Frost is also shown to have an intense dislike of flying in helicopters, something that was developed during the events of Crimson Lance after his transport was shot down accidentally by friendly forces. Needless to say, his distaste for them was further extended when he is forced to fly in one out of sheer necessity, and is almost brought down (albeit by hostile forces) again.


  • He gains the nickname and callsign of "Poet" from Reynolds after Dixon mocks him for his tendency to recall his past history in a story-like and poetic manner.
  • Although depicted with the maroon beret worn by Parachute Regiments of the British Army in his promotional renders, Frost is never seen wearing it in-game as his model always uses the Mk7 helmet instead.
  • He is the only character in ArmA 2 that is the protagonist of two main campaigns.
  • Frost can choose to disregard Reynolds' orders and rebel against the mercenary leader instead to reveal the truth about the origins of the Takistani WMD program. This event is completely non-canonical, however.
    • Along with Asano, Frost can also be killed by the UN reinforcements sent to assist the convoy should they be spotted; even if the player chose to help Reynolds. Reynolds will disavow both mercenaries and covers up the cause of their deaths, explaining that they were killed while heroically protecting the inspectors.


See also

Characters of ArmA 2
USMC 27th MEU Carl DresslerDavid ArmstrongEd Winter* • John MaddoxShaftoe
Force Recon Brian O'HaraChad Rodriguez† • Ian Simmons† • Matthew CooperPatrick Miles† • Peter Adamson† • Randolph SykesRobert Johnson† • Sanjeev Raj† • Steve Kaminski
U.S. Army Task Force Knight Ben HerreraC.F. KaneGarry PierceHoward Drake
Delta Force Terry Graves
ACR Bohuslav KoubaJan KristekTomáš VybíralZabu
CDF BegunovR.A. StavovichTomas Marny
ChDKZ Gregori Lopotev* • Kostey† • Mikola Bardak* • Nikola Nikitin
Russian Armed Forces Karelin† • Lev Zotkin* • Mikhail Istcov* • Shagarov
NAPA Prizrak† • Little JohnYidashYuri Olegich
British Army Jack GallagherJames IrvinePhilip Stephenson
Bystrican Militia Andrej KasunBorz KazbekovDragan KasunRadan Miyović
Smugglers Aslan Radayev
ION Brian FrostFrank "Tanny" Radcliffe† • Henry AsanoJames Eckersley† • Mark ReynoldsPatrick Dixon† • Roland Saunderson
Takistani Army Muhammad R. Aziz


Anita BakerAntonia LagushinaIvan Ruce† • Joe Harris† • Josef Sova† • Lucin* • Rita EnslerValentina Galkina† • Vojtech Hladik
indicates deceased characters | * indicates character status is unknown
DLCs that the character was first introduced in: