A-Team Online

Name: H.M. Murdock
Nickname: Howlin' Mad
Rank: Captain O-3
Birthdate: Unknown
Height: 6'2

The A-Team is a group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who were wrongly convicted of a crime during the Vietnam War. Managing to escape from the military police, they fled to Los Angeles, where as fugitives, the A-Team work as soldiers of fortune, using their military training to fight oppression or injustice. Murdock, along with Hannibal Smith, B.A. Baracus, and Templeton "Faceman" Peck make up the A-Team. Although Murdock was not convicted of any crime, as the other three were, he is still a full-fledged member of the team.

Murdock is the A-Team’s pilot. Hannibal made sure he got him on his team in Vietnam as he was considered the best chopper pilot around. If it’s got wings or rotors he can fly it. He’s flown many things including passenger planes, fighter jets, and even autogyros. Although he was the A-Team's pilot on the mission to rob the Bank of Hanoi (the crime for which they were convicted), he was never tried by the military. He is interned at a psychiatric hospital, although he routinely escapes (usually with the help of Face) to accompany the team on their missions. In most episode Murdock is either obsessed with an inanimate object (such as Brazil nuts or golf balls) to which he attributes a personality, or he takes on another persona such as Captain Cab or Mac Murdock. He is often seen playing with his invisible dog “Billy”. Murdock’s behaviour both worries and annoys B.A. who refers to him as a “crazy fool”.

Murdock is said to suffer paranoid delusions and intermittent memory loss. Despite his purported mental status Murdock is a competent member of the team. As he is not wanted by the military he can often use his anonymity to the teams advantage. Throughout most of the series he lives at the V.A. Hospital in Westwood although in the fifth season he was declared sane and was discharged from the hospital and moved to Virginia. Thereafter he did a variety of jobs from babysitting dogs to being a waiter.

He usually wears a brown A-2 leather flight jacket with a tiger on the back and the words “Da Nang 1970”, a blue or black baseball cap and black Converse All-Star high top shoes and a t-shirt with a funny caption or cartoon on it.

Murdock speaks a lot of languages, although probably not all fluently. We’ve heard him speak Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese. In the second season episode "The Maltese Cow", Murdock says, "What can I say? One day I had a gonzo headache and before it went away I could read and speak Chinese. And it was a bad afternoon, too, lemme tell you." It was also revealed in the episode “Wheel Of Fortune” that Murdock has worked for the CIA on at least two occasions.

In the episode “Mission Of Peace” Murdock says that his Mother died when he was five and he was raised by his Grandfather and Grandmother H. Emma Murdock. In the same episode he also states that his great, great grandfather was Daniel David Bowie Boone Murdock, AKA Pathfinder. Murdock was a little crazy in this episode so how much credence you give this information is up to you.

He ran for student council president in high school but lost on a small technicality: They weren't holding an election at the time.

Murdock is a Captain O-3 and was a Huey pilot (UH-1). He worked on at least two CIA missions. He did 2 tours in Vietnam. A tour usually lasts 1 year, but a tour can be extended for 6 months. But we know he was in Vietnam in 1967 and up until 1972. He had an "escape flight" in Hanoi in 1969 which he was awarded for. Served with the 1st Aviation Brigade. Unlike the rest of the team Murdock is not Special Forces trained. He did, however, serve as a pilot to many of the Special Forces teams, which is how he supposedly met the team and became their trusted pilot. He was part of the 1st Aviation Brigade.

He states that he "was a member of the Thunderbirds before the war". Many fans believe this meant that Murdock was a member of the US Air Force and their demonstration flying team called The Thunderbirds.

Medals awarded were: Silver Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal,
His unit citations were: Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation, Army Presidential Unit Citation
Wore 3 hash marks and wore the Army Aviator badge

Romance:

In the episode “Bounty” Murdock falls in love with a veterinarian Dr. Kelly Stevens and in “Wheel of Fortune” he hooks up with Jody Joy. Murdock also mentions a Jenny Beth and an Erica, although they’re never seen. Dr. Kelly Stevens was played by Dwight Schultz’s real life wife Wendy Fulton.