Frank Woods

"Keep your eyes on the dirt; I don't want you to get shot in the balls!"

- Woods to Mason while Mason has control of the helicopter in "Payback."

Sergeant Frank Woods is one of the main non-playable characters in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Woods is part of the Studies and Observation Group. On Woods' left arm is a USMC tattoo, which suggests his branch of service.

Woods is played by James C. Burns.

Biography
We first see Woods in a Cuban bar with Mason and Bowman talking to Carlos in Operation 40. Woods talks to Carlos about the assassination of Castro. Suddenly the police arrive, and when one of them questions Mason, Woods brutally knifes him to death. The squadron flees to the streets, where the police are waiting for them. The squad fights their way to a car where they escape. We next see Woods at Castro's compound as he, Bowman, and Mason zipline into it. While Carlos and the rebels make the distraction in the air field, Woods leads the raid into the compound. At some point, Bowman splits from the group and contnues the search for Castro elsewhere. Woods and Mason fight their way to Castro's bedroom, where Mason executes Castro with an ASP and either Woods or Mason kill his mistress. Regrouping with Bowman, Woods leads an escape to Carlos's C-130 where Mason jumps off and sacrifices himself for the escape of his squad.

Woods later leads his team to Baikonur, U.S.S.R on a mission to disrupt the Soviet space program at the Missile Launch Facility, and also to retrieve the captured Weaver. Woods and Mason kill two Russians idling and disguise themselves as the enemy. Woods is somewhat fluent in Russian, as 2 more Russian guards talk to him in their language and he answers back. After being exposed and fighting back, Mason and Woods zip-line and smash through a window.They kill a few Russians and finally save Weaver. They go on to the Auxiliary Control bunker, with hopes to abort the launch. They fight their way to the missile and Mason detonates the room with the scientist in it killing them, but failing to stop the missile. But Mason uses the guided missile (Valkyrie Rockets) to destroy it. As they can't stay in the open, they move to the tunnels, with plans of still killing the ascension group. As the mission comes to an end, Kravchenko escapes and there was no sign of Dragovich as Mason says "We searched the whole base, we couldn't find the bastard anywhere." But they ran into his limo and the interrogator asks "Did. You. Confirm. The Kill." and Woods says "Trust me... That rat bastard's a fucking charcoal briquette." And his part ends.

thumb|300px|right|Woods in Vietnam in the mission "S.O.G."Woods returns as SOG's team leader in Khe Sanh, Vietnam, and along with Jason Hudson and Mason, joined the fight against a major assault on the base by the NVA.

In the mission Defector, Woods led the team to Hue City to recover a Soviet defector along with a dossier that'd unravel Dragovich's masterplan. While they managed to recover the dossier, extraction became a fight for their lives amid a massive assault by the NVA on the Hue City.

Following on the intel disclosed by the dossier, Woods led the SOG team to Laos to uncover Soviet's presence there, specifically those concern the Project Nova head by Kravchenko, under order from Dragovich. But it was at Laos, during the mission Crash Site, Woods and the team found the shot-down Soviet cargo plane that carried Nova 6, but subsequently captured by Kravchenko's men after a firefight.

During Payback, Woods and Mason used the chance when they were forced to play Russian Roulette by the Vietcong to stage their escape. Which they did and made their revenge on a Spetsnaz who responsible of bludgeon Bowman to death. Next he and Mason nabbed a Hind A and blazed their way to Kravchenko's compound. In the final part of mission when Woods and Mason are attempting to kill Kravchenko in his office, Mason was brutally beaten when Woods, sneaking up behind Kravchenko, stabs him in the back. At his last breath, Kravchenko pulls a string attached to the pins of the grenade belt strapped to his body. Thinking quickly, Woods tackles Kravchenko out of the window, apparently sacrificing himself to save Mason as the grenades explode. Woods is presumed killed by everyone, including Mason and later by Hudson and Weaver during their interrogation of him. Be it so, 10 years later a mysterious informant codenamed "X" would tell Mason that Woods is being held in the notorious Vietnamese POW camp "Hanoi Hilton" as the sole inmate for the last 10 years (terminal is accessible when the player escapes the chair on the menu screen).

Woods Alive?
There are many strains. 1) In the message of a mysterius informant codenamed "X", Woods is a prisoner in Hanoi Hilton, this is an important and clear proof; 2) The intel information of the mission Payback (after taking all 3 intels in the level), who Woods presumely died and the last time that we see it, reveal in the left border the inscription "Hanoi Hilton" (under a photo of prisoners and in the first photo), and talks about a POW camp in Hanoi, this is probably not a coincidence; 3) A particular thing: the multiplayer map "Hanoi" is a prison, a POW camp, which doesn't have any references in the Black Ops campaign. Maybe Woods is a prisoner in this POW camp.

Another considerations is that we don't know what's happened between the mission Payback and Revelation (all the story is conditioned by Mason brainwashing), Hudson and Weaver probably supposed Woods was dead, but they are in another place in that moment. For these reasons Woods is to consider MIA instead of KIA

Quotes

 * "You see that Hind? We're gonna take it!" - Woods to Mason in the mission "Payback"
 * "Here, take this. Stay hunting, we'll find Kravchenko. You make it out of there alive." - Woods giving Mason the flashlight in "Victor Charlie".
 * "Your bird!" - Woods, announcing that Mason has control of the Helicopter.
 * "UV-32 Rockets, 12mm Nose Cannon, these bastards are ready for World War III." - Woods checking the Hind's armament.
 * "Mason we need to go!" - Woods yelling to Mason
 * "Looks don't count for shit in the jungle. This is 'Nam, baby!" - Woods to Mason
 * "Back in '64, the CIA gave up control of covert operations in South-East Asia... handed it over to the US military. From that, MACV-SOG was born. Now aside from being a base for the Marine Corps, Khe Sanh is our launching point for all cross-border activities. Mostly Laos and Cambodia. Missions are S&D, sabotage, black propaganda, strategic reconnaissance, POW rescue; You know, the usual shit." - Woods speaking to Mason.
 * "Bowman, point! Let's move!" - Woods speaking after he gives a flashlight to Mason.
 * "An animal feeding on his own men's deaths. All he wants is to win, even if that means killing his men..." -Woods to Mason when he asks about Kravtchenko.
 * "Bird assigned. My stick."
 * "I'll take her up above the canopy, then hand over the stick."- Woods in Payback
 * "I'll call out targets as I see 'em. All enemy targets are valid, understand? We have coordinates to Kravtchenko's compound. We follow the river all the way."- Woods in Payback
 * "Good job. That's the last bird those bastards bring down!" - Woods to Mason after they neutralize the SAM sites.
 * "Let me fill in the blanks for you." - Woods to Hudson
 * "Those barrels full of napalm?" - Woods to a marine
 * "Let's fuckin' go." - To Mason after marine confirms the napalm in the barrels.
 * "YOU CAN'T KILL ME!!!" - Woods to a Vietcong during the Russian Roulette
 * "For Bowman!" - Woods to Mason at Payback after you kill The Russian Roulette Interrogator
 * "FUUUUUUCK!!!!!!" - Woods when he is about to pull the trigger on the Python during Russian Roulette
 * "Got you now, you son of a bitch." - Woods to Kravchenko after stabbing him in the back

Trivia

 * Woods has "Sergeant", his military rank, tattooed on his left arm.
 * In "Operation 40" Woods is seen with no tattoos; by "Executive Order" he has gotten a few of them, one of which reading "115," a reference to Element 115. However, in "SOG" and the levels after, the "115" tattoo is changed to read "SOG TOUGH."
 * Woods, Bowman and PFC. Allen are the only characters that are part of multiple factions at the same time in the Call of Duty series.
 * Woods also has a tattoo on his right arm saying "Semper Fidelis," which is Latin for "Always Faithful" which is the motto of the USMC.
 * The CAR-15 Commando seems to be one of Woods preferred weapons as he is seen wielding it in many game images.
 * Players who buy the Hardened or Prestige edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops receive an exclusive Woods avatar outfit.
 * Despite Mason's superior rank of Captain, Woods is in command of the SOG team that Mason joins. Therefore, Woods issues orders to Mason.
 * In the computer accessible from the game's main menu there is a message to Mason from an individual who goes by the name of "X." It is dated July 4, 1978 and states that Woods is alive and the sole remaining American at the Hanoi Hilton, North Vietnam's largest POW camp. This may hint at a mission to rescue Woods in a sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, or a DLC.
 * Woods and Kravchenko are both born on March 20th.
 * According to Woods file in "SOG" intel section Woods wants go out with the biggest f@#!&$ bang ever when he retires, which is actually granted when Kravchenko blows himself and Woods up in "Payback"
 * It is thought that Woods is fluent in Russian, as in "Executive Order," two Russians come to Woods and speak to him to which he responds in Russian. He responds a bit quick, though, like he's trying to get out of the situation.
 * On the computer on the menu screen, you can log into Woods's profile with the username "fwoods" and the password "PHILLY." This password is a reference to him being from Philadelphia.
 * In multiplayer, SOG characters can have Woods' voice.
 * In the multiplayer map Nuketown, Woods' name is on one of the two mailboxes; the other says "Mason."
 * Woods seems to be completely driven by revenge in Payback. Finding Kravchenko seemed to really not interest him and he also seemed to carry it out as another order until Bowman is killed. Then, he feels the need to avenge him.