Burton

"You wanted the best? Here I am."

- Colonel Burton entering the battlefield

Colonel Burton was a highly experienced expert in covert operations and an American hero, who participated in numerous campaigns against the GLA.

Background
At all times Burton was equipped with a seemingly endless supply of demo charges (able to be activated both remotely and by a timer), a knife for assassinations and an extraordinarily powerful assault rifle. Trained in stealth and able to climb cliffs, Burton could slip into an enemy base undetected and wreak havoc. While he could be detected by the enemy when placing demolition charges or firing his weapon, Burton could kill individual infantrymen with his knife without being noticed.

It shoulded be noted that General Townes planned to arm Burton with a prototypical laser rifle, but before the GLA war began he was forced to give up his plan as a laser weapon small enough to be carried by a man had still not been successfully developed, and the project had proven costly.

Judging from ingame pictures, Colonel Burton appears to be armed with an OICW, whilst the cameo image shown here suggests his use of a XM214 Minigun. A model of Colonel burton, not used probably because he would have been seen as out of place with his high detail compaired to all other units, carried what appers to be a MP5, this combination sugesting he has a very wide arsenal at his disposal.

Tactics/Counters
"No man can turn the tide of this battle, not even Colonel Burton."

- Kwai mocking Burton

A master of stealth and of destruction, Burton was practically a one-man army. He was so powerful that he was even able to take on tanks and destroy buildings with C4 alarmingly quickly. When he achieve heroic status, he can tear through buildings in less then a minute with his machine gun.

However, Burton was but a man. Anti-infantry Tanks armed with Gattling Guns represented a serious threat, provided the enemy commander was able to detect him. Burton's demolition charges could be disarmed by Workers or Dozers.

Role in USA Campaigns
"Got a present for ya!"

- Colonel Burton planting demolition charges

A valuable asset to the Americans, Burton was employed in many of its campaigns against the GLA, including the rescuing of US pilots from the clutches of the organisation, the destruction of a secret GLA research lab, and the capture of Iranian oil fields.

Trivia

 * He is seen firing minigun in ingame image, but at installing screen, he is seen holding M60 in one hand.
 * Colonel Burton might be based on Arnold Schwarzenegger staring as John Matrix in the film Commando.
 * Despite in the ingame image his is firing a minigun, the most possible weapon might be a OICW weapon system or M60, judging from his shooting stance, and he burst fires instead of firing on automatic.
 * He is similar to Tanya and the First Tiberium War era Commandos, due to his methods of attacking (powerful rifle and demo charges) and his attitude. He is however stealthed, unlike these.

Behind the scenes
"Like ants under a magnifying glass!"

- Laser Burton

According to Zero Hour's sound files, General Townes were to have his own version of Colonel Burton called Laser Burton. He was supposed to be equipped with a laser-powered variant of the OICW. It was dropped for some reason however.