Burton

"You want 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
"Easy climb."

- Burton, when ordered to climb a cliff.

An expert in covert operations, Colonel Burton can wreak havoc against enemy infantry of all types. Armed with a rifle, knife and remote or timed demo charges, Colonel Burton’s stealth training allows him to move invisibly across almost any terrain.

Abilities
"They won't see it."

- Burton on stabbing enemy infantry

Strategy
"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 achieves heroic status, he can tear through buildings in less than a minute with his machine gun. Garrisoned in a building, he could easily hold off entire waves of infantry and lighter vehicles with ease provided a garrison-clearing unit doesn't come along.

His stealthy knife attack made it very useful for him to eliminate infantry while staying hidden, let it be entire regiments or a lone soldier. There were no AI warnings of infantry killed by Burton, allowing him to easily slaughter infantrymen without the enemy knowing it.

Using his knife, Burton can be used to clear enemy infantry positions or particularly dangerous or irritating infantry targets to clear the way for armor columns or air attacks. His rifle is extremely dangerous, and can melt away most light tanks or vehicles.

He is however still an infantrymen, and has standard weaknesses against anti infantry weaponry, though a significant amount of health in comparison.

Counters
"Colonel Burton? General, you should let HIM be the general. You are just sending him to an early death."

- Prince Kassad, after Burton enters the fray.

However, Burton is just 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 construction dozers.

His explosives also took some time to plant, meaning he was completely defenseless in the process. Heavier vehicles can easily resist his assault rifle but still run a risk of being destroyed if they lack proper anti-infantry weapons. Chinese land mines and GLA Demo traps can also deter him from planting C4's as he'll be injured or even incapacitated before reaching the building.

Campaign
"Got a present for ya!"

- Burton planting demolition charges

A valuable asset to the Americans, Burton was employed in many of its campaigns against the GLA. He assisted an American commander in several missions against the GLA, such as the rescue of three US pilots from the enemy's clutches in Yemen, defeating both the GLA and a rogue Chinese military commander in S-E Kazakhstan and helped in the assault on the last GLA stronghold in Akmola.

In Zero Hour, Burton helped destroy the GLA presence at the Somalian docks assisted by the US Navy fleet and teamed up with Black Lotus to destroy a GLA secret research facility at Mount Elbrus in Russia. In Iran, he also helped the American task forces to destroy the GLA's fundings by capturing the oil fields.

What remains of his fate by the end of the war remains unknown.

Changelog

 * Generals patch 1.07: Jarmen Kell, Black Lotus and Colonel Burton now have a special icon on the radar map
 * Zero Hour patch 1.03: fixed the bug where he could destroy aircraft by knife-attack

Laser Burton
"I have a new toy I'd like to share!"

- Laser Burton's unused quote

According to Zero Hour's sound files, General Townes was 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.

Trivia

 * Colonel Burton might be based on Arnold Schwarzenegger starring as John Matrix in the film Commando.
 * The manual of C&C: Generals states that Burton is armed with a sniper rifle, further reinforced by the fact that his weapon is called 'BurtonSniperRifle' within game coding. However, in-game he uses a much shorter-ranged and fast-firing rifle, However the Burton Sniper Rifle is restored in the Zero Hour mod Shockwave only available for General Ironside (a.k.a. USA Armor General in the Mod).
 * Judging from in-game pictures, Colonel Burton appears to be armed with an OICW, whilst the cameo image shown here suggests his use of an XM214 Microgun. A model of Colonel Burton, not used probably because he would have been seen as out of place with his high detail compared to all other units, carried what appears to be a MP5, this combination suggesting he has a very wide arsenal at his disposal.
 * He is similar to Tanya and the First Tiberium War era Commando, due to his methods of attacking (powerful rifle and demo charges) and his attitude. He is however cloaked, unlike the aforementioned two.
 * Burton's lines "Keep them coming", "That was left-handed", and "Got a present for ya!" are a reference to those of the original Command & Conquer Commando.
 * Colonel Burton was supposed to have a high detailed model with texture version in Zero Hour, but it was removed for unknown reasons; only the model and texture still remain in the Zero Hour game files.
 * In earlier builds of Zero Hour, there was an unusual bug that allowed Colonel Burton to use his knife against grounded aircraft. However, this has been fixed since patch version 1.03.
 * Burton is voiced by Peter Jessop.