S.T.A.R.S.: Raccoon City's Special Tactics and Rescue Service

S.T.A.R.S., the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, was the elite unit of the Raccoon City Police Department. Its two six-person teams, Alpha and Bravo, were sent into the Arklay Mountains in July 1998 to investigate a string of grisly murders. Most of them died at the Spencer Mansion, and the handful who made it out became the heroes of the series. (Resident Evil; Resident Evil 0)

What S.T.A.R.S. was#

S.T.A.R.S. was a special forces team inside the police, built to handle what regular officers couldn't: terrorism, hostage situations, armed gangs. The Umbrella Chronicles files tie its creation to a rise in violent crime and terrorism in Raccoon City, and its captain was secretly Umbrella's man. Its office sits on the second floor of the police station, and both versions of Resident Evil 2 let you walk into it. (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles; Resident Evil 2)

Members were picked for skills as well as shooting. The team mixed ex-military personnel with specialists: Rebecca Chambers joined as the field medic straight out of university, Brad Vickers was the pilot and computer man, Jill Valentine handled locks and bombs. Each carried a custom handgun nicknamed the Samurai Edge. (Resident Evil; Resident Evil 0)

Who was in Alpha and Bravo#

Alpha Team had six members:

• Albert Wesker, the captain, and secretly an Umbrella researcher. (Resident Evil)
• Chris Redfield, the point man and a former Air Force pilot. (Resident Evil)
• Jill Valentine, rear security and lock and explosives specialist. (Resident Evil)
• Barry Burton, the weapons expert and Wesker's reluctant accomplice. (Resident Evil)
• Joseph Frost, killed by zombie dogs minutes after landing. (Resident Evil)
• Brad Vickers, the pilot, who panicked and flew off at the start. (Resident Evil)

Bravo Team had six as well. Captain Enrico Marini, Rebecca Chambers, Richard Aiken, Forest Speyer, Kenneth J. Sullivan and the pilot Edward Dewey. Only Rebecca lived. (Resident Evil; Resident Evil 0)

The Spencer Mansion incident#

On 23 July 1998 Bravo Team flew into the Arklay forest after reports of people being found partly eaten. Their helicopter broke down and came down in the woods. Resident Evil 0 follows Rebecca that night, as she teams up with the escaped convict Billy Coen and fights through an Umbrella training facility. Dewey was killed almost straight away. (Resident Evil 0)

Alpha Team went in after them on the night of 24 July. Dogs attacked as soon as they landed, Joseph died, and Brad flew away in fright, leaving the rest to run for the nearest building: the Spencer Mansion. Inside they found zombies, and under it, Umbrella's secret lab. The Resident Evil 1 story page covers that night in detail. (Resident Evil)

The mansion was a trap. Orders found in the game show Umbrella told Wesker to bring S.T.A.R.S. inside so the bioweapons could be tested on them, then destroy the lab. Wesker forced Barry to help by claiming his family was being held hostage. He shot Enrico before Enrico could name the traitor, and Kenneth, Richard and Forest all died at the mansion. (Resident Evil)

In the lab, Wesker revealed himself and released the Tyrant. It ran him through, apparently killing him. The survivors set the lab's self-destruct, fought the Tyrant on the helipad and were rescued by a returning Brad as the mansion blew up. Wesker had injected himself with a virus beforehand; The Umbrella Chronicles shows him rising, alive and changed, and walking out before the blast. (Resident Evil; Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles)

Who lived depends on how you play the original. Chris's best ending saves Jill and Rebecca; Jill's best ending saves Chris and Barry. The later games treat all five as surviving. (Resident Evil; Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)

What happened to S.T.A.R.S. afterwards#

Nobody believed them. Chief Brian Irons, who had been taking Umbrella money, closed the case and shut the unit down. Jill's diary in Resident Evil 3 says Chris went to Europe to dig into Umbrella, and Barry left with his family. Jill stayed in Raccoon City. (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis; Resident Evil 2)

Then the T-virus reached the city. Umbrella sent Nemesis into Raccoon City with one job: kill the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members. In the 1999 game it killed Brad outside the police station, then spent the rest of the night hunting Jill. The 2020 remake changes Brad's death: he is bitten by a zombie while saving Jill and later turns up as one himself. The Resident Evil 3 story page covers both versions of her escape. (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)

The survivors carried the fight on. Chris tracked Umbrella to Rockfort Island and Antarctica in Code: Veronica. In 2003 Chris and Jill destroyed Umbrella's last base in the Umbrella Chronicles finale, and they went on to become founding members of the BSAA. Barry and Rebecca stayed close to that world as well. (Resident Evil Code: Veronica; Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles; Resident Evil 5)

Why it still matters#

S.T.A.R.S. ties the series together. Chris, Jill, Barry, Rebecca and Wesker all started in that unit, and the Spencer Mansion is where they found out what Umbrella really was. The S.T.A.R.S. name also gives Nemesis its famous growl, the one word it ever says. (Resident Evil 3: Nemesis)