George S. Hammond

"As long as I am in command of the SGC, we will hold ourselves to the highest ethical standard."

- George S. Hammond

George S. Hammond was a General in the United States of America most notable for his command of the SGC. Hammond was on the verge of retiring from this command when the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis launched an attack on Earth in 1997. In the aftermath, Hammond became the Commander-in-Chief of the newly reopened Stargate Command, serving in the role for the first seven years of its existence before he was relieved of command in 2004.

Hammond later took charge of the battlecruiser Prometheus during the Battle of Antarctica. Following the battle, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General while also becoming the head of Homeworld Command in 2004.

In 2005, nearly eight years after his intended retirement, Hammond finally retired from the military, presumably with the rank of Lieutenant General. Three years later, in 2008, Hammond passed away from a heart attack. In his honor, the newest BC-304 Phoenix was renamed the George Hammond.

Background information
Master Bra'tac has been known to call him "Hammond of Texas", referring to Hammond's home state (and occasionally gesturing with a palm over his head, referring to Hammond's bald head). Hammond is a widower; his wife Margaret Hammond died of cancer in 1994. In her honor, Hammond continues to wear his wedding ring. He has two grandchildren, Kayla and Tessa, whose phone number is keyed to the 1 button on his office phone above the President of the United States. A former Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War, Hammond witnessed his best friend get shot down but his body was never recovered.

1969
In July 1969 the young George Hammond watched the Apollo 11 lunar landing from the side of his father's hospital bed. In August 1969, Lt. Hammond was stationed at Cheyenne Mountain when SG-1 traveled back in time. While searching through their gear on August 4, he discovered a note that he had written to himself asking him to help them. After he set up a flat tire for the truck transporting SG-1, he helped them break out of military custody. Colonel Jack O'Neill shot Hammond with a Zat'nik'tel in order to protect Hammond from a court-martial for helping the team escape.

In December of that year, he was serving in the Vietnam War. When his wingman and close friend Jacob Carter's plane was shot down by the Viet Cong and his parachute failed, Lt. Hammond was able to save him. Having met SG-1 the previous August, he learned from them that he would survive the war and go on to become a general, meaning that he was more willing to risk his life than he would have been otherwise.

1997
Major General George S. Hammond was the head of the United States Air Force's Stargate Command. He replaced Major General W. O. West who commanded Project Giza during the original excursion to Abydos. An Air Force officer since the mid-1960s, shutting down the Stargate program was to have been his last assignment before retirement. When Apophis and several Serpent Guards came through the Stargate and killed four Air Force personnel and kidnapped Senior Airman Carol Weterings, he led a team of reinforcements to Level 28. They arrived just before Apophis stepped through the gate. He sent his second in command, Major Bert Samuels, to retrieve Colonel Jack O'Neill. He questioned O'Neill about the accuracy of his report but O'Neill insisted he set off the bomb and destroyed the Abydos gate. He then ordered a BFMB Mark V bomb be sent to Abydos but stopped after O'Neill came clean that Dr. Daniel Jackson was alive and living on Abydos. After dialing Abydos, O'Neill took a Kleenex box and threw it through the Stargate. Sometime later, it was returned with the message 'Thanks. Send More.'. Hammond authorized O'Neill, Major Charles Kawalsky and Major Louis Ferretti to return to Abydos, along with the scientist Captain Samantha Carter. After the team left, he had an Iris installed on the gate. When the team returned after an attack with the discovery that the gate went to countless worlds, he established 9 teams whose duties would be to preform reconnaissance, determine threats and make peaceful contact with alien races. He placed O'Neill in charge of Jackson and Carter as SG-1 and Kawalsky in command of SG-2. After Ferretti regained consciousness, he was able to give them the address for Chulak and he sent SG-1 and 2 with a 24 hour deadline. After 24 hours, he gave Samuels the order to lock out the IDC and seal the gate but SG-1 dialed in. After the team evacuated with refugees and the Jaffa Teal'c, O'Neill requested that Teal'c be allowed to join SG-1 but Hammond was reluctant.

During the next few days, the Goa'uld attacked through the Stargate but were stopped by Stargate Command's Iris. When he was about to send SG-2 to Prakiti, Major Charles Kawalsky began to experience headaches and so Hammond ordered Kawalsky to the infirmary. Later, he informed Colonel Jack O'Neill that his request to have Teal'c join SG-1 was denied and that Colonel Martin Kennedy of The Pentagon was arriving to interview Teal'c. After it was discovered that Kawalsky was infested with a Goa'uld, he ordered Dr. William Warner to remove it at all costs. The operation appeared to be a success but the symbiote was not removed and took full control of Kawalsky and tried to escape through the gate after setting the self-destruct. Hammond and O'Neill are able to shut down the self-destruct and Teal'c held Kawalsky's head in the event horizon and O'Neill shut down the gate killing Kawalsky. Later, Hammond approved Teal'c's assignment to SG-1 and sent them to Prakiti.

After the symbols that the refugees from Chulak saw on the Dial Home Device were entered into the Dialing computer and it came up with an address, he sent SG-1 and SG-3 to P3X-797. When they returned and began the debriefing, Dr. Daniel Johnson attacked Teal'c and he had him restrained. Later, other members of SG-1 and SG-3 began to act strangely and Dr. Janet Fraiser determined they were infected with a virus from the people of 797. He called the President of the United States and recommended that the mountain be sealed and anyone attempting to escape be shot and their body burned. When Fraiser realized Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c were not infected, he sent them back to the planet to get a blood sample from the Untouched. Eventually, he became infected as well and was later cured with Antihistamines.

When Colonel Jack O'Neill became infected with Nanites on the planet Argos and the nanite samples almost broke containment, he ordered the samples destroyed and gate travel to Argos off limits. Luckily, Captain Samantha Carter was able to shut down the nanites.

1999
When SG-1 was captured by Hathor he went to great lengths to try to rescue them. He sent every team he could to the rescue not even making it an order, asking for volunteers (they all volunteered before he could even finish asking them), trying to get the President of the United States to let him send more men as reinforcements, and, when that failed he went into battle himself to help his people out. He traveled to Chulak and joined Teal'c and Master Bra'tac in gathering Jaffa to help out. When Teal'c piloted the Needle Threader, Hammond joined him with the job of firing the weapons. With Teal'c flying it and Hammond firing the weapons the two took out the Staff cannon emplacements that were causing trouble. After Hammond and Teal'c defeated the staff cannon emplacements he let out a victorious "yeehaaa" and joined SG-1, and the other teams, on the ground, much to their surprise.

2003
As time went on, however, Hammond came to realize the benefits of Gate travel. He would sometimes butt heads with Colonel Jack O'Neill on some points, but he relied on O'Neill and SG-1 more than any other unit, trusting their respective judgments and more than once showing a willingness to go along with their suggestions regardless of the limited evidence available, such as when he sent SG-1 to Abydos to defend the Abydonians against an attack from Anubis, based on information that O'Neill had allegedly acquired from the currently-Ascended Dr. Daniel Jackson.

2004
After Henry Hayes was inaugurated as President of the United States, Hammond, a former Air Force colleague of Hayes's, was assigned as one of his advisers during the conflict with Anubis, and commanded the Prometheus at the Battle of Antarctica.

After the Battle, Hammond was promoted to Lt. General and appointed the first commander of Homeworld Security, a department which was in control of Stargate Command, the Prometheus project, Area 51 and the Alpha Site.

An alien on M5S-224 in the Pegasus Galaxy impersonated Hammond while making contact with Major John Sheppard's team assigned to Atlantis. He attempted to trick them into believing that they had returned to Earth, but it was really hallucinations brought on when they attempted to dial the Stargate on the alien's planet. The Stargate drew energy from the life forms on the planet, who existed in a naturally gaseous state, and the energy required to send the team to Earth was the equivalent of millions of the creatures. The alien was convinced to let them go when Sheppard assured him that they wouldn't take the opportunity to go home at the cost of millions of innocent lives.

During his term as Head of Homeworld Security, he was asked to pick a commander for the Prometheus on a rescue mission to Atlantis. He decided to command that mission himself. He took CMSgt. Walter Harriman and Dr. Daniel Jackson along with him but due to Vala Mal Doran hijacking the ship, he was stranded aboard a disabled Al'kesh along with everyone else except Daniel. Knowing that they needed new control crystals to fix the engines, he risked his life to ring over to a disabled Tel'tak nearby that had almost no oxygen on board. He got the crystals and managed to ring them back but collapsed before he could ring back himself. He was rescued by Colonel Albert Reynolds and recovered with no apparent ill effects. Later, he led the crew in the Al'kesh in retrieving the Prometheus, somehow tracking it through hyperspace and arriving just in time to drive off an attacking force and save the ship from destruction. Afterward, due to the damage that the ship took, the crew was forced to return home without ever making it to Atlantis.

2005
He later took a political position in President Henry Hayes's administration, and was later succeeded as commander of Homeworld Security by Major General Jack O'Neill while General Hank Landry succeeded O'Neill as the new head of Stargate Command.

Hammond appeared in a civilian suit during the Ori plague outbreak on Earth addressing military personnel where he was rushed away by Secret Service. He later reappeared at Stargate Command talking to Major General Henry Landry and the members SG-1 except for Teal'c before being called back to Washington D.C.. His retired status is confirmed by Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter during a meeting with an alternate Hammond.

2008
In a conversation with Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Colonel Samantha Carter confirms that George Hammond died of a heart attack sometime in 2008. The Daedalus-class warship, Phoenix, the newest ship to be built was renamed the George Hammond in his honor with Carter taking command of the ship.

Alternate realities
''In another alternate reality, George S. Hammond was being tortured by Apophis for the location of the Beta Site in 1999. He was saved by Dr. Samantha Carter and Teal'c from our reality. He was later killed by Apophis, but resurrected by the Asgard. His rank is never specified, though the Teal'c from our reality referred to him as "General Hammond."''
 * In an alternate reality, George S. Hammond was a colonel at the SGA under the command of Brigadier General Jack O'Neill. In 1998, he was in charge of defending Cheyenne Mountain from Apophis's forces and was killed by Jaffa troops before he could evacuate through the Stargate.
 * In an alternate reality to which Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter accidentally traveled in 2007, this George Hammond had yet to retire and was still in command of Stargate Command, second only to President Henry Landry. He agreed to allow Carter to go back to her reality if she helped them finish Major Samantha Carter's research into matter bridge technology. However, Carter told them that Merlin's Arthur's Mantle device was a faster way to save the planet from on Ori attack. After the plan succeeded, he convinced Landry to allow Carter to return home.

Alternate timelines

 * In an alternate timeline, the Aschen claimed that George S. Hammond had died from a heart attack in 2004. However, Dr. Janet Fraiser claimed that he was in perfect health. By 2010, she believed that he may have been murdered for trying to reveal the infertility side effect of the Anti-aging vaccine.
 * In another alternate timeline accidentally created by SG-1 as a result of them attempting to steal a ZPM from Ra, George S. Hammond was a Brigadier General in command of Cheyenne Mountain in 2005 but due to certain events, the Stargate Program did not exist with Cheyenne Mountain housing the USAF Research Institute. The Beta Gate was moved there after Doctors Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter discovered its location, and Hammond sent Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team on a reconnaissance mission to Chulak. He allowed use of their Puddle Jumper for tactical reasons, but not to go back in time. It should also be noted that the Hammond in this timeline also wore a gold/silver watch unlike the Hammond of the normal timeline who'd worn a silver watch. During the Vietnam War in December 1969, Lt. Hammond served as the wingman of Jacob Carter. After Jacob's plane was shot down by the Viet Cong and his parachute failed, Hammond attempted to rescue him but was unsuccessful. He later brought Jacob's body home to his family.
 * In another alternate timeline created by Ba'al, he was still alive and a Lt. General at The Pentagon in 2009 but did not personally recognize any of SG-1, remaining apathetic when Colonel Samantha Carter addressed him. He prepared four F-15s for SG-1 to travel to Antarctica to use the Stargate to travel to Taonas to acquire a Zero Point Module to power the Antarctic outpost. Later, he informed President Henry Hayes that McMurdo Air Force Base had been destroyed by Ba'al's fleet from orbit. When Ba'al's fleet began bombarding the planet, he informed President Hayes that all the elevator shafts had collapsed and that SG-1 had received the message that the other Stargate was in Russia.

Service Awards and Decorations
Over the course of his military career, George Hammond has received a number of awards and decorations for his service in the United States Air Force.

General Hammond's rack on his jacket depicts the following decorations:
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award
 * Outstanding Unit Award

Behind the scenes

 * George S. Hammond apparently retired from active service sometime as he was wearing a civilian suit in "The Fourth Horseman, Part 1". His retirement status is confirmed in "The Road Not Taken" by Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter. He returned as a voice cameo for the tenth season episode “200” and as an alternate version of himself in "The Road Not Taken". Although he seems to have retired he seems to still hold some kind of civilian position in the administration as he was shown giving a speech and was hustled off by the Secret Service when the threat of the Prior plague was revealed.
 * Don S. Davis, the man who played George S. Hammond, died of a heart attack on June 29, 2008. The character's death was written in to reflect this and as a tribute to him. Furthermore, the Phoenix was renamed the George Hammond in his honor. Also, Children of the Gods: The Final Cut is dedicated to Davis.
 * As all of George Hammond's appearances in Season 10 and Stargate Continuum were alternate versions of Hammond, the final appearance of the "real" George Hammond in "The Fourth Horseman, Part 2" in Season 9.
 * Along with Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Walter Harriman and Sylvester Siler, he is one of only eight characters to appear in all ten seasons of Stargate SG-1.

References and notes
George Hammond George S. Hammond George S. Hammond