Not much is known about Redfield's early life, except that he and Claire had lost their parents at some point before 1998, having only each other as family. As an adult, Redfield joined the United States Air Force, where he received flight training for both planes and helicopters. Excerpt he served in a unit alongside Barry Burton, whom he befriended. Redfield held strong convictions that often put him at odds with his senior officers, and he either resigned in protest or was discharged for insubordination. During this period Redfield also trained with a variety of weapons, including knives, and was known for his skills in hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship, which he won a contest for.


Law Enforcement Career

After leaving the Air Force, Redfield was scouted in 1996 by the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, a special law enforcement unit in Raccoon City. He accepted the invitation and was appointed point man for Alpha Team, where his flexible talent for precise handling of multiple firearm types earned him distinction as the unit's top marksman. His shooting skills also had Redfield participating in the Raccoon Police Department's intramural shooting competitions, for which he won at least one trophy. Together with Burton, Redfield solved a number of difficult cases; though he often acted on his own initiative, his methods were often successful and as a result faced little to no consequences for his actions.

Chris befriended several S.T.A.R.S. members in his time with the unit. Chris became close friends with fellow Alpha Team member Jill Valentine and together formed a strong bind as partners, with both of them having complete trust in each other. Chris would also befriend his commanding officer Albert Wesker and at the time regarded him as a dependable and effective leader. He also befriended Joseph Frost and Forest Speyer; on holidays they often went into the suburbs and caused disturbances.


Redfield also trained his younger sister when she visited him and gave her a golden lighter and his S.T.A.R.S. knife as gifts, favouring a large combat knife instead. In 1998, Redfield, along with Valentine, Burton, and Wesker, became a part of the test group for the development of the Beretta 92F Custom 'Samurai Edge' that was being specially developed for the members of S.T.A.R.S. by Robert and Joseph Kendo of Gun Shop Kendo who supplied the unit with most of their custom firearms. Redfield would eventually receive his own custom Samurai Edge which had a blued hard steel finish slide and a silver gilded stainless steel trigger with the dark blue S.T.A.R.S. medallion. Per Redfield's request, minor internal modifications were done to make his Samurai Edge a competition-ready weapon with a medium-weight slide and adjusted trigger pull.

The Mansion Incident

"We continued our search for the other members... and it turned into... a nightmare..."


In the Spring of 1998, Raccoon City was haunted by a series of cannibalistic murders and animal attacks on hikers and residents living near Raccoon Forest. The R.P.D. suspected the attacks were perpetrated by a satanic cult who would consume massive quantities of narcotics in order to carry out the gruesome attacks on men, women, and children as a sacrifice, which included violent facial mutilations and evisceration. Police progress went as far as establishing the Arklay Mountains to the northwest of the city as a likely base of the cult's operations, but could not identify any suspects. After two months of little progress and a growing death list, the RPD gave in to public pressure and put S.T.A.R.S. on the case. On 23 July, the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team traveled into the mountains to verify the existence of the suspected hideout, but was downed during a storm and lost radio contact. The following night, the Alpha Team was sent out into the same area to investigate the loss of contact. There they discovered the corpse of its pilot, Kevin Dooley, and were soon after attacked by a pack of dogs, who killed Frost. Taken entirely by surprise, Alpha Team were unable to put up a fight and were forced to run into a mansion when their pilot, Brad Vickers, took off without them. Chris lost his Samurai Edge during the chase and was unable to recover it.

Redfield, Burton, Wesker, and Valentine split up to investigate the mansion. Redfield found Bravo Team member Rebecca Chambers, whose team had also sought shelter in the mansion and split up. It became clear by the early hours of the morning that the mansion had links to Umbrella U.S.A. and was constructed by Umbrella Pharmaceuticals co-founder, Oswell E. Spencer. A laboratory was also found on the grounds, which was used for illegal bio-weapons research on behalf of the United States military. It was discovered that a strain of the t-Virus escaped containment and infected the staff, turning them into Zombies which were responsible for the bizarre murders in Raccoon Forest. Captain Wesker was discovered to have been an agent for the corporation's intelligence department and had received orders from the company to destroy the facility to cover-up their connection to the killings and silence any witnesses. When Wesker released the Tyrant (T-002 Model) from containment, it seriously injured him before being killed at the laboratory's helipad just before the facility's self-destruction. Redfield, Valentine, Burton, and Chambers escaped on Brad's' helicopter, while Wesker, recovered thanks to a Prototype virus he had infected himself with, escaped on foot.


After his ordeal, Redfield was treated at Raccoon General Hospital where the doctors confirmed that he sustained no permanent injuries. Redfield, Valentine, Burton, and Chambers made a number of attempts following their recovery to report Umbrella to the authorities. Taking bribes from the company, Chief of Police Brian Irons resorted to shutting S.T.A.R.S. down entirely while Redfield himself was placed under surveillance. Redfield nonetheless obtained information on the G-Virus and, suspecting Irons of corruption, asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to handle an internal investigation of Irons and further investigate the G-Virus. Deciding to investigate the Umbrella Corporation's headquarters in Europe with Burton, Redfield began an aggressive streak which included the assault of another officer, Elran. For these actions, he was suspended, giving him an excuse to go to Europe as a vacation while Valentine remained in Raccoon City to oversee the police investigation. In reality, these aggressive acts were merely a ruse to allow Redfield to go to Europe to investigate Umbrella at part of his "vacation"...