As if I never ask seemingly irrelavent or weird questions...

I do have a reason for asking these, but I'll tell ya why later.

I searched and couldn't seem to find this info, and I may have missed it, so...

Do we know Mac's social security number? I know it's obviously going to be fake...but do we know it? If so, what is it?

Second...Should I know this, being the obsessive Mac-fan that I am...What is Mac's middle name or initial? Anyone??????

They're not OVERLY important to what I'm planning to use them for, but will lend some authenticity.

And...this sounds odd, but does anyone know what Mac's rank maybe could have been in the special forces?

Nope. Unfortunately this is classified information of the Phoenix Foundation.

He doesn't have a middle name. It already took seven years to find out his first. Let's just keep it with Angus MacGyver making his initials AM.

They're probably for your new fanfic.

I don't think he could've gotten higher than Lieutenant.

Well- I'm pretty sure MacGyver was never mentioned as having a middle name- so I would stick with Angus MacGyver. (After all, not everyone has a middle name- though it does make it confusing for the John Does of the world )

And as far as MacGyver's rank in the Army- in the Mark Daniel novel "MacGyver on Ice", Pete looks through his file and it's mentioned that his Army rank was Major and that he worked with the bomb-disposal squad - and then it says his acting service rank was Colonel....

In fact, here's what's mentioned of his file verbatim from the book-

"Army rank: Major....bomb-disposal....acting service rank: Colonel....distinguishing marks: .22 bullet scar left shoulder, boar-tusk scar left side, clavicle to point of hip. Interests- military history, natural history, bebop, blue grass, horse-breeding, baseball, North American folklore, philosophy...."

But I don't know how much credence you want to put into the book- I'm not sure if anyone would really count it as MacGyver "canon"- though it is a MacGyver novel officially licensed by Paramount...

Anyway- hope that info helps.
It might also be a good idea to take a look at "The Lost Amadeus" as I know MacGyver pulls out his driver's license in that episode- and maybe you can get a closeup of it. (I know we've seen shots of his Phoenix ID before too- but I don't think it has his SS number on it.)

We don't get to see the drivers license in "lost Amadeus". He shows it to the security guard and then Lulu takes it.

And all we see on the Phoenix ID card is his last name, Security level and Position "Field Op"

you can always check out the background Bible to see if that has any helpful information in it.

Done... nothing relavant, really.

That's what I thought about a middle name. No biggie! Just wanted to be sure. I didn't have much hope for the SN either. Guess I can make it up!

At the risk of sounding completely dumb...what's the difference between the two?

I'll never tell...

Wait I said I would...

It's just something I'm toying with so far...mostly a tongue in cheek thing right now, but could turn into what I think's a pretty cool story idea for a fanfic...No, not the current one. Still plugging away at that.

If your going to make up a middle name I would go with his fathers or grandfathers name..

but remember there was never any indication in the show of a middle name, so you need to be careful when adding "external" facts which are not substantiated by the show itself.

At the risk of sounding completely dumb...what's the difference between the two?

Colonel is two ranks higher than major.

Officer ranks in the US army are as follows, from lowest to highest:

2nd Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant-Colonel
Colonel
Brigadier-General ('1 star general')
Major-General ('2 star general')
Lieutenant-General ('3 star general')
General ('4 star general')
General of the Army ('5 star general')

The shorter answer to your question is that a Colonel can command a Major, but a Major is always a minor to a colonel. So, in the story Mac is given the responsibilities of someone two ranks higher than him.

Hope that helps!

Mac

Nah, I meant I can just make up the number. The middle initial is probably the least crucial bit of data. I can get away without the number, if I just ignore it for what I'm doing.

I see.... Cool! Thanks for the explanation...the acting Colonel part stumped me, but that makes sense now that I think about it...duh. Very helpful...

The best middle name for MacGyver is probably his father's name Angus James MacGyver. It sounds better than Angus Harry MacGyver but it still doesn't ring too good.

In my Mac 'verse, he's Angus Jackson MacGyver (ie. he has both his parents last names).

Mac