I'm wondering how Petes background fits together.

In Deathlock, MacGyver refers to Pete as the General and is then told that he's a colonel.

And in The Human Factor Pete makes a reference to his time in Vietnam.

In family matter theres references to Pete never being around his family because of his work with the DXS.

So how does it all fit together? Is the DXS part of the military? or did Pete leave one to join the other? or what?

Pete just did his time in the army as a colonel and served in Vietnam. Since Murdoc mentioned something about playing their game for about ten or fifteen years in 1980, Pete must've been called out of the DXS to join 'Nam. Or the DXS has had a function like Phoenix had for the Navy in Pirates. One thing is for sure that 'Nam took place in the late sixties, early seventies. So the only thing I can see that everything fits together is that Murdoc was also in Vietnam and that Pete went after him since 'Nam.

I've always considered the Department of External Services (which just sounds like a government organization) to be part of the government. And I figure all the military generals and stuff that contacted MacGyver in the first few episodes were connected with the DXS in some way, as we see by "Nightmares" that this is the group Mac's working with and Pete is his superior. Then by the start of season 2 they both join up at the Phoenix Foundation, which is more of an autonomous organization, though it does work with police and government organizations as well.
The Vietnam War stretched from as early as 1959 or so until 1975, when the last American troops left the country. Pete could have been involved in the early years of Vietnam and gotten out in the early 60s. In order to corroborate the story in "Partners" of him and Murdoc playing this game of cat and mouse for about 10 or 15 years- well, first off I'd say it was probably more like 10 years, which would put it starting around 1970. Even if it was 15 years, that would still put the start of it around 1965. And that would still theoretically give Pete time to serve in Vietnam for a few years and get out. And maybe that's what got his wife so upset- he jumped straight from being consumed with the Vietnam War to being consumed with his work with the DXS-mainly chasing Murdoc.
And then along came MacGyver...

Based on Deathlock, Countdown and later The Human Factor, I assumed that Pete was in active military service, probably in military intelligence, where he reached the rank of Colonel. He would have been 21 in late 1951, so he could have seen service in Korea prior to Viet Nam; or he might just have done Cold War-related intelligence work. Based on The Human Factor, I’d surmise that he ended up thoroughly disillusioned with the military (since he was intelligent, competent, and gave a damn about wasting lives, it would have been inevitable), and left the military to work in government intelligence after the US was out of 'Nam (1975).

I can easily imagine him having been recruited by the DXS (which is based on the CIA, which is part of the US government), and it would have been a reasonable career move at the time, since the Cold War hadn’t let up. In the Partners flashbacks (1980), he was working as a field operative, so he’s been consistent in preferring to remain close to the action and probably resisted advancement that would have banished him to desk work.

From the DXS, the Phoenix Foundation could have actively recruited him in turn, and Mac followed him to his new employer. Phoenix may have offered him the chance to get farther away from the military and from government bureaucracy, to work more on social issues and scientific research instead of the amoral world of government intelligence and political intrigue, and possibly to remain closer to field work in spite of being in what should have been a command role.

As for Murdoc: if Pete left the military for the DXS in, say, 1975, he might have run into Murdoc starting at the beginning of that phase of his career – which would make their history particularly telling.

As for Pete’s personal background, I like to imagine that he’s third or fourth generation Irish-American, hails from the South Side of Chicago, and that his father was a cop. (Rocky, you already know I have an overactive imagination.) With his lively career path, the overseas work, and his character having been established as a workaholic, it’s no wonder Pete didn’t have good family ties; what surprises me is that he got married at all.

Oh, yeah:

Mac was using standard ‘spycraft’ – forcing Karen to verify her actual familiarity with Pete by deliberately and casually misstating a fact, which required her to volunteer the correction. A (much more entertaining) version of the same technique was used on Stargate in Holiday – the exchange about Jack dating Daniel’s sister.

I don't have a sister, Jack, and if I did, I wouldn't let you near her!!!

LMAO!!!

I just had to read this thread to see how some of the glaring inconsistencies in Mac cannon were rationalized. Honestly, rationalization is all you can do sometimes, like how in the world Mac had time to do all that he supposedly did, etc.

Anyway, thanks for the SG laugh at any rate!

You know.. that you say that.. it seems obvious and I wonder why I didn't realize that myself?

But I never actually picked up on it.. all these years I just thought Mac got it wrong

Mac never gets anything wrong. Well, once, maybe twice.

You know.. that you say that.. it seems obvious and I wonder why I didn't realize that myself?

But I never actually picked up on it.. all these years I just thought Mac got it wrong

You probably didn't read enough cheesy spy thrillers when you were growing up!