During World War II, a number of Army riffraff are assembled into a unit that is highly expendable, and therefore nicknamed the Suicide Squadron (shortened to Suicide Squad). Several such teams existed, but their history in comics is only scarcely recorded before Rick Flag, Sr. becomes the leader of the team (and even then, only a few adventures of this Squad are shown). After the war ends, the team (together with the Argent group) is put under the umbrella organization of Task Force X. After his father's death, Rick Flag Jr. goes on to lead the group that is featured in "The Brave and the Bold" (vol. 1). A deadly encounter with a Yeti during a mission in Cambodia ends with Evans and Bright dead and sends Flag back to the U.S. with a wounded Karin Grace. After a stint with the Forgotten Heroes, Flag is drafted into the Squad that Waller assembles in "Legends".