Father Ryder's Service History As N7

I'm going to give you my impressions on Ryder Dad.

- First of all, N7 is the maximum military proficiency in the special forces, attainable only via the gruelling Interplanetary Combatives Academy training program. Generally, members participating in this program have already got a long and successful career in the Alliance military. There are many applicants who are probably turned down or simply aren't capable of finishing the program. Think of it as the Navy Seals. Completing this program doesn't get you a N7 designation.

masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/N7

Most trainees get the N1-N6 range of proficiency designations. Any soldier capable of completing the training has already achieved something extremely hard. Then there is a part of your training that will require actual deployment, very dangerous combat drops that may garner the special operator the coveted N7 designation. Only N7's have some kind of distinct patch or the red stripe in their armor.

- Cdr. Shepard and Lt. Vega discuss in ME 3 how all N7 candidates have had to make hard decisions and sacrifice themselves or soldiers under their command at some point. This emphasizes again that most N7 candidates have plenty of combat experience, very possibly in very serious combat scenarios (not some shitty garrison duty, and definitely not some hothead guy who have just enlisted).

- Ryder Dad is probably one of the most skilled military personnel assigned to this mission, there could be more Alliance Special forces operators in the ARK Initiative. It'd be odd if he's sent as a one-man army, because simply things do not work in that way. The military presence in a mission that is technically of exploration makes sense. As I pointed out in the now defunct forums, you need personnel trained and capable to survive in hard ennvironments (hence the strong presence of krogans), as well as the personnel to defend and protect your human assets in case of hostile situations. your top human/counciil species assets are going to be the brilliant scientists, engineers, botanists etc that will put their talents to work in order to find and colonize planets.

If I consider them your top personnel assets, it is also because their knowledge and expertise would be essential for the long-term viability of the settlements founded in a distant galaxy, so far away from where the Milky Way cultures anc civilizations originated. 

- While the developers have said that the Pathfinder player characters, the Ryder brothers, are military trained but somewhat unproven, it simply reinforces the idea that you do need people with the martial skills and combat experience of DadRyder and other experienced soldiers that will no doubt be part of the expedition.

- There have been rumors that N7 Dad Ryder could be an anatagonist, or a bad guy, etc. IF he has agency, he could very well present his own opinions and plans of action for the different crises and challening situations the story plot presents. His views on multiple issues may align or not with with your Ryder's points of view, as well as those of other important characters we have not yet heard about. The main takeaway for me in the trailer where you see him leading a unit and attacking some hostile, weapon-wielding aliens in the first trailer is simply that there will be conflict, there will be multiple factions with their own interests clashing in Andromeda, and people like him were brought on board in case conflicts escalated to the degree of open warfare. You would then need to have people like him on your side.