Arkansas

 is an elderly mad sniper, holed up in Minefield, firing without warning at trespassers. This sniper seems to like to target and blow up the vehicles scattered about the area, causing large explosions and releasing radiation. He is in a three story mostly-destroyed office building at the North end of town. If you hide next to the building itself, on ground level where he can't see you, he'll come downstairs. He has an abundance of .308 ammo. If killed he will drop a key (the "Ridgefield Gate Key," being the town's real name) that will grant access to all of Minefield's houses.

Arkansas is possibly one of the original surviving residents of Minefield before the slavers invaded--in particular, Gibson House (the house with the bloody hand print on the door). The child's room there is the only room in the town with the same objects as those lying by the bed on the second floor of the office building: crutches, surgical tubing, a medical brace, and cherry bombs. He is also probably the one who set all the mines in the first place. He may also be the cause of many wastelander's beliefs that Minefield is haunted.

He is also one of the targets for enslavement that Eulogy put a special bounty on.

Appearances
 only appears in Fallout 3.

Corpse Loot

 * Sniper Rifle
 * .308 Caliber Round (3)
 * One author managed to shoot his Sniper Rifle out of his arms, pick it up and run away, after removing all closeby mines that would kill Arkansas (he chases with a Baseball Bat after the player). He managed to get out of his range and fast travel away. That was during the The Wasteland Survival Guide quest. After the task of reaching Minefield's playground and retrieving a mine was completed, it seemed Arkansas was healed completely. It's confirmed that, if Arkansas' Sniper Rifle is shot out of his hands and taken away, another Sniper Rifle will be spawned for him after some time. However, this author only had his health be resetted once. Multiple attemps after ca. 80, 90, 95 and 100 gameplay hours (not in-game hours) to steal more rifles from him this way failed, as his arms were still crippled and his health low. The only idea I have is that the task of the quest affected his heal, so that I could get a second Rifle from him - without killing him. However, the health never restored again. It's questionable if reverse-pickpocketing Stim Packs would make him heal himself and if the whole hassle (most likely a Stealth Boy would be needed to get to to him unnoticed in the first place) pay off, since a Stealth Boy and Stim Packs outvalue a single Sniper Rifle. If you want an infinite source for Sniper Rifles, go to Bethesda Ruins.

Related Quests
Strictly Business

The Wasteland Survival Guide



Behind the Scenes
The name Arkansas may be a reference to the National Guard Sniper School at Camp Robinson in Arkansas, or a nod to legendary Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock from Arkansas. It may also be a reference to a sniper nicknamed "Arkansas" who served under the military adventurer William Walker in his attempt to control Nicaragua (as detailed in the book "Tycoon's War", by Stephen Dando-Collins).

Bugs

 * If one is to kill Arkansas, there's a chance that this will register with the Strictly Business quest as being captured.
 * If you free Arkansas from Paradise Falls after enslaving him, for some reason, he will still have his Sniper Rifle.