I swear Hawk is from the borderworlds and that he never fought in the Terran confed military...
The Border Worlds were part of the Confederation during the war; being from a colony that later seceded (especially since, by and large, the colonies were where the war was being fought in the first place).
I'm not quite sure how you'd have that idea in the first place, since part of the story that introduces Hawk involves him revealing that he'd seen Seether while he was at the Academy...
We know quite a bit about Hawk's career.
He enlisted in the Space Forces in the mid-2650s where he served on TCS Tiger's Claw as a communications tech. Iceman Casey quickly reccomended him for OCS, which he pursued. Next he attended Flight School (with Seether) in 2656 and had his first combat posting that same year (in all likelyhood aboard TCS Austin).
He flew for the last ten years of the war (2659-2669). He scored 96 kills, including five during the Battle of Earth (where he earned a citation for bravery). He and Panther served with some distinction in the Astoria System (enough for Blair to recognize Hawk's name in WC4), though I don't believe details of this have ever been filled in.
Hawk was drummed out of Confed service after a bad accident where a training manuver in an asteroid field killed an academy cadet. I think he kind of "floated around" in careers before landing in the BW militia. As Maniac says "Now, he wraps himself in his paycheck instead of the flag" (This is covered in the WCIV novelization and probably the Bradygames's WC
strategy guide)
Actually, the WCP Guide changes somewhat the end of his Confederation career: "Hawk was formally reprimanded for negligence, and dismissed from his flight school post. Although he was not (contrary to some rumors) drummed out of the service, he felt his career was effectively over and tendered his resignation."
He returned to the Confederation much later, specifically to become Wilford's top pilot.
(Which leads me to my question: What was the whole of WCIV labeled as? A police action? Is there a specific name for the events that happened in this time frame?)
I suppose police action is technically correct, since it was a military action taken without a declaration of war. Since the Senate officially declares "there will be no war with the Border Worlds" at the end of the game, presumably the courts can't go back and establish that it was actually legally a war (as happens in 'real life').
I've never understood how the political situation worked, though... I'd call the whole thing a rebellion and still want the Confederation to put it down regardless of bioweapons and secret, unmarked fighters.