Corbulo Academy of Military Science
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Corbulo Academy of Military Science | |
|---|---|
 Academy insignia.
| |
| Facility information | |
|
Location: |
|
|
Purpose: |
|
| Historical information | |
|
Destroyed: |
|
|
Controlled by: |
|
- "From Earth, For Earth"
- — Slogan seen on various posters across the campus. Originally from the poem Forward Unto Dawn.
Corbulo Academy of Military Science (CAMS), sometimes referred to as Corbulo Military Academy,[1] was an Officer Candidate School of the United Nations Space Command located on the colony of Circinius IV; at the time of its destruction, its superintendent was General Black.[2] Active during the height of the Insurrection, Corbulo Academy trained the children of high-ranking officials within the government and military to become commissioned officers in the various branches of the United Nations Space Command armed forces;[3] despite this, many of the cadets came from colonial backgrounds.[4] The academy was named after the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, who was said to represent the values of honor, valor and allegiance expected of the cadets. "Axios", a prominent acclamation used by the cadets and personnel of the school, was spoken by Corbulo as he committed suicide by order of Emperor Nero.[3]
Overview[edit]
Campus[edit]
The campus of Corbulo Academy stood atop a mountain within a wooded region on Circinius IV; the surroundings of the school were used as training grounds. The main complex of the academy followed the UNSC's characteristic design aesthetic, closely reminiscent of the 20th-century style known as Brutalist architecture, being composed of angular, low-rise concrete structures, walkways and spacious plazas with minimalist decoration in form of pools of water and carefully managed greenery. The academy's central building rested on a series of support pillars and enclosed a quadrangle containing a park with a decorative pool. The campus was dominated by a space elevator that stood in the middle of the buildings and was used for ferrying personnel and cargo from surface to orbit. The facility also contained several massive communications dishes and a number of large vertical-axis wind turbines for power generation. Playing fields and other open training areas were located just outside the buildings.
Many walls within the academy were adorned with the academy's insignia as well as other UNSC symbols or propaganda posters. Corbulo Academy made heavy use of the poem "Forward Unto Dawn" for propaganda purposes; lines including "From Earth, For Earth" and "Today, Tomorrow, Forever" were displayed as slogans in UNSC banners across the academy and the poem itself was inscribed over the cadets' beds in the school's dormitories. A somewhat anachronistic statue of the school's namesake wielding an MA5 series assault rifle was located next to the pool within the academy's central courtyard.
The cadets' dormitory facilities consisted of corridors lined with two-person sleeping quarters, with minimalist interior decoration similar to the rest of the campus. These rooms were equipped with holographic data terminals which were commonly used for accessing messages from relatives or browsing news reports, among other activities. Adjoining the dorm corridors were equipment and weapons locker rooms, showers and cryo training facilities dedicated for each squad.
The statue of General Corbulo in the academy's courtyard.
A typical hallway in Corbulo Academy.
The standard type of cadet dorm room.
Hastati Squad's locker room.
A staircase within the campus.
Curriculum[edit]
Corbulo Academy was an institution primarily dedicated for the offspring of high-ranking UNSC or UEG officials,[3] with the cadets generally being around fifteen to sixteen years of age in their first year[5] and graduating with an officer's commission after a four-year education. The Corbulo curriculum was geared around the teaching of military science to its officer cadets. Military science is defined as the theory, method, and practice of producing military capability in a manner consistent with national defense policy.[6]
The cadets' eventual choice of career appears to have been relatively open-ended, with the graduates ending up serving in various military branches and roles. For first years, teaching was not geared towards a particular service, and even cadets who would become Naval officers (such as Thomas Lasky) would participate in extensive field and classroom exercises designed to teach ground combat tactics such as the pincer movement. Additionally, first year cadets would regularly be put into cryo chambers and thawed in order to acclimatise them to the cryosleep process used aboard UNSC Navy ships.[7] Other first year training included basic fitness, military courtesies, and hand-to-hand combat.[3]
First year cadets were arranged into nine-person squads for training purposes. By their fourth year, at least some senior cadets were given command of these squads.[3]