Franklin Mendez

"Nothing can kill the Chief."

- A young John-117 refers to Mendez

Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez is a legendary UNSCDF NCO who was involved in the training for every Spartan soldier from the Spartan-II and Spartan-III programs, and it has been implied that he was a Spartan-I. His career is extensive and he has earned numerous medals and commendations fighting the Covenant.

Early Career
It has been implied throughout the series that he was a SPARTAN-I in the ORION Project. It has also been implied that augmentations he underwent during the SPARTAN-I project have kept him strong into his old age, allowing him to take an active role in training and combat. Before teaching the Spartan-IIs, Mendez was a hand-to-hand combat and physical training DI as a Chief Petty Officer.

SPARTAN-II Training
He was the Spartan-II's training leader during their first years on Reach in 2517 until 2525. He trained them in the aspects of combat as hard as any Marine when they were only at the age of 6. His military training was punctuated with in-class strategy sessions with Deja. He was present for the creation of the SPARTAN-II Gray Team.

In the beginning of their training, Mendez and his training instructors used Electric Batons to discipline trainees. However, his trainers would occasionally use rifles with tranquilizer rounds to incapacitate the trainees (that would eventually make up Gray Team) who attempted to escape. Eventually, the Spartans, Spartan-117 in particular, grew to look up to Mendez as a solid, unmovable force in their life, "The only constant in the universe". They had great respect for him, perhaps even to the extent of seeing him as a father figure.

After their training was completed, he was reassigned to go train the next generation of Spartans, though he had not been heard of for some time. It has been stated that John-117 never saw him again.

SPARTAN-III Training
After the Spartan-IIs graduated, Mendez was slated to train the next class of Spartan-IIs, but the program was delayed indefinitely by Dr. Halsey due to issues with viable candidates. Mendez requested reassignment to active duty. Over the next six years, he fought the Covenant on five worlds, won two more Purple Hearts, and was promoted to Senior Chief Petty Officer. Mendez was then recruited by Colonel James Ackerson to assist Spartan-051 in running the Spartan-III program. He trained three Spartan-III companies at Camp Currahee on Onyx from 2531 until 2552. He was originally skeptical of the job, comparing the behavior of the trainees to that of the schoolchildren in Lord of The Flies.

Battle of Onyx
Mendez was on the Shield World Onyx when it activated. He, along with Spartan-III Team Saber, Tom-B292, Lucy-B091, and Kurt-051 were virtually alone on the planet, and were forced to hide from Sentinels until eventually Kelly-087 and Dr. Halsey arrived, followed shortly by Fred-104, Will-043, and Linda-058. Mendez assisted them in fighting all the way to the core of Onyx. Mendez then evacuated to Onyx's Core along with the other survivors. At the funeral for the Spartans who died in combat, he read an excerpt from his favorite book: an account of the Interplanetary War called A Soldier's Tale: Rainforest Wars.

Personality
Mendez is a strict, by-the-book military man and thus has a solid sense of duty and honor. He also rarely allows himself to freely display emotions (for example, John-117 only saw him smile once).

Awards
Mendez is a battle-hardened veteran who has won numerous decorations, including multiple Gold Stars, Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, and The Red Legion of Honor.

A Spartan I?
It may be possible that Mendez was a Spartan-I. The biggest piece of evidence to support this claim is the fact that he trained the Spartan-IIs. ONI "hired" a Spartan (Kurt) to train the next generation of Spartans. This could mean that ONI has the previous generation of Spartans train the new Spartans. Another, yet small, piece of evidence is when he asks Kurt near the start of Ghosts of Onyx, "Do they let Spartans drink now?"

Trivia

 * Halo: First Strike has a potent reference to Mendez, in which Dr. Halsey finds a string: CPOMZ, followed by a 512-character alphanumeric string. It is later confirmed in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx to be a reference to Mendez: Chief Petty Officer MendeZ (CPOMZ).
 * He had his own custom-made Warthog. Instead of a Chaingun, he had a rack of Argent V missiles in the gunner region.
 * He also read the book Lord of The Flies sometime in his life and compared the Alpha Company recruits to the kids in the book in a private conversation to Kurt-051.
 * He enjoyed Sweet William Cigars (this was known when Dr. Halsey was waiting for Mendez, she thought of taking one even though he thought of them as a treat.).
 * Mendez gave Master Chief his quarter back at the final moment they met. He recalled that John broke a few of the trainers' fingers when they tried to take the coin from him.
 * His last known position is on the shield world, Onyx.

Quotes

 * A leader must be ready to send soldiers under his command to their deaths
 * You don't win unless your team wins.
 * Do they let Spartans drink now?