UNSC Marine Corps

"We're going in! Get tactical, Marines!"

- Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson

The UNSC Marine Corps is branch of the United Nations Space Command Defence Force primarily responsible for land-based military operations, and protecting UNSC Navy starships and bases from attack.

Introduction
A rugged and diverse assortment of warriors, the Marines of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force are fighting a losing war against the Covenant's far superior technology and numbers. Under the leadership of notable commanders, they continue to wage a furious struggle against the Covenant, even as their numbers dwindle. They're the best of the best, unfortunately, they're only Human.

Battle of Installation 04
A sizable Orbital Drop Shock Trooper special forces detachment and a standard Marine detachment was assigned to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn for its intended operation to infiltrate Covenant High Command and kidnap a Prophet as leverage for negotiating a peace treaty between the UNSC and the Covenant. However, in light of the events of the Battle of Reach, the Pillar of Autumn was forced to change its operational plans and crash-land on the Forerunner installation known as Installation 04 (Alpha Halo).

The Pillar of Autumn's ODST detachment consisted of four 130-man companies: Companies A, B, C, and D, for a total of approximately 520 operators. During the Covenant boarding of the Pillar of Autumn, they were assigned to defend the engine room of the warship against the boarding parties. They were extremely efficient in their defense, suffering only several dozen casualties while successfully holding off the Covenant at the two entrances to the massive engine chamber. However, the standard Marines did not fare as well in their defense, setting up multiple lines of defense around the periphery of the Pillar of Autumn and utilizing Combat Barriers and urban combat techniques in the restrictive environment to hold off the enemy Elites, Hunters, Jackals, and Grunts. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful, and the Covenant were able to infiltrate many compartments of the warhip before Captain Jacob Keyes, commander of the Pillar of Autumn, decided it was a lost cause to hold off superior numbers of attacking Covenant warhips as well as internal boarders and ordered all hands to evacuate, systemically ordering operations personnel to escape in lifepods while Marine combat teams continued to fall back to secondary defensive positions before Captain Keyes sounded the final evacuation alert.

Naval crewmen and standard Marines evacuated in Bumblebee lifepods while the ODST companies utilized Human Entry Vehicles - low-profile high-risk insertion pods, to evacuate the crashing Pillar of Autumn and land on Installation 04. The landings were in haste and uncoordinated, however, and technological failures and piloting errors killed dozens of UNSC soldiers and crewmen alike. Major Antonio Silva, the ODST Commander, ordered all surviving ODST units to converge on a lightly-defended Covenant-held butte, which he planned to secure and fortify into a coordinating home base for the UNSC resistance to come against the Covenant. The butte was quickly taken, and defensive trenches were dug and ODST commandoes established perimeter security, ensuring that the butte would be a strategically defensive point for the UNSC survivors. It was christened Alpha Base, and Major Silva ordered all remaining UNSC forces to rendezvous there to make a stand. The Covenant launched a large vehicular raid on Alpha Base of nearly a hundred Ghosts, but the 500 or so remaining ODSTs were able to repulse the poorly led assault with M19 SSM Rocket Launchers and Sniper Rifles.

Meanwhile, SPARTAN-117, one of the last UNSC soldiers to leave the ship, left in a Bumblebee lifepod, but the lieutenant who was piloting the craft was unable to land the pod safely, and in the ensuing crash landing, SPARTAN-117 was knocked unconscious and the Marines in the pod were killed. However, eventually, SPARTAN-117 awoke, and evaded Covenant patrols, managing to rescue about a dozen Marines that had safely landed in nearby crashed lifepods, defending each of the four groups of Marines until Echo 419 could ferry them back to Alpha Base to join the rest of the UNSC survivors on the ring world.

However, while most of the surviving Marines and naval crewmen were able to call for evacuation by Pelican Dropships after their crash landings, not all were able to be evacuated. Captain Keyes, the senior command staff of the Pillar of Autumn, and several Marine guards, were together in a lifepod and landed without incident when the Covenant recognized that Keyes was the highest-ranking UNSC officer on the ring, and was a major theat. Eventually, Keyes and his men were captured by the Covenant before they could be evacuated, and all but the captain were executed, and shortly afterwards, Keyes was taken prisoner on a grounded Covenant warship, the CCS-class Battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation.

After SPARTAN-117 managed to save the survivors of four of the crashed lifepods, he too was taken back to Alpha Base, but shortly afterwards, after the limited UNSC intelligence efforts revealed that Keyes was a prisoner under interrogation aboard the Truth and Reconciliation, the UNSC resistance sent a small team of Marine regulars (including Fire Team Charlie) and SPARTAN-117 aboard Echo 419 to set down a short distance from the Covenant battlecruiser, and then to infiltrate the ground sentries defending the only accessway into the warship (the Gravity Lift), and to then subsequently find Captain Keyes, rescue him, and evacuate from the Truth and Reconciliation. Surprisingly, the plan went almost flawlessly. SPARTAN-117 was able to use his exceptional marksmanship with the sniper rifle to clear out most of the enemy Shade defense turrets, and then the team of Marines, lead by Sergeant Parker, was able to follow him. At the base of the Gravity Lift, there was a large brawl, as Covenant forces were heavily fortified there with Shade turrets. Even after the UNSC raid team neutralized the defenders, the Covenant sent at least two waves of reinforcements from a Spirit dropship and sent some of the garrison of the Truth and Reconciliation down the Gravity Lift, including a pair of Hunters that considerably damaged the small UNSC attack force. However, after SPARTAN-117 and the surviving Marines secured the area around the Gravity Lift, Echo 419 air-dropped further Marine reinforcements, and the reinforced UNSC force went up the Gravity Lift into the belly of the Truth and Reconciliation.

The UNSC forces tenaciously fought their way through alien corridors for fifteen minutes before reaching a spacious hangar bay. However, before they could continue, the Covenant were able to lock the doors on the Marines and the Master Chief, continually sending in waves of reinforcements to kill the trapped UNSC soldiers in the locked hangar bay. After losing a significant amount of soldiers, Cortana was able to use her computer countermeasures to force open a door. Since Captain Keyes was in the immediate vicinity and the hangar bay needed to be secured if Alpha Base would send a dropship to evacuate the raiders, SPARTAN-117 ordered Sergeant Parker to hold her men in the hangar and secure it while SPARTAN-117 assaulted a Covenant brig, freeing Keyes and also several other captured Marines. With Keyes and the emancipated Marines in tow, SPARTAN-117 led the group back to the hangar bay, where they linked up with Parker's men. Echo 419 attempted to dash into the hangar bay to daringly exfiltrate the UNSC force, but Covenant air patrols were too substantial to facilitate that, so the small cluster of UNSC soldiers were forced to hijack an enemy Spirit dropship that was laying dormant in the hangar bay, and used it to escape to Alpha Base, with Captain Keyes freed and secured.

Meanwhile, a Covenant Elite, 'Quolamee, surrenders to the UNSC and yields intelligence about a Covenant arms cache in a faraway swamp. After Captain Keyes greets Major Silva and congratulates him and his ODST special forces operators for establishing Alpha Base for the UNSC, Keyes decides to lead a team of two squads of Marines under the leadership of Sergeant Avery J. Johnson to secure this Covenant arms cache while SPARTAN-117 is ordered to a remote island where a Forerunner construct named the "Silent Cartographer" is stationed - a construct that is believed to hold an entire and fully-detailed map of Installation 04. Securing the intelligence would give the UNSC an inestimable edge in their resistance efforts.

Two Pelican Dropships insert two squads of Marines (lead by Gunnery Sergeant Waller) and SPARTAN-117 to an edge of the island. They are deployed under fire, but manage to secure a beachhead and an LZ for the UNSC to land further reinforcements to secure the island and obtain the information from the Silent Cartographer. The surviving Marines establish a perimeter for the LZ while Echo 419 air-drops a M12 Warthog LRV. SPARTAN-117 and two Marines, Hosky and an unnamed Marine corporal, took the Warthog, driving it to a cliff that was the entrance to the facility that housed the Silent Cartographer. However, the Covenant knew that the UNSC was attempting to secure the intelligence, and locked the entranceway, forcing SPARTAN-117 to make a detour to a security substation, deactivating the locked door before finally being able to tunnel his way through the Covenant defenses stationed inside the subterranean facility and retrieving the intelligence.

The surviving Marines still awaiting on the LZ are scheduled to be reinforced by Pelican Bravo 22 when it is shot down by ground fire. Shortly afterwards, a pair of Sprit dropships converged on the Marines by the LZ, murdering them all while SPARTAN-117 is still within the bowels of the underground facility. The lack of a UNSC-held LZ on the surface of the island meant that Echo 419 could not exfiltrate SPARTAN-117 and his vital intelligence. However, SPARTAN-117 finds that there is a massively honeycombed system of massive open corridors that permeate the ground of Installation 04, allowing a vehicle that entered the system to travel essentially anywhere undetected. Echo 419 is able to slip into the system and rescue SPARTAN-117. However, instead of being exfiltrated to Alpha Base, SPARTAN-117 reveals that the ringworld is a weapon, a weapon that if secured for the UNSC, could be a tremendous boon to the war effort. According to the Silent Cartographer, the Control Room that coordinates the firing of the weapon is set in a distant snowy environment whose exact coordinates SPARTAN-117 has secured. Echo 419 is able to transport SPARTAN-117 through the massive underground air pathways to a location near this "Control Room".

SPARTAN-117 fights his way through heavy resistance - the Covenant have set up a strong defensive perimeter around the Control Room consisting of Wraith tanks, Ghost attack vehicles, Banshee aerial fighters, Shade turrets, and hundreds of soldiers. UNSC Marine forces, including Fire Team Zulu, are also scattered in the immediate area, and are holding out against superior Covenant forces. SPARTAN-117 rescues each of the Marine fireteams in turn, and then fights up a final hill of entrenched Covenant forces before reaching the Control Room. SPARTAN-117 inserts his armor's Artificial Intelligence, Cortana, into the supercomputer that nests within the room, and inquires Cortana about how Halo can be used as a UNSC-held weapon in the war effort. Cortana, however, does not answer his question, but insists that the supercomputer has written that there is a terrible, menacing, vague "threat" hidden beneath the surface crust of Installation 04, and that Captain Keyes's Marine team's "weapons cache", when "secured", would unleash this insidious enemy. SPARTAN-117 calls for an aerial evacuation from the Control Room, leaving Cortana behind in the Control Room to learn more about the weapons capability of Halo while Echo 419 transports him to the swampy weapons cache that Keyes and his Marine guards travelled to.

However, they are too late. Keyes's strike force of two Marine squads quickly eliminates the weak Covenant defenses, and penetrates into the underground facility that houses the arms cache, with Sergeant Johnson's squad taking point into the structure while the second Marine squad stayed behind in the swamp, with Keyes nestled in Johnson's squad. Eventually, the first Marine squad hits a locked door. The squad's technical specialist, Kappus, uses a Spoofer, an electronic lockbreaker, to open the door. Johnson then orders his Marines to move out into the room beyond and secure it, with Keyes behind them. However, they have not found their arms cache, but instead, have unlocked the galaxy-destroying parasite known as The Flood. Flood Infection Forms overwhelm Johnson's squad and also Keyes, assimilating them as Flood Combat Forms. SPARTAN-117, however, is several hours late. He battles through Covenant defenses outside and inside the facility, before encountering the formerly locked room, and a fallen Marine's combat helmet, with the mission recorder within intact. Viewing the mission recorder, SPARTAN-117 learns that Keyes and the Marines are MIA, and then the Flood attack SPARTAN-117, who defends himself and fights his way out of the facility, with the Flood following him. After he evacuates from the facility, he is greeted in the swamp by the Marines of the second squad, who reported that after they lost contact with Keyes's squad, they headed for the RV point. Echo 419 attempts to evacuate SPARTAN-117 and the second squad to Alpha Base, but they are beset by the Flood, who murder every Marine. Then, SPARTAN-117 meets with the mysterious Forerunner intelligence known as 343 Guilty Spark, who teleports the Master Chief away against his will before Echo 419 can evacuate SPARTAN-117.

Meanwhile, Alpha Base comes under heavy attack from a Covenant force. The Covenant have identified that SPARTAN-117 was responsible for the majority of the hundreds of casualties during the raid on the Truth and Reconciliation, and an ambitious Special Operations Elite named Zuka 'Zamamee is tasked with leading a platoon of Special Operations Elites into the bowel of Alpha Base to assassinate the SPARTAN-II while a much larger Covenant force distracts the UNSC defenders. Using a captured Pelican dropship, Charlie 217, 'Zamamee infiltrates the UNSC HQ, but SPARTAN-117 is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Spirit dropships hit the UNSC defenses hard, but are repulsed by mass sniper rifle fire and several Scorpion Tanks. Furthermore, the ODSTs organize several hunter-killer teams to re-secure the HQ, murdering all the Special Operations Elites save 'Zamamee, who is able to rescue a UNSC-captured grunt named Yayap and escape with Yayap in a Banshee fighter.

Equipment
Marines have few bio-augmentations and usually wear passive camouflage uniforms. They wear dark-colored metal-alloy armor to shield them from plasma fire and the few occasional bullets. Marine helmets are mounted with display eyepieces and helmet recorders, which give them information about their surroundings. As well as helmets, Marines on field ops in more humid locales sometimes choose to wear boonie covers. Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or "Helljumpers," distinctive in their black-based camouflage scheme and more protective body armor, are a special operations group within the UNSC Marines Corps.

Marine NCOs are easily recognized by the hat, not helmet, that has the Eagle, Globe and Anchor of the Marine Corps that they wear. They occasionally wear helmets, although in Halo: Combat Evolved, they are portrayed as never wearing them. Sergeants are (usually) more tactically adept, are better shots, and are tougher to kill than normal Marines, though these differences in gameplay, if any, are largely unnoticed.

The UNSC Marine armor is much different in Halo 2. The utilities worn under the armor are now camouflaged. The standard issue armor is more efficient and is a rough offshoot of the original armor used by Master Chief in Halo: Combat Evolved. The Marines apear as less of a rag-tag group in Halo 2 than they were in Halo: Combat Evolved. They no longer wear boonie covers and are never in combat without their armor. In fact, in Halo 2, the only times Marines are seen without any armor is during the awards ceremony on the first level. In this case, they are wearing their dress whites, and one armored Marine is missing the armor for his arms. It should be noted, however, that the full gray Marine armor with additional pockets/backpack in Halo: Combat Evolved was a medical uniform, as suggested by the letters EMP (Emergency Medical Pack) written on the back.

In the Halo Wars trailer, Marines are seen wearing helmets, balaclavas, and environmentally-suited armor to protect them from the cold.

List of equipment

 * CH252 Helmet
 * M52B Body Armor
 * VZG7 Armored Boots
 * S90 Gas Mask
 * Spoofer
 * VX7 Nerve gas
 * PG000E Portable Electricity Generator

Halo: Combat Evolved
In Halo: Combat Evolved, almost all Marines carry MA5B Assault Rifles, though occasionally they can be seen with a Sniper Rifle, Needler, Shotgun, or Plasma Rifle. They are relatively accurate with these weapons, but incidents of friendly fire commonly occur. Marines will strafe and avoid fire but not usually seek cover. They will roll out of the way of a vehicle but they will not pick up different weapons, Health Packs, or additional ammo.

Marines are conscious of back stabbing. After you have killed two Humans of any type, the rest of the Marines in the level will attack you. If you kill Captain Keyes or any other members of the bridge crew in The Pillar of Autumn, Cortana will lock the doors and summon a squad of invincible Marines to destroy you.

Marines hitch rides on player-driven Warthogs and Scorpion Tanks but are only capable of piloting Ghosts by themselves. They will exit Scorpions when the player leaves the driver seat, but will stay in a Warthog until they are ordered to get out. Be careful of Marines piloting Ghosts. They are occasionally prone to running you over. In Halo: Combat Evolved, the only practical way of getting a Marines' weapon, unfortunately, is by killing them.

Interestingly, the enemy Marines are most vulnerable to in Halo: Combat Evolved are the Infection Forms. The Infection Forms normally appear in overwhelmingly large numbers in the one level where Marines combat them, and cannot be shaken off once attached to a Marine.

Halo 2
In Halo 2, the Marines are much more intelligent. They are able to drive the Warthog, the Ghost, the Wraith, the Spectre and the Scorpion, albeit a bit clumsily. They can now melee sleeping Grunts or enemies with their backs turned, a vast improvement over the Halo: Combat Evolved Marines, who had to fire their weapons in such situations.

The Marines are far more interactive, sometimes speaking to each other while in combat and wield a greater variety of weapons. The player can also easily switch weapons with the Marines to make sure that they are well armed or that the player is. As in Halo: Combat Evolved, the Marines are aware of backstabbing, and will attempt to kill you after you kill a few of their comrades. The number of Marines that can be killed before the others turn against you oddly seems to vary depending on the weapon used and the way they are shot. For example, taking out three Marines with head shots usually won't make them see you as an enemy, but meleeing three Marines usually does. However, if the player progresses through the level and meets another group of marines a distance away from where the betrayal was performed, they will be marked as allies once again. Also, if the player does not harm any marines who are shooting at him/her for a certain amount of time the marine(s) will reluctantly return to an allied condition.

They will seek cover behind boxes and walls, though this mainly only happens when the Marines are desperate, so they don't use cover as the player does. Plus, Friendly Fire incidents with standard weapons are very rare. Marines with Rocket Launchers on foot will sometimes kill you, fellow Marines, or themselves by accident.

Halo 3
It is unknown what the Marines' abilities will be in Halo 3. All that is known about them AI-wise is that they are better drivers and more capable of surviving without the player's aid. Their armor appears to be metallic like in Halo 1, but with the High-Tec, woodland green armor and camoflauge of Halo 2.

Weapons

 * MA5B ICWS Assault Rifle
 * SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle
 * M90 Assault Shotgun
 * M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher
 * M9 HE-DP Grenade

Vehicles

 * M12 Warthog LRV
 * M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tank
 * D77-TC Pelican

Weapons

 * M6C Magnum Sidearm
 * BR55 Battle Rifle
 * M7/Caseless Sub Machine Gun
 * SRS99C-S2 AMB Sniper Rifle
 * M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher
 * M90 Assault Shotgun
 * M9 HE-DP Grenade
 * M247 GP Machine Gun

Vehicles

 * M12G1 Warthog LAAV
 * M12 Warthog LRV
 * M808B Scorpion MBT
 * D77-TC Pelican

Weapons

 * M6G Magnum
 * MA5C Assault Rifle
 * BR55HB SR Battle Rifle
 * M7/Caseless Sub Machine Gun
 * W/AV M6 Grindell/Galileian Nonlinear Rifle "Spartan Laser"
 * SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle
 * M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher
 * M90 Assault Shotgun
 * M9 HE-DP Grenade

Vehicles

 * M274 ULATV Mongoose
 * M12G1 LAAV Warthog
 * M12 LRV Warthog
 * M808 Scorpion MBT
 * D77H-TCI Pelican

List of Marines

 * Lance Corporal Janet Adams KIA, Evacuation of Troy
 * Al-Thani KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Staff Sergeant Marcus Banks ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private Bisenti KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Lieutenant Buckman KIA, Battle of Reach
 * Company Sergeant Tink Carter KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Lieutenant Jake Chapman KIA, Battle of Reach
 * Private Cochran ACTIVE DUTY
 * Sergeant Corly KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Second Lieutenant Dalu KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Dawkins KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Private Chipps Dubbo ACTIVE DUTY
 * Major Easley ACTIVE DUTY
 * Corporal C. Errera KIA, Battle of Reach
 * Private Fincher ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private First Class M. Fitzgerald KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Lance Corporal Gobi ACTIVE DUTY
 * Corporal Harland ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private First Class Hosky KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Private First Class Wallace A. Jenkins KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson ACTIVE DUTY
 * Lance Corporal "Snaky" Jones KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Private Kappus KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * General Kits KIA, Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
 * Lindemuth ACTIVE DUTY
 * Master Sergeant Lister KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Corporal Locklear KIA, Operation: FIRST STRIKE
 * Corporal Lovik KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Second Lieutenant McCasky KIA, Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
 * First Lieutenant Melissa McKay KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Private McKenzie ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private Manuel Mendoza KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Staff Sergeant Marvin Mobuto KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Corporal Benjamin M. Nunez ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private O'Brien KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Second Lieutenant Oros KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Sergeant Parker KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Corporal Perez ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private Marie Postly KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Parsons ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private Riley KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Private Satha KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Major Antonio Silva KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Sergeant Stacker KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker ACTIVE DUTY
 * Major General Nicolas Strauss ACTIVE DUTY
 * Private First Class Suzuki KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Medic "Doc" Valdez KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Private Walker KIA
 * Gunnery Sergeant Waller KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Corporal Wilkins KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Yutrzenika KIA, Battle of Installation 04
 * Unnamed Master Gunnery Sergeant KIA, First Battle of Earth
 * Unnamed Lieutenant KIA, Battle of New Mombasa
 * Unnamed Marine Officer MIA, Battle of Mombasa

Marine Units

 * 405th Marine Infantry Division
 * 17th Marine Regiment
 * 77th Marine Regiment
 * Alpha Company (Battalion unknown)
 * 105th Shock Division
 * 7th ODST Battalion
 * 1st Platoon (Company and Regiment Unknown)
 * 105th Drop Jet Platoon
 * Charlie Company
 * Tango Company

Fire Teams

 * Fire Team Zulu
 * Fire Team Charlie

Trivia

 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Marine's faces were modeled on Bungie employees.
 * Bungie went to great lengths to ensure that the Marines reflected the diversity of Earth; some Marines look and sound American, while others appear Asian, African,Australian, Hispanic and Italian.
 * In the Halo: Combat Evolved level "Truth and Reconciliation", Captain Keyes tells a Marine to "Stow your belly aching...! Remember you're a leatherneck." Leatherneck was a nickname earned by U.S. Marines in the 19th century.
 * Rarely, after a Marine is killed in Halo 2, his/her eyes will continue to blink.