Jonathan Doherty

"The Rookie. Not exactly green; No ODST is. If I didn't think he could do the job, I wouldn't have him on my six. He doesn't say much but I don't care. I just need him to listen."

- Buck's view on The Rookie.

The Rookie (Service Number 11282-31220-JD) is a Lance Corporal in the UNSC Marine Corps, joining on July 7th, 2547. Little was known of this Marine other than his initials being "J.D.", and that he was born in Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna.

He is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who was recently transferred from the 26th MEF, part of a Rapid Offensive Picket that suffered near-annihilation at New Jerusalem, Cygnus. He served in Mombasa, Kenya in 2552 and is a part of Dare's squad.

Background
During the First Battle of Earth, The Rookie was one of the ODSTs with the mission to attack the Prophet of Regret's Assault Carrier positioned above the city of New Mombasa. However, in the last moment before the drop, ONI operative Dare took control of the squad. The Rookie himself, however, was largely unaware of this as he was sleeping at the time. He was awakened by Romeo in a rather rude manner right before the drop.

As the squad dropped toward the ground, instead of landing onto the Covenant ship, Dare changed the squad's course towards the ONI Alpha Base on New Mombasa. Unfortunately, moments before they were meant to hit the ground, the Carrier jumped into Slipspace, generating a massive shockwave and an EMP, scattering the pods all around the city. The Rookie's pod, in particular, was slammed by Mickey's pod, cracking the pod's window, and plunging it into free-fall. New Mombasa's urban infrastructure AI, the Superintendent, observed the Rookie's pod slamming through a building and crashing within another, and estimated a 99.99% chance of fatality for the landing. Despite this, the Rookie had indeed survived, although he was knocked unconscious.

Six hours later, the Rookie slowly woke up in his pod, in the occupied city center of New Mombasa. The Superintendent had been monitoring him and waiting for him to wake up. As the Rookie dropped to the streets below and started to move on, the Superintendent provided him with valuable help, such as activating signs and streetlights to guide him to safety, as well as uploading a map of the city to his VISR database.

As the Rookie explored the city, he tried to piece together clues to find out what happened to his squadmates while avoiding the numerous Covenant patrols in the city.

Trivia

 * The Rookie is the main protagonist of Halo 3: ODST, a prequel and expansion pack to Halo 3.
 * The Rookie has been confirmed to have an action figure modeled after him by McFarlane Toys, the creators and manufacturers of the popular Halo action figures. It is set to be released alongside the other figures in the sixth series.
 * The Rookie's enlistment date is 07/07/2547. This is a reference to Bungie Day, which is held on July 7th.
 * Theoretically he could not have been born after July 7, 2529, as he would have had to be at least 18 years of age to enlist. However, both Romeo and Mickey appear to have been underage when they enlisted, so this may also be case with the Rookie.
 * He is the newest member of the squad, despite the fact that he enlisted before, and holds a higher rank than Mickey.
 * The Rookie has no voice actor; he doesn't speak a word throughout the entire Halo 3: ODST campaign, making him a true silent protagonist, unlike the Chief, who spoke freely during cutscenes but remained silent during gameplay.
 * He has a scratch that resembles a 7 on his chest plate.