Spartan

"Marine: Damn right, I'm running away! There's two of us, alone, on foot, no weapons, and four hundred Covies on the other side of that hill. What are you going to do, tough guy--field-rig a railgun out of a rubber band and my dental fillings? Spartan (speculatively): You have fillings...?"

- The Operator, repeating an old joke

The Spartan Programs are a series of UNSC projects designed to create physically, genetically, and technologically superior "supersoldiers" as a special fighting force within the UNSC Military, specifically the navy. There have been three generations of the SPARTAN program, each larger, more advanced, and more ambitious than the one before it.

The Spartan Program started in 2491 when the first generation of supersoldiers or "Spartans" was created by enhancing volunteers from the UNSC Defense Force. . Since then, the Spartan Program has gone through two more phases so as to include the following:




 * 1) SPARTAN-I Program or the ORION Project
 * 2) SPARTAN-II Program under the pretense of Naval Code 45812
 * 3) SPARTAN-III Program the brainchild of James Ackerson.

The unit patch worn on their dress uniforms is an eagle holding thunderbolts in one talon and arrows in the other.

SPARTAN-I Program

 * Main Article: SPARTAN-I Program

The ORION project or the SPARTAN-I program was the phase one of the Spartan Supersoldier program. Initiated in 2491, as an element of the ORION project, not much is known about this first generation of warriors (their training, augmentation, goals, etc.).

The original Spartan Project was created to test genetic enhancements on volunteers from the armed forces. . These enhancements were the precursors to the genetic enhancements used in the Spartan-II program.

One other fact known is that, as opposed to the Spartan-II program, all participants in Spartan-I were volunteers.

SPARTAN-II Program

 * Main Article: SPARTAN-II Program

Project: SPARTAN-II was the continuing effort to produce elite soldiers and would be highlighted by being the first in the series to meld advanced mechanical technology with the troopers' superior physiques. The SPARTAN-IIs were heavily engaged in the Human-Covenant War. At the time of the Second Battle of Earth survivors of this group included Spartan-058, Spartan-087, Spartan-104, and Spartan-117.

SPARTAN-III Program

 * Main Article: SPARTAN-III Program

The SPARTAN-III program was the successor of the SPARTAN-II supersoldier program. Engineered by Colonel James Ackerson and the Office of Naval Intelligence, SPARTAN-III was to be the next generation of Spartan supersoldiers and while they are inferior to the Spartan IIs they were designed to be more numerous, better trained, cheaper, and expendable.

History of Spartan Projects

 * 2491: Project ORION, the predecessor to Project: SPARTAN-II, is launched
 * August 17, 2517: The first SPARTAN-II candidate, six-year-old test subject number 117 (Eventually the Master Chief, SPARTAN-117), is selected.
 * September 23, 2517: The Spartan test subjects are abducted from their homes and replaced with flash clones. The real children, most no older than six, are brought through Slipspace to planet Reach. They are officially conscripted into the SPARTAN-II program.
 * September 24, 2517: The Spartan test subjects begin their first day of training, with an excruciating physical regimen with Chief Petty Officer Mendez and rigorous classroom education by the AI Deja.
 * July 12, 2519: After an extended mission in the Military Wilderness Training Preserve, SPARTAN-117 is made Squad Leader of the Spartans.
 * March 9, 2525: The Spartans undergo augmentation procedures. Of the 75 children, 30 are killed during the procedures, 12 are too crippled to continue training, and only 33 candidates are left.
 * March 30, 2525: The 30 dead Spartans are given a deep space funeral, the 12 crippled Spartans are reassigned to other jobs in the Office of Naval Intelligence. The remaining Spartans begin their final recovery and training.
 * April 22, 2525: SPARTAN-117 accidentally kills three ODST soldiers in self defense. The Spartans are permanently given a bad reputation as "freaks" because of this incident. From this point on, trainers must wear armor for their own safety.
 * September 11, 2525: The Spartans are given their final training exercise in a cavern against trainers in Mark I Powered Exoskeletons.
 * September 12, 2525: The Spartans are given their first mission: The capture of Colonel Robert Watts of the Eridanus Rebels. SPARTAN-117 is given the highest military rank of the Spartans as he is promoted to Petty Officer Third Class.
 * September 14, 2525: A Spartan team consisting of SPARTAN-117, SPARTAN-104, SPARTAN-087, SPARTAN-058, and SPARTAN-034 succeed in their mission.
 * September 15: 2525: The Spartan unit garners its first major award, SPARTAN-117 receives a Purple Heart for an injury during the mission.
 * November 2, 2525: The Spartan soldiers are first briefed about the Covenant. Chief Mendez and Deja leave the Spartans to train a new group of Spartans.
 * November 3, 2525: All 33 Spartan soldiers graduate from training. They are all commissioned with the rank of Petty Officer, Second Class.
 * November 27, 2525: The Spartans are given their first MJOLNIR armor. The Spartan unit suffers its first combat casualty, SPARTAN-034 is killed in the destruction of a Covenant ship.
 * May 1, 2531: The Spartans have an operation in the 111 Tauri System, at Camp New Hope situated in Planet Victoria to recover nuclear warheads stolen by the rebel insurgents. SPARTANs 117, 058, 087, and 104 were captured in an ambush, but rescued by SPARTAN-034's replacement, SPARTAN-051. The Spartans complete the mission and killed a rebel leader, General Graves in the process.
 * November 7, 2531: The Spartans were sent on a routine investigation mission in the Groombridge 34 System, near Construction Platform 966A, which was a decommissioned UNSC site. SPARTAN-051's jetpack thrusters malfunctions while in the vacuum of space and was presumed M.I.A. Unknown to Fred-104 and Kelly-087, this was a cover-up so that Colonel Ackerson could recruit Kurt-051 into training the SPARTAN-IIIs.
 * February 10-12, 2535: The Spartans fight in the Jericho VII theater of operations. They witness their first glassing firsthand from the bridge of the destroyer as they retreat.
 * 2537: Unbeknownst to the first class of Spartans, a second class, consisting of at least 1375 test subjects, is abducted and replaced with flash clones in the same manner as the first class.
 * 2552: Stealth ship Apocolypso causes a temporal anomaly, throwing one of the second Spartans into the 21st Century.
 * July 17, 2552: The first Spartans are deployed to the surface of Sigma Octanus IV and fight in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.
 * August 27, 2552: The first Spartans are briefed about their mission to capture a Covenant Prophet.
 * August 30, 2552: The Battle of Reach. The first Spartans are divided into two teams: Blue Team (SPARTAN-117, SPARTAN-058, and James) and Red Team (All other Spartans). Blue Team is dispatched to Reach Station Gamma to destroy a NAV database. Red Team is dispatched to Reach to defend the Orbital Generators. Red Team is subsequently divided into Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta Teams. During this battle all Spartan-IIs from the first class are killed or missing, except SPARTAN-117, SPARTAN-104, SPARTAN-087, SPARTAN-008, SPARTAN-044, SPARTAN-043, SPARTAN-093 and the clinically deceased (later revived after cryo-stasis) SPARTAN-058 escape Reach. Of these survivors Spartans 008, 044 and 093 were killed in subsequent combat actions in the battle in the slipspace anomaly and during Operation: FIRST STRIKE. Three unidentified Spartans designated Gray Team are rumored to have been absent from the Battle of Reach and subsequent actions due to their assignments on "distant" battlefronts. Their whereabouts have not yet been confirmed, though they may possibly K.I.A. as they haven't contacted Command for a year.
 * September 20, 2552: SPARTAN-117 lands on the ring-shaped structure called 'Halo', or Installation 04. After finding out that it would kill all sentient life in the galaxy, SPARTAN-117 successfully destroys Halo by detonating Pillar of Autumns fusion core.
 * October 20, 2552: The four remaining SPARTAN-IIs (minus the "distant" three) return back to Earth. SPARTAN-117 is issued the Mark VI armor. SPARTAN-117, defends and secures ODP-142 Cairo Station during the First Battle of Earth.
 * November 3, 2552: SPARTAN-043, -058, and -104 are constantly engaged for a two week period between the First and Second Battle of Earth. Lord Hood orders the three to Onyx to assist UNSC forces there against Forerunner Sentinel and Covenant attack.
 *  November 4, 2552: SPARTAN-043, -058, and -104 participate in the Battle of Onyx reinforcing UNSC forces including SPARTAN-051 and -087. SPARTAN-043 and -051 are killed in the battle. The remaining Spartans and UNSC survivors withdraw to the safety of Shield World.
 *  March 2553: SPARTAN-117, along with the Elite forces led by Arbiter, successfully arrives at The Ark, or Installation 00 by the portal made on the Earth. After killing the Prophet of Truth, he finds out that a replacement to Installation 04 is being built over the Ark. SPARTAN-117, Arbiter, and Sergeant Major Johnson goes there and destroys not only the installation and the Ark itself. In this mission, Johnson is killed by 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of Installation 04. While escaping with the frigate Forward Unto Dawn, the portal to the Ark collapses and only transfers Arbiter back to the Earth. SPARTAN-117 and Cortana are left behind.

Historical allusion
The SPARTAN soldiers of the UNSC are closely related to the ancient Spartans of Greece, specifically during the time of the Persian invasion led by Xerxes I. The wars between invading Persians and defending Greeks would be known as the Greco-Persian Wars, and lasted from 499-448 BC. It was during this war, that the greatest last-stand in history occurred at the Battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartan soldiers leading 5000 other Greeks under the command of King Leonidas, held back a force of approximately 2,000,000 Persian infantry for three days. All of the Spartans were eventually overwhelmed but were successfully in inflicting 75,000 (Herodotus) Persian casualties, and buying the Greeks more time to prepare for a better defense. The Spartans' formidable resilience was due to their rigorous training in Close-Quarters Combat(Pankration) that started when the boys reached the age of seven. Their training was so severe, that it was not uncommon for recruits to be killed by their comrades or by the elements during exercises. This radical approach to warfare ensured that the surviving recruits would become the greatest warriors in history. The legendary actions of the 300 Spartans would be immortalized in song, film, and literature and solidified into Western pop culture. A monument dedicated to the 300 Spartans stands to this day at Thermopylae with the inscription:

Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.

Trivia
When Spartans show up on the battlefield, the Marines around them almost always get a very large morale boost.