Franklin Mendez

"Nothing can kill the Chief."

- John-117

Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez was involved in the training for every Spartan soldier from the Spartan-II and Spartan-III programs. His career is extensive and he has earned numerous medals and commendations fighting the Covenant.

It has been implied throughout the series that he was a SPARTAN-I in the ORION Project. This possibility was proven true when Kurt Ambrose requested that Mendez teach the SPARTAN-IIIs, and James Ackerson replied ''I understand. Spartans are needed to teach Spartans'' and shortly afterward Ackerson had Mendez transferred to teach the SPARTAN-IIIs. Before teaching the Spartan-IIs, Mendez was a hand-to-hand combat and physical training DI as a Chief Petty Officer.

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.

He is a hardcore military man, having won numerous decorations, including multiple Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, and The Red Legion of Honor. In the beginning of their training, Mendez and his training instructors used Electric Batons. 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. Although he is described as looking ordinary for a man who had seen so much combat.

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.

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 Spartan-IIIs at Camp Currahee on Onyx from 2531 until 2552.

Mendez was on the 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.

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).
 * Mendez always kept a book with him called A Soldier's Tale: Rainforest Wars. He read it at the funeral in memory of his killed Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs.
 * 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 book in a private conversation to Kurt-051.
 * It is possible and plausible that he is a Spartan-I. This is supported by the question he asks Kurt near the start of Ghosts of Onyx, "Do they let Spartans drink now?"
 * 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.

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?