UNSC Army

The UNSC Army is a branch of the UNSC Defense Force primarily responsible for land-based military operation.

Background
Little is known about the UNSC Army, and this is probably due to the fact that the Army is a land-based fighting force, and thus little of the Army is assigned to the UNSC Navy, with the exception of transport to other planets. It is also known that the UNSC Army uses different equipment from the UNSC Marine Corps, examples of such being the M6J Carbine, the MA37 Assault Rifle, and the M392 DMR, in contrast to the MA5B Assault Rifle and BR-55 Battle Rifle in use with the Marines. Soldiers of the UNSC Army wear the UNSC Army Battle Dress Uniform.

Role
It is known that the UNSC Army frequently patrols colony planets, but little is known about any operations they've participated in, apart from the Battle of Mare Erythraeum and the Battle of Reach. Unlike the Marines, which actively take the offensive against the enemy, the UNSC Army is largely used in defensive operations, such as garrisoning UNSC-held territory.

The UNSC Army supposedly also takes a large role in training Colonial Militia. While Marines have been shown taking that role on a few occaisons (e.g. Contact Harvest) it is far more likely that the Army, as the defensive arm of the UNSC, would be the ones to take charge of maintaining the Militia.

The several supposed UNSC Army operations are the Battle of Mare Erythraeum, where Colonel James Ackerson have led an unknown number of Army infantry forces against the Jiralhanae Commander Lepidus on Mars, the Fall of Reach, where Army units assisted Noble Team, and the Battle of Earth, where an Army unit was known to help Marine and civilian forces in New Mombasa. It is also highly likely that the Army fought against Covenant Loyalist forces in other engagements during the Battle of Earth.

Trivia

 * The only known confirmed members of the UNSC Army are Colonel James Ackerson, an intelligence officer in the ONI who was once an infantryman, and Urban Holland, a Colonel who evaluated most of the members of Noble Team.
 * The UNSC Army makes its in-game debut in Halo: Reach, where UNSC Army troopers, Marines, and ODSTs will have their own service tags showing their name and rank, with some of them named after Bungie employees.
 * The fact that the Army uses older equipment means that this could be a preference for dependable weapons or that more advanced arsenals get passed along to the Marines first.

Related Pages

 * UNSC Air Force
 * UNSC Defense Force