Jonathan Doherty

"And the FNG - the Rookie. Not exactly green; No ODST is, but 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 description of the Rookie.

The Rookie (Service Number 11282-31220-JD) is a Lance Corporal and an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper in the UNSC Marine Corps. He is the main protagonist and playable character in the game, Halo 3: ODST.

Biography
Little is known of this Marine other than his initials being "J.D.", and that he was born in Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna. He enlisted on July 7th, 2547.

Some time before the Battle of Earth, he served in the 26th MEF, part of a Rapid Offensive Picket that suffered near-annihilation at New Jerusalem, Cygnus (apparently leaving The Rookie as the only survivor). After this, he was transferred to the Squad led by GySgt Edward Buck.

Battle of Earth
During the Battle of Earth in October 20, 2552, the Rookie and his Squad, along with a larger ODST unit, were stationed aboard the, with the mission to attack the Prophet of Regret's Assault Carrier positioned above the city of New Mombasa. At the last moment before the drop, ONI operative Dare took control of the squad, with the intent to use them in a yet-undisclosed mission. The Rookie himself, however, was largely unaware of this as he was asleep 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 into 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 performed regulation actions for a civilian vehicle accident, estimating that the crash landing had a 99.99% chance of fatality for the pod's occupant. 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 centre of New Mombasa. The Superintendent had been monitoring him and waiting for him to wake up. As the Marine 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.

After finding the final clue, he picked up a message from Capt. Dare saying that she was in the Data Center, and needed assistance. Upon reaching the Underground, he learned she was on Sublevel 09. After reaching a Data Stack, he ran into a NMPD Officer attempting to check on his men; however, the Superintendent wouldn't let the officer onto the next level until the Rookie arrived at his location. After fighting through Covenant forces they reached the Data Stack to the next level; when the Rookie jumped down, the Stack closed and the officer was killed by a swarm of Drones. Alternatively, if the player has twenty-nine Audiofiles, he will follow the Rookie down to a frozen section of the tunnels, where he promptly turns on the Rookie for 'knowing too much' and must be killed or left behind. After fighting through more Covenant, he finally arrived at Dare's location, where she told him of her mission: to retrieve the data the Superintendent recorded during the Prophet of Regret's attack on the city. The Rookie and Dare were forced to fight their way through an entire Drone hive, as well as other assorted Covenant. They found Vergil holding the Superintendent's data. When the Rookie first encountered Vergil, he was hesitant, but Dare convinced him to help protect Vergil after she told him the alien could be vital to defeating the Covenant and discovering their intentions on Earth. If the player has collected all the audiologs, it is Dare who is hesitant and The Rookie will motion for her to stand down, whistling to befriend Vergil.

He soon reunited with Buck and together helped Dare and Vergil escape the Data Center. On the way up to the surface, the Rookie witnessed a romantic moment between Buck and Dare. After fighting past a Covenant outpost, and up another elevator, they arrived at the Coastal Highway where he and Buck rode down the highway in various Warthogs and a Scorpion covering Dare and Vergil in a City Garbage Truck. While driving down the highway they witnessed the Loyalist fleet arriving in force, and start to glass the city, eventually, they ran into a Scarab, that fired on Dare, Buck decided to find a new location and hold position until Mickey arrived with the Phantom, after fighting off waves of Covenant troops Mickey finally arrived and the squad evacuated the city and watched as the Covenant glassed the city.

A month later the Rookie was seen, with his Squad, during Sgt. Johnson's interrogation of Vergil.

Trivia

 * An action figure was modeled after him by McFarlane Toys, the creators and manufacturers of the popular Halo action figures. It was released alongside the other figures in the sixth series.
 * The Rookie is the only default character in Firefight, and the only character whose helmet cannot be removed, likely because Bungie never designed a face for him, just like the Master Chief, or at least does not plan on revealing it.
 * The Rookie's enlistment date is 07/07/2547. This is a reference to Bungie Day, which is held on July 7th.
 * The Rookie has no voice actor; he doesn't speak a word throughout the entire Halo 3: ODST campaign, save for assorted grunts and groans and whistling in a cutscene in the campaign - making him a true silent protagonist, unlike the Chief, who spoke freely during cutscenes, but remained silent during gameplay.
 * His initials, J.D. is a probable wordplay on the name "John Doe", a placeholder name given to a male whose true identity is unknown or must be withheld for legal reasons.
 * The Rookie, just like Dutch, can also be considered an unofficial medic of the Squad due to the fact that at the ending cutscene when Romeo is on the floor in the Phantom the Rookie will give him a stimpak. His rucksack is also the second biggest, next to Dutch's, which could explain why he gave stimpaks and not biofoam.
 * When looking at the objectives on VISR, his picture shows his rank to be Recruit, but his actual rank is Lance Corporal.
 * On Coastal Highway with the IWHBYD Skull switched on, sometimes you can hear Buck say "Keep her/it steady James." This implies the Rookie's name could be James.
 * In the Rookie's HEV, on Legendary, there is a picture of a girl, either a girlfriend or relative, whose identity is currently unknown.
 * It is possible that this is the same character from the Halo: Evolutions short story Dirt. This character, an ODST, talks little, and is referred to as "The Rookie" by the author. The story could also give motivation to the character, because it talks about not giving up land, and fighting bravely, something the character does at the Battle of Earth.