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 in the game Halo 3: ODST.

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

Some time before the First 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.

First Battle of Earth
During the First 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.

Trivia

 * 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 is the only default character in Firefight, and the only character whose helmet cannot be removed.
 * 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, 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 very 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.