Talk:Project ASTER

Actual number?

ONI is notorious for "killing off" their SPARTANs. They constantly pull them away for special teams. Examples of this are Team Black, Kurt-051, Headhunters, and Noble Team. With that considered, I think it is possible, if not likely, that the number of casualties from the augmentations was exaggerated. We only know for sure (correct me if I'm wrong) of four wash outs. Ever. So what is the real number and should this be mentioned in the article? pestilence Phil, pestilence! 02:15, 31 July 2011 (EDT)

A few of the individuals and groups "dissappearences" you are mentioning have nothing to do with the SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures. In the novel Fall of Reach John-117 says thirty-two Spartan-II's survived, thirty washed out; either dead or crippled (page 82, newest printing). If we assume that Black squad was a total black-out job, and was smuggled out under the pretext that they had died in augmentation, we could say that thirty-six survived intact and twenty-six washed out. Noble team was composed of Spartan-III's with the exception of Jorge-58. The other Spartans were aware of Jorge if Halsey's journal is to be trusted. Similar to Jorge-58, Kurt-51 was a known member of Blue Team alongsde John-117 and his later "death" was staged so that he could train the S-III's. The Headhunters were likewise composed of S-III's, and the two programs had different success rates. The Spartan-II augmentation procedure had either a fifty-two or a fifty-eight percent success rate depending on your view of Black Team's creation; the S-III procedures had a one-hundred percent success rate. I hope this addresses your concerns. For your consideration---Bruce2401 04:51, 31 July 2011 (EDT)

I think you misunderstood me, those examples were meant to show that ONI pulls aside SPARTANs all the time. And they do. Black team was pulled aside after the augmentations. While it isn't necesarily certain ONI lied about them, I believe the media on them said something like "so secret they were kept from their peers" (paraphrasing). So I am just curious how many could possibly be left, because we only know of four total wash-outs (we can't trust ONI so we basically have to see the body to confirm it). That leaves the fate of up to 22 SPARTANs uncertain. pestilence Phil, pestilence! 09:37, 31 July 2011 (EDT)

1) Actually, he says that thirty-two other Spartans had survived. Including John, that's thirty-three. 2) Black Team was probably spirited away under the guise that they had died. However, in her journal, Halsey says that the washouts' funeral was to be closed-casket, that no autopsies were to be performed, and that their bodies would be placed in cryo. She expresses her hope that some of the washouts can be brought back from clinical death: she then expresses her fear for what ONI would do with their own secret team Spartans. The fact that she is concerned about this seems like a big indication of Black Team's origins. 3) To clarify this entire issue, I've made a comprehensive overview of the program's survivors, cripples, and washouts; aside from the newly revealed Sarah Osbun, it is entirely up-to-date. --Courage never dies. 09:54, 31 July 2011 (EDT)