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| {{Status|Canon}}
| | Have you ever wondered what made the [[Spartan-II]]'s nearly invincible and matchless? This is their pain, sweat and blood. |
| [[File:BL Black vs Red.png|thumb|300px|Spartan trainees fighting with paintball rounds.]] | | (article not yet finished) |
| {{Quote|We were built for combat and raised for war.|[[John-117]]}}<ref>[https://youtu.be/MCdjytlM6Yk?t=12s '''YouTube''': ''Halo 5: Guardians Experience - Master Chief Video Logs'']</ref>
| | == The reason the Spartan-II program was commenced: == |
| The key to the [[SPARTAN-II]]s' seeming invincibility and matchlessness in combat has always been their training, honing their finesse even outside of wearing [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|MJOLNIR armor]], and, combined with their [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|augmentations]], making them superior in strength, speed, accuracy, reaction times, and intelligence to all other UNSC military personnel. Headquartered in a dedicated compound within the [[Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex|FLEETCOM Military Complex]] on [[Reach]], the Spartans' training was mainly orchestrated by [[Chief Petty Officer]] [[Franklin Mendez]], with the [[dumb AI|AI]] [[Déjà]] providing theoretical education in the [[Reach Naval Academy]].
| | Predictions made by the [[UNSC]] [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] around/ before 2517, that by 2525 the integrity of the [[outer colonies]] would explode into major rebellions unless strong military actions were taken. The Spartan-II program would meet these requirements, creating a small, elite group of soldiers meant to stop rebellions in their tracks with ultimate dominance. In this way, civilian deaths might be reduced, civil war avoided, and expensive solutions not needed. |
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| During their first years of training, the Spartans were placed into situations and drills that pushed their abilities to their very limit and beyond. Their hard training was complemented with high-level education, which included mathematics, science, history, reading, writing, and military tactics. Although his training methodology was tough, even brutal in some respects, CPO Mendez always instilled discipline, honor, and respect into the Spartans. Over the course of their years of training, the Spartans learned and developed a [[Spartan signals|unique system of signals]] for use among themselves. During this time, [[John-117]] rose to be the ''de facto'' leader of the Spartans, with [[Kurt-051]], [[Jerome-092]] and [[Frederic-104]] identified as other emerging leaders.
| | The project was led by [[ONI]]'s Section 3, [[Dr. Catherine Halsey]] and assisted by the [[UNSC]]'s [[CPO Franklin Mendez]]. Candidates for the program were selected from children considered to have superior mental and physical attributes. In 2517, 150 candidates had been chosen but only half that number had been conscripted due to lack of living space. Most were only 6 years old. Due to the program's secrecy the children were quickly replaced by [[flash clones]], which died in a short amount of time. |
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| The Spartan often trained in various locations across Reach's [[Highland Mountains]] surrounding the FLEETCOM compound; among these were [[Camp Hathcock]], [[Military Reservation 01478-B]] and the [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]]. They were also taken to various offworld sites for specialized training, including [[Emerald Cove]] and the [[Chiron]] extreme-conditions facility over [[Mars]]. | | The children were abducted from their homes and taken to the military planet, [[Reach]], told they were going to be [[Earth]]'s defenders; protectors and the next day they would train under CPO Mendez. |
| | == Boot == |
| | === The First Day === |
| | The Spartans were rudely awaken by Mendez and his instructors. Mendez ordered them to go to the showers and they did. After that they went outside and Mendez made them do hard warmups: 100 jumping jacks, 100 sit ups, 100 deep squats, and 100 knee bends. After that they got water and Mendez, instructors ran/ jogged them about a mile to Déjà, a "dumb" [[AI]] that taught them a wide variety of lessons, math, and many different other things. They also got to eat crackers and milk. Their first lesson was a video of the original, Greek Spartans fighting against persian soldiers. (More detail about this lesson and many others in the section, Déjà's Lessons.) Then Mendez took them a couple miles to the playground, a mize in mid air with a bell at the top that you had to ring, put them into 15 groups of 3, and told them the last group to finish didn't get to eat supper. After that the Spartans and Mendez jogged back to the barracks and went to sleep. |
| | === The Second Day === |
| | The Spartans were woken, took their showers and did their morning calisthenics and ran a mile to Déjà. Today their lesson was about a pack of wolves hunting mousses. (More detail about this lesson and many others in the section, Déjà's Lessons.) After that they ran a couple of miles to the playground, but today the maze was alot more complicated. After the playground they ran a couple of miles back to the barracks and had supper. |
| | ==== Other ==== |
| | This is what the Spartans did between the firt couple of days and two years time: They learned to strip a trip line, fire a rifle, and treat a chest wound. Mendez had taught them to be strong, not only with their body but with their head, too. Mendez's lessons allways had a twist to them: stun mines on the obstacle course, snipers with [[paint pellet guns]] during parade drills. |
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| The Spartan-II training was ultimately cut short by the onset of the Human-Covenant War, and they were pushed into the field after only eight years of training. The original plan called for an additional two years of training.<ref>''[[Halo: Silent Storm]]''</ref>
| | === Two Years Later === |
| | | Around two years later, Mendez took them on a [[Pelican]] ride up through the [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]]. He got a young Spartan to pass out papers to every other Spartan. The papers were portions of maps of the local region. Mendez told them, you will be set down by yourselves, you will navigate to a marked extraction point and we will pick you up there, the last trainee to make it to the extraction point will have to walk all the way back. The Spartans silently made a plan to meet up |
| ==History== | |
| === The beginning ===
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| [[File:Halo TFoR Amphitheater.jpg|thumb|300px|The SPARTAN-II trainees about to be introduced to the program.]]
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| Between [[2511]] and [[2517]], 150 five to six-year-old children were selected from near perfect psychological and genetic markers that were set in [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]]'s selection protocols. The children were screened for certain genetic markers: strength, agility, even predispositions for aggression and intellect. But due to lack of facilities and funding, only 75 children were chosen for the program. The other half of the 150 original candidates were "weeded out" possibly through chance luck, the single flip of [[Quarter|a coin]].<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 40''</ref>
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| Between August 17 and September 23, 2517, the accepted candidates were taken from their homes in the middle of the night, injected with a sedative, and rushed through [[slipspace]] to [[Reach]], where they were going to be trained. They were only recently brought out of [[Cryo chamber|cryo-sleep]] when they were introduced to the program in the [[Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex]], which would become their new home for several years. In the secure briefing chamber of the complex, Dr. Halsey told them that, in accordance with [[Naval Code 45812]], they would be indoctrinated to defend [[Earth]] and all [[Human colonies|her colonies]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 45''</ref> She attempted to encourage them in spite of the fact that they could not return to their parents and would be forced to endure many hardships in the years to come. The children were then escorted to barracks where they had a meal, and went to bed at around 2330 hours.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 43-46''</ref>
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| === Boot camp ===
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| ==== September 24, 2517 ====
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| [[File:TFoR-as-Deja.jpg|thumb|250px|The Spartans being taught by Déjà.]] | |
| The Spartans were awakened early in the morning by [[Franklin Mendez|CPO Franklin Mendez]] and his instructors at 0530 hours. Mendez ordered them to go to the showers and those who hesitated were hit with an [[Humbler stun device|electric baton]]. Once outside, [[Franklin Mendez|CPO Mendez]] ran them through 100 reps of jumping jacks, sit ups, deep squats, knee bends, and leg lifts.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 53''</ref>
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| Afterwards, Mendez and the instructors jogged them about a mile to the [[Reach Naval Academy]] where [[Déjà]], a [[Dumb AI|"dumb"]] [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] and Halsey's attaché on the program, taught them a wide variety of lessons, including mathematics, science and history, between physical training. Their first lesson was a video of the original Greek [[wikipedia:Spartans|Spartans]] fighting against Persian soldiers at Thermopylae.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 55''</ref> Then they jogged two miles to the "playground", a maze in mid-air with a bell at the top, where they were divided into teams of three. Each team was tasked to [[Ring the Bell|ring the bell]] positioned on a pole and then cross the finish line. The last team to reach the bell at the end would not get supper, as an incentive to win. Though [[John-117]] reached the bell first, his other team-mates were last, forcing them all to do without supper.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 58''</ref>
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| ====September 25, 2517====
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| The Spartans were woken, took their showers and did their morning calisthenics and ran a mile to Déjà. Their lesson was about a pack of wolves hunting moose. After the lesson they ran the two miles to the playground, which had been changed and was much more complicated.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 59''</ref>
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| ====September 26, 2517 - July 11, 2519====
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| In this time Mendez taught them to strip a trip line, fire a rifle, and treat a chest wound. Mendez's exercises often had a twist to them such as stun mines on the obstacle course, snipers with [[Paint pellet gun|paint guns]] during parade drills, and others. They were taught to be strong in body and mind.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 64''</ref>
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| ====July 12, 2519====
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| [[File:Highlands05.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]].]]
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| Two years later, Mendez took them to a training mission in the [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]]. Pieces of paper were distributed, fragments of a map of the local region that had been shredded. They were set down alone to navigate to the marked extraction point and picked up there by an [[D96-TCE Albatross|Albatross dropship]]. They were told that the last one to the extraction point would be left behind and have to walk back.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 63''</ref>
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| Instead, however, the Spartans combined their strengths to meet up together at a lake near to the LZ. They discovered an Albatross dropship, as promised, but the occupants were not in uniform and carried live-ammunition weapons. The Spartans lured the men into an ambush, either knocking them out or killing them. They then hijacked the Albatross and John contacted Déjà, who remotely piloted the dropship back to base. John made sure he was last to board the Albatross to make sure that nobody else would have to walk home.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 71''</ref>
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| John was made team leader for his planning of the Spartans reaction to the training operation.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 72''</ref>
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| ====2520====
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| During the Spartans' third year of training, they studied classical mechanics in the physics courses, though John-117 was more interested in tactical theory than Newton's laws of motion.<ref>''[[Halo: Silent Storm]]'', chapter 1</ref>
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| ====July 14, 2523====
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| For even more serious training, the Spartan-IIs were matched against the formidable [[Tango Company]] in simulated war games. Still only 12 years old at the time, the Spartans were nevertheless able to continuously beat Tango Company. Eventually, the men of the company resorted to brutality as a form of payback, with "accidents" occurring with Spartans captured in the war games. Eventually, Tango Company's CO, furious at his men's inability to stop the Spartans, ordered them to use live rounds instead of stun rounds.<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''', ''page 195''</ref>
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| ====September 11, 2525====
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| The newly augmented Spartans were transferred to an abandoned [[titanium]] mine on Reach to enhance secrecy and reduce the injury risk to other personnel. Due to the uneven strength, speed, intelligence and accuracy of the Spartans, their trainers were forced to don [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor#Mark I exoskeleton|Mark I powered armor]] simply to keep up with them. Training missions invariably ended in a victory for the Spartans, with even security cameras neutralized.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 90''</ref>
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| ==Non-canon and dubious canon appearances==
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| ===Silver Timeline===
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| {{Main|Silver Timeline}}
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| SPARTAN-II candidates were kidnapped at a young age by [[Catherine Halsey/Silver|Catherine Halsey]] and ONI to be trained.{{Ref/YouTube|Id=HTVOT|5KZ3MKraNKY|Paramount+|Halo The Series (2022) Official Trailer|Y=2022|M=1|D=30}}
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| ==Gallery==
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| <gallery>
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| File:HaloMovie SpartanTraining Concept.jpg|Concept art produced for a second attempt to make the [[Halo film|''Halo'' film]], depicting the Spartan cadets training on Reach.
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| File:HTV-Iwannagohome.jpg|John-117 after attempting to run away in ''[[Halo: The Television Series]]''.
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| File:HTV SpartanJumpBox Concept.jpg|''Halo: The Television Series'' concept art for Spartan training equipment.
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| File:HTV SpartanGymEquipment Concept 1.jpg|''Halo: The Television Series'' concept art for Spartan training equipment.
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| File:HTV SpartanGymEquipment Concept 2.jpg|''Halo: The Television Series'' concept art for Spartan training equipment.
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| File:HTV SpartanGymEquipment Concept 3.jpg|''Halo: The Television Series'' concept art for Spartan training equipment.
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| File:HTV SpartanGymEquipment Concept 4.jpg|''Halo: The Television Series'' concept art for Spartan training equipment.
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| </gallery>
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| ==List of appearances==
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| *''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{1st}}
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| *''[[Halo: First Strike]]''
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| *''[[Halo: Blood Line]]''
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| *''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
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| **''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp|Boot Camp]]''
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| *''[[Halo 4]]''
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| **''[[Infinity Briefing Packet]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Hunt the Truth]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series]]''
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| *''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo Mythos]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: Envoy]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: Retribution]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: Silent Storm]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: Lone Wolf]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: Oblivion]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: Shadows of Reach]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo Infinite: Memory Agent]]'' {{Mo}}
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| *''[[Halo: The Television Series]]''
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| **''[[Homecoming (TV Series)|Homecoming]]''
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| **''[[Solace (TV Series)|Solace]]''
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| ==Sources==
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| {{Ref/Sources}}
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| {{United Nations Space Command}}
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| {{SpartanPrograms}}
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| [[Category:Spartans]]
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