Tarkov
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Tarkov was a Hungarian-speaking Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, assigned to the 19th Shock Troops Battalion of the 105th MEU who participated in the Human-Covenant War [1] .
Biography
Enlistment
An acquaintance, Staff Sergeant K. Stark, who had been a member of the 19th Battalion, was killed in action. Tarkov attended Stark's funeral and afterward volunteered to be an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. He then went through a series of brutal training exercises, including live ammunition combat crawls through mud, to prepare him for combat against the Covenant Empire.
Combat
During one of his first battles, he dropped onto an unknown planet amongst other members of his battalion to engage Covenant forces. Several lances of Jiralhanae soldiers were present at the landing zone, with multiple Banshees providing close air support.
One Brute Minor struck Tarkov while he was moving up the line, knocking off his helmet and inflicting deep gashes in his face, and throwing him into a puddle. As the Brute was approaching the helpless Marine, who was firing his pistol at the Brute to no avail, a severely damaged Banshee crashed into his back, killing the Brute and saving Tarkov's life.
Years later, Tarkov, now a battle-hardened veteran whose gashes had turned into scars, led four other ODSTs in a field burial for a dead comrade. As plasma fire erupted and artillery detonated in the distance, the ODSTs put on their helmets and moved out.