Woah!
I know this is purely conjecture but in Operation: CHARLEMAGNE the SI's lost one soldier, however they were never spotted by the enemy. How did this soldier die if not by enemy fire? My theory is that Oni faked this soldier's death in order to use him for training an already planed group of other Spartans (the SII's). If you haven't figured it out yet I think that soldier is CPO Franklin Mendez. FatalSnipe117 01:40, June 21, 2010 (UTC)
Image
Should I stick his image up on this page? They released it two days ago in Halo: Bloodline Issue 4.--Fluffball Gato 06:25, March 27, 2010 (UTC)
Untitled
Bold textCould Mendez be a Spartan I. Kurt or Kurt Ambrose was a Spartan and then he became a spartan III trainer. So was Mendez. He could have never been named Mendez but I might be wrong.The Consumed ,The Dead ,and Living File:ESE.JPG 21:50, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
Is that all you're going by? The fact that SPARTANs tend to train SPARTANs?
it's specifically mentioned in ghosts of onyx that mendez is a spartan-i: kurt requests that mendez train his spartan-iii's, and ackerson says "i understand, spartans are needed to train spartans". i'll find a specific page in a little bit.CaptJim 05:22, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
Mendez is a Marine/Navy person, right? --Blemo 
TALK • CONTRIBUTIONS • THE SOURCE OF SPAM 18:20, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, he is an enlisted navy member, you can tell by hus rank. --DEMONSPAWNED 18:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
- Marine Corps and the Navy are not the same thing. He's enlisted Navy, as ED said.16:33, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
I know a teacher at my school named Mendez... My friends and I call him SCPO Mendez for fun sometimes, since he reads the books, too.... --Blemo TALK • CONTRIBUTIONS • THE SOURCE OF SPAM 18:22, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
Wrong Information
In the early career bit its states, "This possibility was proven true when Kurt Ambrose requested that Mendez teach the SPARTAN-IIIs, and James Ackerson replied I understand. Spartans are needed to teach Spartans and shortly afterward Ackerson had Mendez transferred to teach the SPARTAN-IIIs." This is wrong, this quote does not exist, the actual line is on page 48 and is; Ackerson:I'll need a SPARTAN-II to help me train these new recruits. Captain Gibson: And you're just going to ask Dr. Halsey to lend you one? Ackerson: I have a different methodology in mind. Parangosky: You need a spartan to train a spartan, of course, but...tread damned lightly. Ackerson has already planned to have CPO Mendez train them as stated on page 63, "Mendez, will of course, join you," - Ackerson. I have deleted that line from the early career section.
Again with tough humans being SPARTANS...
"It has been implied throughout the series that he was a SPARTAN-I in the ORION Project. It has also been implied that augmentations he underwent during the SPARTAN-I project have kept him strong into his old age, allowing him to take an active role in training and combat."
Implied... where? From my own personal experience, I can tell you that Drill Instructors are some of the toughest people to walk the planet - they never show that they're tired (or even injured) and they are in incredibly good shape. If Halo has kept that image up, it's easy to understand why he seems to be so energetic at his age - after all, he is still a Drill Instructor, only now he's training SPARTANs. You also have to factor in the possibility that apparently people live a lot longer in the Halo universe. I will leave this portion of text on the page. I expect an answer as to where it is implied. I will also be researching.
"It may be possible that Mendez was a Spartan-I. The biggest piece of evidence to support this claim is the fact that he trained the Spartan-IIs."
OK, he trained the SPARTAN-IIs... how does that factor into him taking part in the ORION project?
"ONI "hired" a Spartan (Kurt) to train the next generation of Spartans. This could mean that ONI has the previous generation of Spartans train the new Spartans."
What solid proof do you have that Mendez was a SPARTAN to begin with? Was he ever a member of NAVSPECWAR, aside from serving as a Drill Instructor to the SPARTANs? If not, he was not a SPARTAN-I - from what I've heard, NAVSPECWAR is where they recruited volunteers for the project.
"Another, yet small, piece of evidence is when he asks Kurt near the start of Ghosts of Onyx, "Do they let Spartans drink now?""
Was Kurt the one drinking? If so, there's your answer - he wasn't referring to himself.
All in all, this is speculation. I will remove this section. When you can produce a viable source, you will put it back.
16:33, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
Personally, I see this as feasible due to one specific quote on page 129 of Ghosts of Onyx. "For a man pushing sixty, the Chief moved like a soldier thirty years younger. It wasn't the first time Kurt wondered what kind of Spartan he would have made." This obviously show that to the best of Kurt's knowledge, Mendez is NOT a Spartan-I, but to me, this seems like Nylund is implying thats the case. Why else would a statement like this be included? Not Now John 08:42, May 21, 2010 (UTC)
- Perhaps because he's training them. There are no sources or anything else implying that he is a SPARTAN. None. SmokeSound off! 11:24, May 21, 2010 (UTC)
Age difference
I think Mendez is to old to be a Spartan 1 from project Orion. if you compare the ages of Johnson (a known Spartan 1) and Mendez they are decades apart. the only real time you can compare the two is in halo 2 and when onyx starts to activate because they happen roughly at the same time. at that time Johnson can be no more then in his 30's but at the same time on Onyx is stated that Mendez is in his 60's. this clearly shows that their could be as much as 30 years between them. to further my idea when Mendez is training the Spartans 2's he is described as already having gray on his hair where Johnson was said in contact harvest that he was young at the time. when the Spartans were graduating john mentions that he was now fully gray and at this time Johnson was on harvest. also in ghost of onyx the doctor has aged very similarly to Mendez this gives me the impression that he is old. all of these points say to me that there are many years between Mendez and Johnson meaning that they could not have been in the same project. Themasteridiot
Johnson was in his eighties when he died. He looked so well because of his years in cryo. Him and Mendez could very well be the same age.
--Heretic Havana ("The odd Cuban out")Heretic Havana
Spartan-I speculation
Shouldn't the whole "Spartan-I" speculation be taken out of the page? I think the only reason that that one guy in Contact Harvest (Not johnson) is thought to be a S-I is because of something he said to johnson. And don't we not allow for this sort of speculation in articles? I'm just asking to make sure it's ok to delete it from the page. --"Why am I here and what the hell are you?"The guy who hates his username. 06:14, March 31, 2010 (UTC)
- See "Again with tough humans being SPARTANS..." two subjects up.--Fluffball Gato 06:32, March 31, 2010 (UTC)
- That was referring to the entire section. I agree - it needs to go away. There is nothing indicating that he participated in the ORION project, just speculation and conjecture. SmokeSound off! 11:32, May 21, 2010 (UTC)
New picture?
Where did we get the new picture of Mendez? Just wanting to know. Heretic Havana ("The odd Cuban out")Heretic Havana
The main one in the infobox? Its from the extended Birth of a Spartan short. 112 01:41, May 2, 2010 (UTC)
- But do we actually have any proof that it's Mendez in the video? I only saw the low quality version so there might have been a nametag I couldn't see, but if there's not, I don't think we have any proof at all to claim that it's him. So confirmation anyone?--Nerfherder1428 04:34, May 2, 2010 (UTC)
SPARTAN-I possibility
It is possible however cause if you look at ORION candidate 047 it doesn't say it isn't him or anyone in fact so it could possibly be Mendez. S225 19:37 24th may 2011 (EDT)
Project ORION
Wouldn't the Halopedian Administrators have deleted the part of Franklin Mendez being a spartan-I if he wasn't one??
The Interview with Ben
Since ONI got actors to impersonate Geovender and Walker, is it plausible that ONI got another actor to impersonate as Mendez for the interview? I suppose this was neither verified or debunked in Hunt the Truth so the clear answer would be no: Ben Giraud was indeed talking with Franklin Mendez and no impersonator. I'm curious if anybody had other thoughts about this matter. S.g.ali (talk) 14:06, 23 June 2015 (EDT)