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Events

The Covenant attack Jericho VII this year. Some civilians manage to escape, including orphans who will volunteer for the SPARTAN-III program.^[1] The UNSC fights for the planet for the next three years.^[2]

July 19: From a classified location, Codename: COALMINER sends a transmission to Codename: SURGEON at the Reach Military Complex, discussing Operation: HYPODERMIC and the beginning of the SPARTAN-III Program.^[3]

December 27: The child candidates of SPARTAN-III Alpha Company are taken to Onyx and undergo a test to determine who will be accepted into the program.^[5]

Battle of Vodin: The Covenant attack the UEG colony world of Vodin; the colony survives, but the UNSC suffers significant casualties in the engagement.
Spartan Randall-037 is deemed an "unrecoverable asset" during the Battle of Vodin and is designated missing in action.^[6] He would later be considered one of the few SPARTAN-IIs to be truly MIA.^[7] However, he would survive by landing in one of Vodin's oceans and subsequently integrate with the planet's civilian population, later refusing to return to the UNSC.^[6]
Photojournalist Jake Courage gets into a disagreement with his editor. Although the details remain ambiguous, it is believed that Courage wanted to print a series of pictures from a deadly Grunt attack. His editor refuses on the grounds that they are too graphic, and so Courage leaves the paper and staged his own exhibition. The photos won him critical acclaim and set him up as a well-respected war photographer.^[8]
Future ODST Victor Ramos is born sometime this year.^[9]