Have you ever wondered what made the Spartan-II's nearly invincible and matchless? This is their pain, sweat and blood.
The Beginning
Between 2511 and 2517, 150 six year old children were selected from perfect psychological and genetic markers that were set in Dr. Halsey's selection protocols. They screened them for certain genetic markers: strength, agility, even predispositions for aggression and intellect. But due to lack of facilities and funding, only 75 children were actually chosen for the program, since not all of the children were perfect for the project, there were environmental factors, mutations, learned ethics, and a hundred other factors that made them unacceptable.
Then, they were taken from their homes in the middle of the night, injected with a chemical that made them sleep for a long time, some times in between the dates: August 17-September 23, which is 75 children taken from many various worlds in only 38 days. They had then all been rushed through Slipspace to Reach, where they were going to be trained. They were only recently brought of cryosleep when a woman that they did not know yet told them that they would be indoctrinated into the UNSCDF to defend Earth and all her colonies, and that they could not return to their parents, that there would be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead, encouragement, and various other things. The children were then escorted to barracks were they had a something to eat, and went to bed at around 11:30 PM.
Boot
September 24, 2517
The Spartans were rudely awaken early in the morning by CPO Franklin Mendez and his instructors at 5:30 AM. Mendez ordered them to go to the showers and those who hesitated were hit by an Electric Baton. After that they went outside and Mendez made them do 100 jumping jacks, 100 sit ups, and 100 crouches.
After that, Mendez and the instructors 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 at Thermopylae. Then they jogged two miles to the playground, a maze in mid-air with a bell at the top, the instructors put them into 15 groups of 3, and told them the last group to finish didn't get to eat supper.
September 25, 2517
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 mousses. After that they ran two miles to the playground, but today the maze was alot more complicated.
September 26, 2517 - July 11, 2519
In this time the they 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: stun mines on the obstacle course, and snipers with paint guns during parade drills. Mendez had taught them to be strong, not only with their bodies but with their heads, too. Mendez told them they were going to be the Navy's best and brightest.
July 12, 2519
Around two years later, Mendez took them on a Pelican to the Military Wilderness Training Preserve.
One child handed out pieces of paper, 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 at a lake near the LZ. Once they were all at the lake they regrouped, scouted the area, and put their map pieces together. When they got to the extraction point, the men around the Pelican weren't in uniform and the Spartans devised a plan to take back the Pelican. The Spartans lured them out and they beat them all with rocks and stolen stun batons. With Déjà's help they all got home, some with minor injuries. A Spartan, named John-117, was responsible after the mission and was promoted to squad leader.