Killed in action

""Looks like a Covenant patrol. Badass Elite units, all KIA.""

— Sergeant Avery J. Johnson to Captain Jacob Keyes on Alpha Halo

Killed In Action, better known as KIA, is a casualty classification used by the United Nations Space Command that denotes the death of a serviceman during/after a combat mission or situation.

Due to the need to increase morale in the United Nations Space Command, Spartan-II supersoldiers are never listed as 'Killed In Action', but rather as Missing In Action or Wounded in Action to give the appearance that they are invincible and can never die. The Spartan-IIs would put a fallen member's status as MIA or WIA on their team's rosters. Shortly before dying, Kurt-051 listed several Spartan-IIIs and a Spartan-II (William-043) as MIA.

There are three other classifications for soldiers, MIA (Missing In Action) WIA (Wounded In Action) and POW (prisoner of war). These four classes for non-active servicemen were used as early as World War I, created by the allied nations in an effort make it easier to tell what happened to wounded, missing, captured or dead soldiers.

Related Links

• "Killed in action" on Wikipedia
• Missing In Action (MIA)
• Wounded in Action (WIA)