User:Ward J/Jonathan Ward

{{CSV |name=Jonathan Ward |image= |rank=Staff Sergeant |servicenumber=01442-12348-JW |unit=105th ODST Div., 45th Reg., 8th Bn., Echo Company |birth=April 3rd, 2528 |death=N/A |gender=Male |hair=Brown |eyes=Brown |status= Active }

Childhood
Jonathan was born on Reach in the year 2528. He was raised by in a rather strict military family: his father was a retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant; however, his mother had no prior military experience. He, like his father, had become very interested in the military, particularly the Marine Corps, at a very young age. His father was not pleased by this, however, having told Jonathan numerous times he would be better off joining one of the local mining companies that operated on Reach.

This did not deter Jon from his dream of becoming a Marine. As early as fifteen he was visiting the local recruiting station, talking to the virtual recruiters and obtaining materials to study prior to his enlistment. Upon his eighteenth birthday in 2546, he took his entrance examination and receive relatively high marks, ensuring he could do any job he pleased in the Marine Corps.

Enlistment into the Marine Corps
Jonathan shipped off for his recruit training two weeks after he came of legal age to enlist. He was trained for thirteen weeks before graduating boot camp as a Private (E-1). He was then sent off to Military Reservation 01478-B where he was administered infantry training for twenty three weeks. Upon graduation, he was given his first assignment with the Second Platoon, Oscar Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Marine Regiment on board the UNSC Tool. He then received further drilling in tactical and combat simulations on board the Tool's Tactical Simulator. He would not see true combat until a month after he joined the company.

Defense of Draco III
A distress call was made from the naval commander at Draco III early 2547. The UNSC Tool was one of three ships close enough to respond to the call. After a quick slipspace jump, the Tool entered geosynchronus orbit of Draco III and launched its battalion of Marines. The battle for Draco III was a bloody mess and Private Ward came face-to-face with several near death experiences before his mission was over. By the end of the battle, their mission had turned from preventing a Covenant convoy from entering New Albany to evacuating over a dozen civilians from the planet. Only seven civilians were evacuated through the efforts of Oscar Company and then the Marines made a quick retreat via Pelican's.

The Marines returned to the Tool just in time. Moments after arriving on board, it quickly jumped out of the system and began its required random jumps before returning to Reach. Ward would not discover the fate of the rest of the colony and its inhabitants until a week after their return to Reach, where he watched the televised execution of hundreds of civilians and captured military personnel by the hands of the Covenant. Miraculously, no one in second platoon had been killed in the operation; but, Oscar Company as a whole took massive casualties.

Fall of Victoria
In 2548, a year after the events of Draco II, now Private First Class Jonathan Ward accompanied Oscar Company in an anti-insurgency operation on the planet Victoria known as Operation: SCARLET WIND. The mission was to neutralize rebel forces who were reconstructing the abandoned Camp New Hope, nearly a decade after the SPARTANs had neutralized General Graves at the very same location. The mission was successful, with only two Marines wounded during the firefights that broke out during the mission. This was the first time Ward had been forced to kill other humans and it made a huge impact on his outlook of war.

After the operation had been completed and all platoons reported their missions were successful, Oscar Company returned to Camp Justice, a UNSC Marine base on the planet. During the midst of night, a Covenant fleet entered the system and engaged the local UNSC fleet. A Covenant carrier managed to break through the enormous blockade and landed troops on the ground. The base came under attack at approximately 0300, catching a good portion of the Marine forces located at the base off guard.

The battle that ensued was a bloody slaughter. Second platoon suffered heavy casualties and the Marines of Oscar Company fell back. During the battle, Ward managed to save his newfound friend, PFC Zachary Furby's life as a camouflaged Elite attempted to sneak up on the Marine and shoot him in the back. This helped strengthen Ward's friendship with Furby and by the end of the battle, Furby returned the favor by killing a Jackal sniper that was aiming to shoot Ward as he climbed into a Pelican drop-ship.

Oscar Company barely made it off Victoria intact. Managing to yet again regroup with the Tool prior to its jump out of system, the Marines held a funeral ceremony for many of the fallen in the company.

Operation: RESISTING DAMNATION
Jonathan's second mission against the Insurrectionists after Operation: SCARLET WIND on Victoria was Operation: RESISTING DAMNATION. Second platoon was tasked with providing escort to a supply convoy, hauling numerous weapons and supplies, to a training facility found on the colony world of Tribute. While on escort, the convoy came under fire from a small group of rebels armed with light-to-heavy weapons. At least one M19 SSM Rocket Launcher was employed by the rebels, which surprised the Marine forces who were left in temporary shock as a Warthog was destroyed, blocking the path ahead for the rest of the convoy.

The second platoon Marines quickly recovered under the leadership of First Lieutenant Anthony Durant, who ordered first squad (to which Ward was a part of) to flank the enemy while second squad kept the rebels pinned with suppressive fire. The maneuver was successful and all the rebels were eliminated, allowing the convoy to continue on safely to the base.

Operation: MOBILE SHADE
Ward's third mission against the insurrectionists and second on Tribute was Operation: MOBILE SHADE. In the western provinces, a large rebel movement had taken control of many of the cities and villages of the region. Oscar Company was called in to perform several missions to disrupt the rebels' activities. Second platoon was first called to patrol a village located near Forward Operating Base "Baselone". Nothing occured out of the ordinary during the patrol and second platoon was extracted via M831 Warthog Troop Transports.

Second platoon's next mission had members of first squad taking part in a boat patrol of the northern archipelago. The first neck of the mission was routine, with little excitement for the Marines. However, during their return trip to Baselone, the patrol boats came under attack by insurgent forces on the shoreline. The Marines defended themselves by using the M247 GPMGs mounted on the bow and aft of the patrol craft.

The platoon's third mission was by far the bloodiest. The Marines were transported to a dam nearly three kilometers from the FOB where first platoon had come under heavy fire from hostile forces. Second platoon arrived and engaged the enemy for almost an hour before air support arrived in the form of two Pelican drop-ships that fired on the insurgent forces and neutralized them in quick succession. Both platoons were then extracted and sent back to base.

Slated for extended leave, the Marines of Oscar Company prepared to return to the Tool when the Forward Operating Base came under siege by an army of rebel forces. The remaining Marines of the base fought back, defending the area with their very lives. Ward watched as several of his friends were killed, along with the platoon corpsman, Hospitalman Second Class John Miller, whom he had disliked due to the way he treated him on several occasions. The defense was barely successful, having needed close air support from a squadron of C709 Longsword's to completely demolish the assaulting army of rebels.

Extended Leave - Reach
In late 2548, Jonathan and the rest of his company was finally granted an extended period of leave in which he used to visit his wife, Marlene, back on Reach. During the entire month of leave, he went on several dates with her and they remained together at their home in the mountains of Reach, near several major military complexes.

Just before Ward returned to duty on the Tool, Marlene broke the news that she was pregnant to her husband. Ecstatic, he began making plans for his baby's birth when he returned to the company.

Paris IV
The UNSC Tool was transferred to the UNSC 7th Fleet to vigilently guard the planet Paris IV. On January 27th, 2549, the colony came under siege by the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice. The Tool's battalion of Marines yet again went to work as they heriocally defended the colony from siege. Although in the end, they had to retreat back to the Tool as per the order of Admiral Winston Fernelli, the Marines of Oscar Company managed to complete their missions prior to their evacuation.

The Tool then aided the rest of the fleet in their counter attack on the Covenant fleet, managing to damage a third of the fleet before being decimated by a wave of reinforcements. The Tool escaped with severe damage and several breaches in the hull. After the battle, First Lieutenant Anthony Durant was promoted to captain and transferred to another unit as company commander. Ward was also promoted, to the rank of Lance Corporal.

ODST Enrollment
After the events of Paris IV, Jonathan made the decision to volunteer to become an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. He was transferred from Oscar Company back to Reach, where he began the four month training program required for him to make it as an ODST. Spanning the four months of training, he was taken to several military reservations and training outposts on Reach before performing his final crucible by performing a mock orbital drop from the UNSC Twilight's Beauty.

Upon completion of the crucible, he was meritoriously promoted to the rank of Corporal and awarded the pin of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

Second Battle of Arcadia
Corporal Ward's first engagement as an ODST was at the Second Battle of Arcadia on September 9th, 2549. Fighting a losing battle, he managed to protect a twelve-man group of colonists for two hours alongside his team until a Banshee flier engaged his team, killing the colonists in the crossfire. Then as the team was to be extracted to return to the UNSC Hammer of Odin, he single-handedly killed a squad of Covenant troops as they attempted to persue the troopers and eliminate them from behind.

The team extracted and the Odin made the jump back to Reach. Ward was promoted to sergeant for his actions and awarded command of his own team.

Team Charlie
Once Ward was returned to Reach, he individually screened and interviewed fifty potential candidates to make up his new team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Out of the fifty, only seven were chosen. Those seven were as follows:

Corporal Alexander Thomas Lance Corporal Joshua Wilson Private First Class Brandon MacDoyle Private First Class Tyler Owen Private First Class Eric Lewis Private Marcus Henderson Private Elijah Xander

Bliss
Ward's second combat drop was on the planet of Bliss which came under siege from the Covenant upon their accidental discovery of the world. The initial fleet was faught off; however, a single Covenant stealth ship managed to pass by UNSC lines and detected a Forerunner structure on the planet - in which forced the commander to alert the Covenant hierarchy who in turn ordered a much larger fleet to assault the world.

Team Charlie inserted behind enemy lines and neutralized the Covenant commanding officer. Afterwards, they moved on foot to a valley where a nearby Covenant convoy would be passing through. PFC Owen planted explosives at several locations and the squad awaited until the convoy arrived. Once the Covenant had reached the center of the valley, Owen detonated the explosives, wreaking havoc on the convoy. The remaining Covenant were subsequently eliminated and the ODSTs were sent back to the regional FOB. Several hours later, the Covenant fleet was faught back as a second UNSC fleet entered the system and managed to obliterate the Covenant fleet from their rear.

Crystal
The third combat drop for Ward and his first at his new rank of Staff Sergeant, the Marines of Team Charlie were once again called to action on the forested world of Crystal. Several major metropolices dotted the planet and a single Office of Naval Intelligence facility, codenamed "Delta Base", could be found on the surface. During the first wave of attack, the ODSTs were HEV dropped down to the surface.

The initial drop claimed he lives of Privates Xander and Henderson, as well as the life of PFC Lewis. Three men short, the squad rallied in a nearby clearing where they were engaged by Covenant forces from a nearby supply camp. The assaulting Covenant platoon was eliminated as a Marine convoy drove by investigating the weapons fire reported in the area. The ODSTs were then transported to Delta Base where they defended it from attack.

Ward's team was then sent on a mission in lieu of a second attack on the base to locate and neutralize the Covenant commanding officer and to destroy the Covenant supply camp that had been previously discovered by Private First Class Tyler Owen. The mission was successful, with the supply came up in flames and the Covenant commander sniped by Lance Corporal Wilson. Upon extraction, Corporal Thomas was killed by a nearby Jackal Sniper. Moments later, the entire main Covenant base was destroyed by a Longsword carpet bombing run.

Ward then spoke to the base commander and former platoon commander of second platoon, Major Anthony Durant. He then discovered that underneath the ONI base was a Forerunner ruin that the Covenant were after. The ODSTs were then sent out on another mission - to fight through the third wave of Covenant forces to designate a landing zone of Pelican drop-ships to evacuate all non-essential base personnel from Delta Base. Once all the personnel were evacuated (including Team Charlie), Major Durant initiated the base self-destruct as a massive army of Covenant forces broke through the perimeter and forced entry into the underground portion of the facility. The major was killed, along with the entire third wave of Covenant, in the subsequent blast.

The UNSC fleet then managed a last ditch counterattack that successfully gutted the surviving Covenant fleet. The victory was highly praised by ONI Section Two and televised across the colonies and Earth.

Injuries & Scars
As a Marine and ODST, Jonathan Ward has often received many wounds in combat. Though never anything too severe, he did receive a scar that runs horizontally from cheek to chin awarded in a fight with an Elite wielding a Energy Sword. He also has acquired numerous plasma burns along his back and stomach and quite a few minor scars on his legs.

Family
Jonathan has a relatively small family, with most of his relatives being deceased. He married Marlene Anderson, a Earth-born woman hailing from England in early 2548. In early 2550, his daughter Alana was born at seven pounds, six ounces. Ward has yet to see his daughter in person; however, and has only seen her in photographs sent via e-mail from his wife.

Ward's parents, Daniel Frederick Ward and Melissa Sophia Ward are still living. They own a small farm on Reach where they grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables that are sold to the military to support the war effort.