Candidate 052 - Assignment 18-6-2519

{|style="width:100%; color:#FFF;" Assignment: Describe your role in the Spartan-II Program in a minimum of 500 words.
 * valign="top" style="padding:5px;"|

My designation is Trainee 052. My name is Jorge. I’m eight years old.

I was chosen three years ago to be part of this program. I didn’t understand what it was really about at first, but I’ve learned a lot since the beginning. We’re going to be the protectors of Earth and the colonies. That means we’re going to fight the Insurrectionists, but we’re going to fight them differently than other soldiers. We’re going to win. That’s why it has to be us. We’re the strongest and smartest, and nobody else can do it.

I didn’t have any family before I joined up. Now it’s like I have seventy-four brothers and sisters. There wasn’t much to do before besides playing and watching vids. Now we’re learning how to fight like grownups. Chief Petty Officer Mendez says we’re learning more than anybody has ever learned in boot camp. He says someday we’ll be even tougher than he is. I don’t think anybody can be tougher than the Chief.

Doctor Halsey likes to talk to us sometimes when we’re not too busy. She comes and visits me when I have to stay in the infirmary. She’s the only person who uses our names here. A lot of the others don’t like it when she does that. I really don’t mind. She’s not like the Chief. She would never do anything to hurt us.

My teammates are Kirk, Maria, Cal and Malcolm. I’ve been friends with Kirk and Maria since the first day. Chief Mendez gave us team names last week. We’re Gold Team. Next week we’re going to learn about specializations, and start training with different weapons. I hope I get something cool, like a rocket launcher. We’re almost as big as the grownups now, so we don’t need the cut-down paintball guns anymore.

I think my role in this program is that I’m supposed to be the strongest person on my team. I’m already one of the biggest kids here so it’s easy for me to carry extra equipment, so the others don’t get weighed down. I’m good at moving heavy things and hitting really hard. I used to be jealous of the team leaders but now I understand that everybody can’t be in charge. I like doing my part. We all have to work together as parts of the whole.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if Doctor Halsey hadn’t picked me. I think I would be very bored. I don’t know what else I could really grow up to be. It’s like I was born to be a Spartan. The Insurrectionists are bad and want to break the UNSC apart. If I wasn’t here I couldn’t do anything about that. I’d just be somebody else sitting around and living selfishly. Chief Mendez hates when people are selfish. We’re supposed to put humanity first and ourselves last.

I want to grow up and do everything Doctor Halsey says we’re supposed to do. We’re going to be heroes. The best soldiers ever in all of history. Everything we’ve been through will be worth it. The Insurrectionists won’t be hurting people anymore. Everybody will be happy.

''Candidate 052’s adaptation to the indoctrination phase satisfactory. Candidate’s beliefs regarding myself troubling – must work to reinforce subject-observer distance and dispel any preconceived notions of maternal care. Fascinating that the candidate uses familial terms to describe fellow trainees given previous orphan status. - C.H.''