Tyrone Hosmer

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

- Tyrone 'Hannibal' Hosmer

Captain Tyrone Wilbur Hosmer (nicknamed Hannibal by fellow servicemen) is an experienced and decorated Commissioned officer in the UNSC Marine Corps. He served during the last years of Operation: TREBUHET and throughout the Human-Covenant War, and was a known participant of numerous campaigns, including the Eridanus, Harvest, South Pacific and Mandorla campaigns. At present, he has been assigned as a squadron commander for the SPARTAN-IV unit Albion Company.

Born in Utgard, Harvest to a higher-class family, young Hosmer moved to the Inner Colonies after his parents divorced, settling down in Chicago, United Republic of North America. On his 20th birthday – after extensive studies at the University of Chicago – he escaped his familial responsibilities by enlisting with the Marine Corps.

Following boot camp, he then participated in the ongoing campaign on Eridanus II against the Insurrection. There, he showed great tenacity, skill and a natural talent for tactics. As the conflict progressed and claimed more victims, he successfully climbed the rank ladder, reaching the rank of Corporal in 2521 and put in charge of Fireteam Alpha – consisting of himself, Lance Corporals Randy Chapman and Jessie Cecena, and Private First Class Jeremy Galvin.

The Covenant attack on Harvest, however, served to change the UNSC's objectives. Soon, Corporal Hosmer found himself assigned alongside his team to the lengthy campaign to reclaim Harvest – his own world of origin. Throughout the campaign, he earned two more Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star to his already considerable list of decorations. Most efforts were in vain, however, as the UNSC ultimately left the planet in 2531.

As the years passed, he rose to the rank of Sergeant by the time of the Battle of Earth. During the battle, he was assigned to the South Pacific garrisons, participating in the campaign that began as a result of renewed Covenant assaults. At the end of the campaign, a Forerunner portal artifact was discovered, leading to the sanctioning of an expedition through the portal it generated. Hosmer and the rest of his company accompanied the task force, fighting with distinction alongside Laszlo-108 against Covenant forces on other Forerunner installations on Magus, Pyre and Mandorla.

With the end of the Human-Covenant War, Hosmer joined Laszlo during Operation: SAVIOUR, the mission to search for John-117. The mission was deemed a failure and called off in 2596, forcing Hosmer to return into active service. Following his return, he got back on edge after numerous operations against the renewed insurrection and the Covenant Remnant. In 2610, he was reassigned to the 117th Special Operations Regiment (better known as the SPARTAN-IV Program), more specifically as a squadron commander in Albion Company.

Career Service Vitae
(as of 06:00 Hours, 1 January 2600) Hannibal

Full Name: HOSMER, Tyrone Wilbur

Blood Type: AB-

Height: 182 cm

Weight: 89 kg

Rating: Captain (CPT/O-3)

Unit: Echo Company, 256th Marine Regiment

Albion Company, 117th Special Forces Regiment

Service Number: 73645-10957-TH

Enlistment date: 21/11/2519

Location: Salisbury, United Kingdom, Earth

Born: Utgard, Edda, Harvest

Gender: Male

Citizen: Terran

Age: 100 (chronological), 34 (physical)

Occupation: Student

''Tyrone Wilbur Hosmer has been around since the latter stages of the insurrection, and he's still alive and kicking. That in itself speaks volumes, but when added with his exemplary service – which has been filled with acts of bravery and borderline eccentric tactics used to great effect – it's obvious that he's one of humanity's best, even if he personally would never admit it.''

Early Life
"My godforsaken father thought that he'd turn me into his heir – a new figurehead to lead his dadgum industry. But I showed him!"

- Tyrone Hosmer about his early life.

Tyrone Wilbur Hosmer was born on the Utgard City Hospital during the waking hours of the 21st of November, year 2499, as the first-born child of Keith and Janice Hosmer. Keith was the prestigious and famous owner of an interstellar textile corporation, Weaves of Time, with shops on nearly all UNSC colonies. Janice was sister to a highly influential member of the Department of Commercial Shipping. The nature of the relationship served to spread many rumors that the marriage was more akin to a business deal; that Keith had married Janice in order to receive unfair advantages with the DCS for his industry. Regardless, the relationship and subsequent marriage led to the birth of a son, named Tyrone after Keith's father and Wilbur after his uncle.

Several months after Tyrone's birth, Keith divorced from Janice. Speculations in the media quickly started to run wild that Keith had only married the woman in order to have an heir to his corporate empire. While denied by Keith, he never gave any public explanation for the divorce, and instead hurried to take a shuttle off-world and return with his son to his corporation's headquarters in Chicago on Earth. Once they were home, Keith began to plan for his son's upbringing – how to best shape him into the heir to his corporate empire that he needed him to be. As such, Tyrone's childhood turned into a strict, disciplinary endeavor, filled with intense studies and exercises, and no time to play. This conflicted with his own natural drive for excitement and longing for adventures, leading to the relation between father and son to become strained in many ways. However, despite this, the intense education did serve to make young Tyrone very intelligent, by the point that he earned the praise of most teachers he encountered in school. His interactions with other children was not as impressive, however; he often found himself bullied by his schoolmates because of his extremely rich father and him being forbidden to play with anybody. This served to further his contempt for his father and the path the latter wanted him to walk. Silently, on a day after another intense argument, he swore to himself to find a different path in life – one that he'd choose for himself.

With this new goal ahead of him, Tyrone forced himself through the following years. He passed middle school with top grades, followed by new highs achieved in High School – as well as joining and subsequently becoming team captain for the school's football team. After this, his father ensured him a spot on the University of Chicago and – to provide a greater challenge for his son – pulled several strings to let him study for an Artium Magister (Master of Arts) degree immediately without a bachelor's degree first. Tyrone completed the studies and achieved his A.M. with flying colors. However, it was then – on his 20th birthday – that he decided to start his own path. In the end, he decided to do this by enlisting with the UNSC Defense Force.

Enlistment
"Best moment of my life, it was; signing all the papers and then heading off to boot camp, knowing that I had just cut all ties to my past by doing so. Matchless."

- Tyrone about his enlistment.

Following his – very formal and business-esque due to his father – birthday celebration, Tyrone snuck out of the family mansion and took his father's car to drive into Chicago's center. There, he stopped and walked straight into a UNSC Marine Corps recruitment office and requested to sign up. Happy to finally be able to fill up his required quota of five new marines per month, enlistment officer Lieutenant Downs made the necessary arrangements to bring Tyrone into the fold. After going through some basic tests to determine his capabilities, Tyrone signed all papers, officially binding to the Marine Corps. Together with Downs' four other recruits, Tyrone was then transported to the nearest boot camp. Upon arrival, the new marines were introduced to their new life, beginning their work towards becoming marines of the UNSC. Despite the training's occasional difficulty, Tyrone quickly adapted to his new life. Over time, he became close friends with several of the members of his training platoon, in particular Randy Chapman and Jessie Cecena, going as far developing romantic feelings for the latter. As a result, he felt happier than ever before, believing that he had finally found his life's calling. Following completion of the 13-week long boot camp program – as among the top ten of his class – he prepared for three months of upcoming mandatory combat training at the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

"Of course the bastard came after me; I was his precious heir. I had expected it the whole time – and planned thereafter."

- Tyrone about his father's fruitless attempt to bring him back home.

However, by then his father stepped in and started to pull strings to have Tyrone thrown out, using his vast network of contacts and wealth in every way to return his son to him. Unfortunately for Keith, Tyrone had been expecting that reaction ever since he left thirteen weeks prior, and countered by filing a lawsuit, backed by the friends he had made on his own within the Marine Corps. The case was tried in the Illinois District Court. Despite his father attempts to weasel himself out of the situation, the court decided in favor of Tyrone, forcing his father to pay him a sum of 1,000,000 cR, as well as an additional sum to the Marine Corps for the trouble he had caused one of their recruits.

Invigorated by his final victory over his father, Tyrone returned to attending the Infantry School alongside Randy and Jessie. Proving himself highly capable once more, he graduated three months later with high scores. Meanwhile, his father fell from grace and lost a great deal of public approval after the trial. Over time, his corporate empire fell from a mix of his own growing negligence and depressive thoughts, corruption within his own administration, aforementioned loss of public approval, and several localized industries gaining more favor with the colonist populations. After the fall, Keith committed suicide, leading to a funeral in early 2524 – one that Tyrone never attended.

Operation: TREBUCHET
"Come out, come out, little innie. It's time to play."

- Tyrone, during a mission to search for insurrectionists.

Following his graduation from the Infantry School, Tyrone – as well as his friends Randy and Jessie – was attached to the 256th Marine Regiment's 1st Platoon, Echo Company. Along with their new superior, Corporal Yeoman, and another new recruit from Luna, Jeremy Galvin, they made up Fireteam Alpha in the platoon. Along with the rest of their regiment, the new marines then shipped out to participate in Operation: TREBUCHET in the Outer Colonies, starting with Paradise Falls – where a great deal of insurrectionists had already started to band together into militias to battle the local CAA government.

Tyrone and the rest of Fireteam Alpha saw deployment in many of the initial engagements, aiding in combating the rebel militias. In a particularly intense firefight, Corporal Yeoman was hit by several rounds clean through his armor, wounding him severely. While a nearby corpsman did her best to treat the corporal, Tyrone took command of the team and defeated the rebel force using some advanced – if somewhat eccentric – tactics, which lured the rebels straight towards an incoming Scorpion tank, obliterating them and saving Tyrone and his team. Impressed with his now evident tactical mind, and as Corporal Yeoman had to undergo lengthy treatment, Tyrone's superiors gave him a field commission to Lance Corporal and put him in charge of the team for the time being. Under his leadership, the team continued to aid in the battles on Paradise Falls, until the insurrectionists finally surrendered four weeks later.

After the situation on Paradise Falls calmed down, most of the 256th – including Tyrone and his team – were gradually removed from the planet and instead sent to participate in the ever-growing Eridanus Campaign, co-operating with the local CMA units to patrol the planet's cities and root out terrorist networks. Though Tyrone was technically just the temporary CO for Fireteam Alpha, the role turned permanent as Corporal Yeoman took an extensive leave after the incident on Paradise Falls. After performing exemplary in several actions against assets on Eridanus II, Tyrone was further promoted to Corporal, officially taking full command of the team.

For a couple years, everything continued to go on at this pace; despite – or possibly because of – the UNSC's considerable presence in the Eridanus system, riots and terror acts continued. Meanwhile, the marines would – with backing from the Office of Naval Intelligence – investigate the inside out of every location that could be associated with insurrectionists, and occasionally find and then take out small pockets of them. While some found it boring, Tyrone found it becoming a comfortable routine. Using the increased leave time available by the lower intensity of rebel activities, he proposed to Jessie, who accepted. Several months later they married in a semi-private ceremony with their teammates and Jessie's closest family as an enthusiastic audience. Little did the couple expect that soon, things were about to go bad, with the discovery of a new foe; the Covenant Empire.

Harvest Campaign
"Split-lip two o'clock, everybody! That bugger'll pay for frying my cigar!"

- Tyrone on Harvest, after a break was interrupted by an Elite attacking the team (hitting Tyrone's recently lit cigar with a plasma bolt).

The discovery of the alien empire calling itself "The Covenant" served to distinctly change the UNSC's priorities. Following the discovery of Harvest's (the world Tyrone was born on) destruction and the threat the Covenant posed – by displays of the empire's power at both Harvest (where a single ship immediately wiped out two UNSC ships and damaged the third) and Chi Ceti IV – the UNSC hurried to mobilize a battle group and accompanying marine forces, helped by the absorption of the CMA "for the duration of the crisis". Tyrone and the rest of his team were pressed back into service – in the middle of his and Jessie's honeymoon – to participate in the campaign to Harvest. Though disturbed to have their honeymoon interrupted, both Tyrone and Jessie accepted, ready to battle the aliens on behalf of humanity. On arrival, the battlegroup – under the command of the newly reinstituted Vice Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole, battled the Covenant warship over Harvest and defeated it, albeit with staggering casualties; 13 ships lost against the aliens' one. Later, the Covenant returned in small numbers, deploying a considerable ground presence. While the fleet continued to battle the Covenant in space, Tyrone and most other marines in the battlegroup were sent groundside to reclaim the planet. Though not used to fighting such a unique enemy, the marines fought well, slowly but steadily reclaiming the planet after. Tyrone also distinguished himself during the conflict, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in the first months of the ground campaign.

However, as the Covenant forces won in space, their ships eventually started glassing strategic points across the planet, wiping out whole companies, if not battalions, of marines at once. Combined with reinforcements in the form of fresh legions of soldiers, the Covenant started to reclaim several parts of the planet, with the UNSC struggling to hold on. At this stage, Tyrone and his team was trapped in a marine resistance pocket completely surrounded by Covenant troops. Only through the daring actions of several smaller teams, including Tyrone's, did the marines in the pocket manage to avoid complete annihilation and regroup with the rest of the UNSC's forces. The maneuver earned Tyrone another injury – severe burns on his left thigh – as well as an additional Purple Heart.

The campaign dragged out like this for years, until in 2531 the arrival of the Spirit of Fire and its considerable amount of troops allowed to UNSC to finally reclaim Harvest once and for all – though in part this may have been because the Covenant had already found what they wanted and thus saw no further use for the colony. The UNSC forces left sometime after as well, as Harvest was losing its strategic value with the Covenant fleets making forays further into the Outer Colonies. Leaving the planet, Tyrone knew that he was now prepared to face the Covenant on other worlds, should he be called upon to do so.

Battle of Earth
"All right, the bastards have now found Earth. But that does not mean that it's all over. No! We'll go up against them, guns blazing, and then we're gonna win! We're gonna kick their collective alien asses off the face of the planet, and then we'll send their godforsaken spirits to hell! Are you with me, boys- and girls!?"

- Tyrone to his team and other marines during the Battle of Earth.

However, despite the best efforts of Tyrone and all other UNSC servicemen, the war with the Covenant quickly tipped in the alien empire's favor, their ships overrunning the outer colonies and flooding into the Inner Colonies with unprecedented fanatical fury. UNSC defeats were the norm, often devastatingly so, while victories were very hard-won and far between. Especially after Admiral Cole's presumed demise at Psi Serpentis did the Covenant make a faster advance on humanity's remaining colonies, culminating in the Fall of Reach in late August 2552. After this, humanity braced to make their final stand at Earth itself against the Covenant juggernaut, made possible by the incredible victories at Alpha Halo and the Unyielding Hierophant, both ensured by John-117.

As such, it came as a surprise when a mere fifteen Covenant ships arrived at Earth in mid-October; the battle with the small task force was over before Tyrone – now a Sergeant in charge of a squad including his original team – and the rest of the 256th even had time to deploy. Unfortunately, directly after the High Prophet of Regret's Assault Carrier made an in-atmospheric jump over New Mombasa, new Covenant forces – this time led by Jiralhanae commanders as opposed to the standard Sangheili ones – arrived and deployed troops, primarily around New Mombasa, but also in other areas around the globe. Tyrone, his squad and the rest of the 256th were deployed around the South Pacific sector, which soon came under attack by more Covenant forces as more and more fleets arrived in orbit. With New Zealand's occupation, the Covenant followed up by attacking Australia. Tyrone along with the rest of the 256th and several other marine units fought fiercely and held out until early November. After that, the arrival of more Covenant troops allowed them to conquer the island nation state by state, seemingly winning every step of the way despite the best efforts of its defenders. Ultimately, all forces were forced to evacuate to New Guinea to regroup.

The Covenant, having developed a special interest in Australia, followed up with an invasion of New Guinea to crush the last UNSC opposition in the sector. After they established a beachhead, Tyrone and many other marines blended into the jungles and rough terrain to wage war against the Covenant ground forces from the shadows. During the fight, Tyrone and his squad were amongst the most effective units, scoring a large amount of Covenant kills. In-between the skirmishes with Covenant troops, they also located and organized scattered marines in the jungle to help them. By the 9th of November, Tyrone commanded a platoon-sized force of marines, all doing their hardest to wreak havoc on the Covenant.

On the 9th, Sangheili forces arrived, though this time on humanity's side. Upon arrival, they immediately began clearing out the Jiralhanae-controlled forces, allowing Tyrone and the other marines on New Guinea to fully reclaim the islands in a matter of days. Shortly after, they participated in a joint UNSC-Sangheili invasion to reclaim Australia. Tyrone and his squad numbered among the first to make landfall and fight the Brute defenders that, while fighting ferociously, stood no chance against the might of both the UNSC and the Elites. However, the Covenant managed to hold off their enemies long enough to uncover a Forerunner artifact under Sydney and travel through the portal it generated.

After the last Covenant forces on Australia were defeated, Tyrone participated in a war meeting alongside many other senior NCOs, officers and Sangheili leaders, to decide whether or not to pursue the Brutes through the portal. Though unwilling to leave Earth at its weakest, Tyrone spoke in favor of pursuit, since whatever the Covenant would be willing to look for without wiping out all humans first had to be bad. Ultimately, it was decided to enter through the portal. Tyrone and the other remnants of the 256th were stationed on the UNSC Midnight Azure, alongside SPARTAN-II Commando and Leonidan Operative Laszlo-108, ODSTS from the 105th, and remnants of other marine units, to accompany the task force. After all arrangements had been made, the battlegroup slipped through the portal, heading into the unknown.

Behind the scenes

 * The character is to some degree inspired by Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, a character from The A-Team series, as well as its 2010 movie adaption, including borrowing the character's appearance from the movie, his nickname and his smoking habits.
 * Like many characters in the Halo Universe, Hosmer is fond of smoking the Sweet William Cigars – ironically, it's the author's first actively smoking character, much because of his own personal dislike for anything related to tobacco.
 * The article was partly made by the author to test a different article layout than the one he's used to.

Related Pages

 * Randy Chapman
 * Jessie Cecena
 * Jeremy Galvin
 * 256th Marine Regiment
 * Laszlo-108
 * Albion Company