UNSC Special Operations Command (RelentlessRecusant)

"You shooters are all alike."

- Derrick Bonus to Delta Team

"Pax per prep obstino (Peace through resolve)"

- UNSC Special Operations Command motto

The UNSC Special Operations Command (UNSCSOCOM) is an autonomous strategic command of the UNSC Defense Force. It is responsible for the responsible for the oversight, training, and direction of the UNSC's special operations forces (SOF). While Special Operations Command remains as an independent command, its activities make it invariably associated with the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence.

Concept
After the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC military underwent a significant organizational remodeling, and all special-operator groups previously singularly associated with their parent command became jointly commanded by UNSCSOCOM as well. This has been cited as being necessary for integrating all of the UNSC's special operations forces underneath a single unified command and for increasing unity between the UNSC's individual special-operator groups.

Each of UNSCSOCOM's individual special-operations groups are highly regarded by other UNSC servicemen, although certain officers take a particular distrust in UNSCSOCOM's clandestine activities and also the potential that UNSCSOCOM has to shape politics and galactic development throuh the use of precisely-applied and covert force.

Composition
Not all of UNSCSOCOM's composite detachments have been declassified, but known UNSCSOCOM detachments include UNSC Naval Special Warfare (NAVSPECWAR), UNSC Forward Airborne Reconnaissance (FARSIGHT), UNSC Marine Force Reconnaissance (FORCE RECON), UNSC Counterterrorism Activity Warfare Section (CAWS), Special Operations Aviation Reconnaissance (SOAR), and the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Corps (ODST).

Insurrection
UNSCSOCOM's first major involvement was during the Insurrectionist movements prior to the Human-Covenant War, where rebel entrenchment in highly-populated urban environments made their elimination impossible by "regular" Marine units without extensive civilian collateral casualties. UNSCSOCOM would lead the UNSC's directed and targeted campaign to eliminate the rebel forces, although as UNSCSOCOM began to take losses, many UNSCSOCOM forces would begin to acquire bloodthirsty rivalries against certain insurgent forces, and UNSCSOCOM commanders authorized the usage of excessive force to decimate insurgent populations, and also the use of terror tactics — indiscriminate civilian killing until insurgent activity stopped, torture and killing of rebel POWs, and usage of biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to indiscriminately slaughter rebels and civilians alike.

UNSCSOCOM would become feared amongst insurgent forces, and were known by their cruelty and brutality. UNSC senior commanders, with no control over UNSCSOCOM's "special forces" and "covert operations", were forced to stand by and watch UNSCSOCOM efficiently terminate rebellions using terror and intimidation tactics, often becoming as amoral as the rebel forces they were fighting. UNSCSOCOM's ruthless counterinsurgency methods would make the special forces feared through the UNSC Defense Force, and Marines would create a legendary mythology of terror and awe around the special forces, similar to their view of the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence. UNSCSOCOM's efficiency gave it significant prestige to UNSC High Command, which conveniently ignored UNSCSOCOM's abuse of human rights. UNSCSOCOM's prestige and position would allow it to reassign personnel from any branches of the services that it deemed useful, solidifying UNSCSOCOM's myth of all-pervasive power.

Despite UNSCSOCOM's widespread brutality, it would have one notable exception in Major Woodbury, a ODST company commander who had been forcibly reassigned from the Marine Corps to UNSCSOCOM. Woodbury would become a publicly-respected figure in mediating the successful and bloodless conclusion of several high-stakes terrorist events, such as the nuclear weapons crisis in a casino and the hijacking of a space luxury liner, and Woodbury would emphasize victory without force nor bloodshed.

Post-War
UNSCSOCOM would play an integral role in the post-War UNSC and the regeneration and reconstruction efforts. With the overbearing threat of the Covenant gone, insurgent and pirate forces rose up in the Outer Rim, hoping to take advantage of the war-weakened UNSC. UNSCSOCOM's role would change from military reconnaissance and action to specialized counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, and counter-piracy operations, covertly sanctioning hostile activity on the Fringe Worlds and preserving the fiction that the post-War UNSC was a recovering utopia. However, UNSCSOCOM would become increasingly well-associated with the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence, such to the point that most UNSCSOCOM units would be seen in special forces circles to be jointly commanded by ONI and UNSCSOCOM. The Office of Naval Intelligence would utilize UNSCSOCOM's special operations forces to execute its own covert operations. Whole divisions of various forces, including UNSC Naval Special Warfare, would undergo long-term reassignment to ONI, and ONI often had an integral role in coordination of individual UNSCSOCOM operations, providing advanced intelligence for direct action renditions.