ODST

Background The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, sometimes referred to as the 105th Special Forces, are a Special Operations Force in the UNSC military. The ODSTs are under the operational authority of Naval Special Weapons, a sub division of Naval Special Warfare - their methods of operation allow them to conduct missions against targets that more conventional forces cannot approach undetected. ODSTs are recruited from the Special Operations Groups of all the nations of the Unified Earth Government and is a strictly all volunteer force. Potential ODSTs are selected because of their performance in their chosen MOS; every ODST candidate is a veteran from another Special Operations outfit and therefore have already gone through at least two layers of screening and months of intense training — not counting the years of training received before volunteering for the ODSTs. There is no age or gender bias — as long as the candidate meets the physical and mental requirements they are guaranteed the opportunity to try out for the ODSTs. Once in the ODSTs, a candidate's training continues - its entrance requirements serve as a third layer of screening upon two more, where applicants would have theoretically failed to pass. Candidates would, therefore, already have extensive experience in conducting the types of high-risk missions that the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers typically perform.

ODST units are not embedded within conventional UNSC forces, they do however participate in joint operations, and tend to be force multipliers - increasing the effectiveness, willingness, and morale of those they fight alongside. ODST combat teams usually consist of six to eight - with each combat team specializing in a particular mission set, but they are expected to be flexible enough to adapt to any given situation. These combat teams however can vary from company to company. Each combat team also consists of ten to fourteen operators, each of whom has a specific function on the team. ODSTs are known for their unusual methods of insertion, dropping from orbit onto terrestrial environments. Similar to their Infantry counterparts, the ODSTs maintain units of varying strength aboard many UNSC vessels and Installations.

The ODSTs perform highly specialized, small scale, high-risk operations including:
 * Deep Ground Surveillance or Long Range Reconnaissance: Patrols in small groups, in uniform, usually far behind the enemy lines. While DGS units may direct air or artillery strikes against enemy positions, they strive to be unobserved, and have only self-defense, not DA, capability. Groups engaging in surveillance deep behind enemy lines, are commonly known as "Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols" or LRRP's.
 * Direct Action: Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Direct action differs from conventional offensive actions in the level of physical and political risk, operational techniques, and the degree of discriminate and precise use of force to achieve specific objectives.
 * Unconventional Warfare: Military and paramilitary operations, normally of long duration, predominantly conducted by indigenous or surrogate forces who are organized, trained, equipped, supported, and directed in varying degrees by an external source. It includes guerrilla warfare and other direct offensive, low visibility, covert, or clandestine operations, as well as the indirect activities of subversion, sabotage, intelligence gathering, escape/evasion and flaming alchohol.
 * Counter-Terrorism Operations: The response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.
 * Counter-Contraband Operations: Missions undertaking the recapturing of smuggled/stolen goods.
 * Personnel and Special Equipment Recovery/Capture: The recovery/medical treatment of friendly personnel in combat environments, as well as the capability of capturing high valued individuals and any equipment.OriginsThe idea of inserting highly trained troops behind enemy lines from high altitudes has its roots in the paratroopers of 20th and 21st century fame, who dropped frequently behind enemy lines to capture strategically important targets in anticipation for a larger advance by more conventional and numerous military forces.

While the concept of dropping human soldiers from orbit had been around since the early 21st century, the establishment of the UN Marine Corps in 2163, would be the historic first deployment of the future 105th infantry in the Martian Campaign against the Neo-Communist Koslovics. The UN Marines historic first drop onto Mars in support of UN led war against the Koslovics and the Frieden forces not only proved the feasibility of such an option, but also the effectiveness of deploying soldiers from orbit. The success of the Argyre Planitia Campaign by the UN, and its participants of the first drop onto martian soil would become the predecessors, or early members, to the modern ODST units.

At the conclusion of the Rain Forest Wars and the Jovian Moons Campaign the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers was a fully established force and participated in every high risk operation during those conflicts, however at the conclusion of these conflicts in 2170 with the signing of the Callisto Treaty and the subsequent years that followed, the ODSTs saw little action as more political, and more important issues such as overpopulation and famine and a massive military with no purpose gripped the postwar nations of Earth. The first major combat reemergence of the ODSTs occurred in 2490 during the beginnings of the civil conflict between the UEG and the Insurrection. For the years leading up to 2525 the ODSTs would once again conduct high risk operations against the Insurrectionists, to either stop the enemy before they could carry out attacks against supporters, and officials of the Earth Government or to cut off major suppliers to the Insurrectionists.

Human-Covenant War

 * On November 1, 2525, the UNSC moved into a full alert status after the devastating and horrifying first contact with the Covenant at Harvest; this marked a change in objectives for the ODSTs, who up until that point had been fighting the Insurrectionists. As humanity's military turned to meet the threat of the Covenant, divisions of ODSTs prepared to participate in the most critical engagements in the war and also to conduct the riskiest missions in the history of mankind. The Battle of Hat Yai marked one of the first deployments of ODSTs against Covenant ground forces; although the planet was lost in the ensuing conflict, the ODSTs were successfully extracted before the UNSC retreated.
 * On November 1, 2525, the UNSC moved into a full alert status after the devastating and horrifying first contact with the Covenant at Harvest; this marked a change in objectives for the ODSTs, who up until that point had been fighting the Insurrectionists. As humanity's military turned to meet the threat of the Covenant, divisions of ODSTs prepared to participate in the most critical engagements in the war and also to conduct the riskiest missions in the history of mankind. The Battle of Hat Yai marked one of the first deployments of ODSTs against Covenant ground forces; although the planet was lost in the ensuing conflict, the ODSTs were successfully extracted before the UNSC retreated.

Not long after the Harvest Campaign, the ODSTs participated in the First Battle of Arcadia where they assisted UNSC Marine forces and SPARTAN-II Red Team in defending the capital city from Covenant ground forces, thus allowing the evacuation of the civilian population. Having successfully kept Covenant forces from occupying the city, the Corps began launching multiple assaults on the Covenant's bases of operations to reclaim the planet. Several ODST battalions joined the Spirit of Fire's rescue operation after retaking the planet and soon participated in the Battle of the Shield World.

Following the enactment of the Cole Protocol in 2535, ODST combat teams were tasked with boarding commercial and private vessels and purging their navigation databases. During one of these routine operations, a group of ODSTs aboard the UNSC Midsummer Night were captured and taken to the Rubble. They, in conjunction with SPARTAN-II Gray Team, would later defeat a Kig-yar plan to trick the inhabitants of the Rubble out of their navigation data, which could compromise the location of Earth.

As the war with the Covenant continued to progress, the ODSTs would go on to participate in many engagements; among these were the Battle of Jericho VII, an assassination mission on Heian, the Battle of Skopje, the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, the Battle of New Jerusalem, the Battle of Tribute, and the Battle of Ariel. The numerous campaigns and operations in which the ODSTs participated throughout the long war all pale in comparison to the Fall of Petoria in 2552, during which countless ODSTs lost their lives defending strategic locations on the planet.

During the initial invasion of Reach, a large contingent of ODSTs were stationed on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. As the planet fell to the Covenant onslaught, the vessel made a blind Slipspace jump away from the Epsilon Eridani system, discovering the long-abandoned Installation 04. During the Battle of Installation 04, shock troopers led by Major Antonio Silva and First Lieutenant Melissa McKay, operated as a guerrilla force by conducting hit-and-run operations against the forces of the Covenant's Fleet of Particular Justice.

Fresh from the disastrous loss of Reach, the ODSTs participated in the most significant battle of the entire war: the Battle of Earth. The battle began on October 20, 2552, when a smaller-than-expected Covenant fleet led by the Prophet of Regret jumped into the Sol System. ODST combat teams, along with the Marines, began engaging Covenant forces on the Orbital Defense Platforms Cairo, Athens, and Malta. Despite the ODSTs' valiant efforts, Malta and Athens were destroyed. As the Covenant ship carrying the Prophet of Regret landed over the African mega-city of Mombasa, teams of ODSTs were deployed over the city from orbit in an attempt to board the carrier; before the teams could reach the target, however, the carrier jumped into Slipspace. Only a single squad managed to safely land in the city to carry out the retrieval of the Superintendent's data.

After Regret's unexpected retreat from New Mombasa, members of the 7th Shock Troops Battalion would later drop from the In Amber Clad onto Installation 05 during the operation to capture the Prophet of Regret. Most of these troopers would perish during the initial firefights against the Covenant, and only a few would escape back to Earth with Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes to lead a resistance against the Covenant occupation forces.

Overall, the defense of Earth was one of the largest campaigns the ODSTs fought in during the entire war. The fighting spread across the globe and in space as the Fleet of Furious Redemption and the Prophet of Truth's own fleet attacked the remnants of the Orbital Defense Grid. The fleets soon deployed troops throughout the continents of North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The Battle of Cleveland is one example of the ODSTs' participation during the war on Earth. Two ODSTs from the 2nd Shock Troops Battalion fought alongside a detachment of Marines in the Battle of Pawas.[7] Troopers T. Rymarr and S. Hartley were tasked with calculating the crash site of John-117 on Earth, while a Marine battalion was tasked with defending a narrow corridor between Covenant and UNSC forces in Pakistan. Bravo-21 and numerous Marines were killed in the clash, while Bravo-22 was injured along with some of the other surviving Marines. Their actions successfully allowed HIGHCOM to track and locate the Spartan.

After the opening of the Artifact in November of 2552, the 11th Marine Force Reconnaissance/ODST, stationed aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, fought alongside the Master Chief, during Operation: BLIND FAITH. Men and women from this battalion were also some of the first humans to travel outside the Milky Way Galaxy, during the Battle of Installation 00.[9] One such assault happened during a mission to destroy numerous Covenant anti-aircraft artillery platforms overlooking a desert. These AA guns were destroyed by the ODSTs, allowing the Forward Unto Dawn to successfully land near the Cartographer building. During the last battle of the Ark campaign - the last battle of the war - ODSTs were again airlifted into combat. This time, they punched holes in Covenant armor and artillery positions to allow SPARTAN-117 and the Arbiter to eliminate the Prophet of Truth.