101st Shock Troops Battalion

The 101st Shock Troops Battalion, known colloquially as the The Burning Eagles, was an battalion of the formed during the latter stages of the . Its formation was considered a top priority as during the months of and two battle-hardened battalions of Shock Troopers were wiped out. On , the suffered loses of up to seventy-five percent of its combat ready troops. While, a few weeks later during the the was almost wiped out to a man as the annihilated the sent to retake the colony. Under the Military Unit Formation (2541) Act, a new battalion within the 105th Shock Troops Division was created with the survivors of both decimated battalions both being transferred into this new unit. The numbers within the unit were quickly supplemented with Troopers who had just completed their ODST training. This gave the unit a mixture of skilled, battle-hardened ODSTs and Troopers who had yet to experience their first drop. It first saw action during the and later would be stationed on-board the as it joined the during the . It would see extensive combat action during the Operation and would garner a distinguished reputation, resulting in it receiving the UNSC Distinguished Unit Citation. Its most famous action during the Ark raid came towards the end, as it covered the retreat of several Legions as the infested landed on and began overrunning the expeditionary forces of both species which had been significantly depleted already by their prior engagements. The 101st returned to towards the end of December. It was eleven months before the unit was deployed again, this time it was to Mars to help maintain order following the immediate aftermath of the 2553 Martian food protests. In 2554, the unit was folded in with the 9th Infantry Brigade (Mechanised) as part of Task Force 342 (Kafkian Peacekeeping Force) and was the first UNSC unit to see action and begin the campaign to put down the violent uprising on Kafka. Its infamous nickname came about through the unique branding the battalion took to putting on its . At the bottom the unit would paint its logo of the Screaming Eagle, and during jumps the ceramic would heat up causing flames to arise around the droppod at plummeted towards the atmosphere, completely engulfing the eagles. It was a nickname that the unit would cling to as it was a potent reminder of the circumstances that caused the unit to be activated.
Category:UNSC Units