Priority Transmission 11592654/H-G7

From: Codename: SHOGUN
To: Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, CNO
Subject: HEINLIEN
Encryption Key: As I Was Going Up The Stair
Classification: Top Secret – Eyes Only (BGX Directive)
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I’m worried about the Spartan-IV Program. Nothing I’ve seen so far has given me cause for optimism, and I have to wonder just how this house of cards is going to come crashing down. Because mark my words, Admiral. It will.
Firstly, their performance on Requiem was decidedly underwhelming, during both the first and second campaigns. The returns we are getting for our considerable investment should be giving us results, and they should be stunning. Yet we see nothing even remotely like what was projected. Perhaps it can be put down to differences during training. After all, none of the new Spartan Candidates were abducted or recruited as children, and their training was for conventional combat. But that should be something fixed during retraining. After all, the Infinity is equipped with a state-of-the-art holographic combat simulator for precisely that purpose, and yet the only simulated combatants have been each other. I have yet to encounter a report where Spartan teams faced simulated Covenant or Promethean enemies except individually, as part of their historical combat training. I’m starting to wonder if there’s a reason why Spartans are being trained to fight Spartans, and I can think of no reasons I might like. The fact that they persist, resolutely and invariably, in removing their helmets while under combat conditions is something else that should have been drilled out of them long ago. Their helmets are expensive for a reason. They’re designed for comfort specifically so they don’t NEED to remove them. Their air supplies allow them to breathe while under chemical or gas attack, or in a vacuum, but none of that matters if they’re not wearing the helmets.
Secondly, there’s the selection criteria. I realise that the physiological limitations faced by S-II and S-III are no longer so much a factor, but the psychological criteria are not being met. There are some quite adequate S-IVs that I have encountered (and considering I was expecting S-III material, perhaps unfairly, that is saying a lot). Edward Buck. Gabriel Thorne. Naiya Ray. But whoever allowed candidates like Carlo Hoya or Kojo Agu, both ODSTs with a history of brave but reckless behaviour, needs to be found and shot. Immediately. And that isn’t even counting such spectacular failures like Ilsa Zane or Vladimir Scruggs, outright defectors who pulled their stunts right under ONIs nose. Frankly, I think there’s a mole in S-IV oversight who is allowing Insurrection-sympathetic individuals to pass unnoticed. The alternative is that ONI has been deliberately allowing these individuals into S-IV, for reasons that currently elude me.
Thirdly, I question the wisdom of folding the surviving S-III personnel into the S-IV chain of command and personnel roster. S-IIIs don’t suffer from the same difficulties in dealing with non-Spartan personnel that the S-IIs did, but they have their own psychological baggage to deal with, and most have individual combat records that put even ODST squads to shame. That is a recipe for conflict that would test any commanding officer. There is also the fact that S-III augmentations do not match those of S-IVs. They produce better physical results, though of course not quite S-II material except in rare cases, and the Gamma Company augmentations especially have produced effects that we need to determine. Mixing in Spartans whose judgement under fire may be impaired with regular S-IVs is asking for trouble.
Fourthly, I raise a concerned eyebrow at the abolition of rank among the S-IV personnel. I understand that this is not unusual among historical special forces units, where the chain of command needs to be flexible, and we did have some trouble during the Covenant War with officers questioning Spartan orders, but the answer is to create more high-ranking officers, not to abolish rank altogether. It may work for other special forces units, but we have hundreds of experienced servicemen-and-women with augmentations in previously impossible numbers, and making them all equal could lead to their own issues RE: chain of command.
Fifthly, hundreds of our limited S-IV numbers are stationed aboard the Infinity. I understand that there needs to be a significant Spartan presence aboard the UNSC Navy’s flagship, and that they are fully capable of service as a rapid assault force, but the numbers Infinity has are ridiculous overkill. Worse, many of them are not being utilised to their full extent, serving as mission planners and team operators when they would be better utilised in a combat role and replaced by other, experienced ops runners, even if they need augmented Spartans as advisors. I was initially hesitant about Spartans serving as fighter and gunship pilots, but their augmentations do make them superior to unaugmented pilots, and with the SABRE upgrade packages improving survivability dramatically, we’re seeing results, proven at Requiem. Mostly, I wish these augmentations weren’t being hoarded so jealously by ONI’s pet project, and that we could introduce more of them into the rest of the service. We’ve had limited success installing energy shields on ODST combat armour, but even that doesn’t produce enough of a combat advantage for mass production. It must be paired with the kind of physical and tactical capabilities that make production worthwhile – which means higher mission success and lower KIA rates. And we aren’t seeing it.
Lastly, and most significantly, I question the command ability of Commander Sarah Palmer. I understand that she was an ODST lance corporal when she was recruited. In a mere five years, she now holds the equivalent rank of a colonel. Her records show that she has been reprimanded by both Jun-A266 and Musa-095 for recklessness, a lesson that she seems to have learned nothing from if her actions on Requiem, Ealen-IV, Oth Lodon, Oban or Aktis IV are to be judged. I do not question her combat capability, and she’s probably the highest probably candidate to designate as hyper-lethal among the current S-IVs, but she’s not command material and she is endangering herself and her Spartans. Especially concerning is her apparent personal vendetta to “fix” her mistake on Requiem. A pattern emerges: Palmer becomes obsessed with one goal, and fixates upon achieving it at the expense of anything else. If I could, I would relieve her of command immediately and replace her with one of the IIIs. Or, better still, one of the few IIs who continue to serve. I know Jun and Musa feel that S-IVs need an S-IV leading them, otherwise they believe it reflects a lack of faith in their abilities. To be honest, I think that lack of faith is well-founded.
Something has to be done, Admiral. Urgently.
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Category:Morhek