Nick Jae-Hyung

Nick Jae-Hyung (Born Park Jae-Hyung; Korean:박재형; Born 6th March, 2500) is a General of the United Nations Space Command Army who serves as General Officer Command (GOC), 1st Cavalry Corps Group. He previously served as Operations Chief for UNSC Army Outer Colonies as well as commanding multiple and holding staff positions in multiple divisions and special forces groups.
Nick was among the only Army survivors of the entirety of the Human-Covenant War as well as being one of the pre-war personnel on it's roster. He's one of the most decorated cavalrymen in the history of the UNSC Army and is the highest ranked cavalrymen in the entire UNSC Army. 
A graduate of Seoul University, he was the first South Korean in the Cavalry to become a general since 2247 and he became well known during the Human-Covenant War for command of the 6th Cavalry Division and later, the II Cavalry Corps. He later took command of CENTCOM FIVE TWO in 2550 and oversaw the greatest sole UNSC Army victory during the war in the form of the 1 year campaign on Ortel V. 
After the war, Nick became commander of the UNSC Army Australia Garrison before he went on and later became General Officer Commanding, CENTCOM THREE before finally becoming Commander of 1st Cavalry Corps Group
=Biography=
===Childhood===
Born in the bustling city of Busan, Unified Korea on 6th March, 2500. Nick (then known as Park Jae-Hyung) grew up in the cramped streets of Busan as 26th Century Korea was very urbanised with few areas around that still embodied the past fertile fields and mountains of Korea, this caused him to have a great sense of adventure and desire to explore out into the wider galaxy. Whilst he did feel trapped, his family was certainly not poor as his father was the Sentor of the United Earth Government Senate for Unified Korea who later became head of the Senate Armed Forces Committee whilst he mother came from a industrial magnate family which led to a rather well brought up boy.
Whilst Nick did grow up privileged, that became to fall away as he entered into his pubescent years. Nick started regularly travelling around UNSC space and visited many planets from Reach to Cascade. He, however, fell in love with a world known as Lycus and soon began living there shortly after he turned 16 with money thanks to his father. Although Nick became fascinated with the Army and hoped to join the Lycian Army once he finished University.
He enrolled in Seoul University at 18, not without help from his father of course... But he showed himself an apt student and did his degree in War Studies in order to be in the best place to become an officer within an Army. He lived these years alone, seeking to be able to become his own man. He took his own jobs and changed his name to Nick Jae-Hyung to not only distance himself away from his father in order to lessen his interference but also to make himself appear more foreign to his classmates. Nick soon completed his degree by the time he turned 21 and he left Earth to return to Lycus in order to join the Lycian Army.
===Lycian Army Training (2522)===
Nick returned to Lycus and immediately joined the Lycian Army, Nick had learnt much during his university studies and he became ready for the rigours of Army training. Since Lycus was a relatively small planet with only a few tens of millions of inhabitants and Lycus did not possess an OCS Academy, he and his class was forced to be sent off world for the latter part of their training. His initial phases at Paderborn Barracks before transitioning and undergoing his latter parts at the Kuiper Army Officers' Academy on Circumstance.
===Officer Training ===
Nick arrived at Camp Winfrey and was immediately out to do runs out with his training platoon as they left the Condor that they arrived on. He became well known among his platoon mates for keeping his personal life, very personal. It was here that Nick hooked up with one of the many civilians who lurked around the base, looking for a future officer to wed. It was here that Nick first got into trouble, staying with the woman and proceeding to arrive back after the end of his leave and getting into a stint with the Academy Commander who became incensed at the fact that he had gone out looking for tail and arrived back late. 
Nick really regretted his choices, he was only saved by the timely intervention of his father who leveraged his connections as head of the Senate Armed Forces Committee in order to let him continue on his training at the OCS despite the incident that occurred. Thanks to the efforts of Nick, none of this got out to his colleagues however there were always rumours over why he remained despite the fact he was late. Some had even said that perhaps he was on some kind of special contract for a special forces unit. None of which were ever actually confirmed. Nick continued with his training, becoming one of the best shots within the training platoon and completing his initial training at Camp Winfrey with full marks.
He later began undergoing his OCS training at Kuiper and undertook a number of exercises with his training company in the mountains as well as many other worlds such as Reach and Ortel V. Here, Nick was one of the most assertive and able up and coming commanders in the unit. However, despite this, he was still stymied by the intense rivalry between the training platoons over who would be the most capable. This was massively egged on by the company commander who, despite rules otherwise, had elected to have a prize for the winners of that small competition. Nick got into fights with the de facto commanders of the other platoons, a big part of this was because Nick was seen as "not one of them" because of the fact he was here under a Lycian Army contract, not a UNSC contract. His biggest rivalries were Amanda Fink of A Platoon and Simon Sledge of D Platoon, the pair were the most suspicious of him and his motives. In fact, Amanda was the biggest proponent of the idea he was only saved because of his "special contract" and actively attempted to sabotage him once by having cut holes into his pack to let items fall out of his pack during an exercise allowing him to be rebuked for losing equipment. This plan, however, failed and Nick went through his officer training without much trouble, he later went on to do his trade school and underwent cavalry scout training at Fort Benning where he learnt how to drive and operate the Recon variant of the Hyrax Armored Fighting Vehicle as well as reconnaissance and infantrymen skills before returning to Lycus and becoming a cavalry scout in the Lycian Cavalry Squadron.
===Insurrection and transfer to the UNSC Army===
The Insurrection arrived to Lycus in early 2524, just as Nick was finishing his trade school and commissioning in the Lycian Army as a Cavalry Platoon commander, in charge of B Platoon in 3 Troop. Nick's first combat experience was during a routine live-fire exercise at Joint Training Field Julian, part of Paderborn Barracks, when his Platoon unexpectedly came under attack by an unknown force at a point known as Cross Ridge during their exercise. The Lycian Army had not previously seen much combat and the sudden shock and ferocity of the assault meant that soon, the Platoon became pinned down with all but 1 of their 6 Hyrax Armored Fighting Vehicles becoming knocked out and many of their men becoming wounded or killed. The platoon, dispersed as it conducted it's recon duties, became unable to coordinate with fire from all directions. Nick was, however, quick to take command as he got over his initial shock of the attack and the death of his Platoon Sergeant. 
Taking the remaining elements of the Platoon Headquarters who remained in reserve, Nick organised a push to relieve the battered A and B section situated to the north of their position. Moving quickly with the remaining Hyrax, the insurrectionists became unable to respond to the better trained Lycian Army Scouts who met the enemy with aimed shots and a cavalcade of 40mm autocannon fire to smother potential insurrectionist positions and allowing the attached medical team to haul the wounded into the rear of the Hyrax. Nick personally led a small unit with his radio operator and 2 men to help relieve the battered B Section who had taken position by their burnt out Hyrax Armored Fighting Vehicles and had become pinned down. Nick's decisive and bold leadership earnt him much respect as he managed to cobble the elements of his platoon together and conduct an orderly withdrawal from the area with help from C Platoon who arrived to lend their AFVs for MEDEVAC duties. Nick was widely seen by his platoon and the company as a hero for his decisive leadership and he received the Silver Cross, a 3rd tier valor medal for the Lycian Military Forces. Nick was promoted to First Lieutenant soon after the incident, becoming the executive officer for C Platoon and attending his first school, the UNSC Army Airborne Reconnaissance School based at the David Stirling Special Warfare Training Center on Mars.
Nick passed out of UNSC Airborne Reconnaissance training after having to complete a basic parachute course at the Parachute Training Center on Reach. It was here that he became familiar with the Airborne and soon, he decided that perhaps it would be good for him to gain more experience with the UNSC Army who was fighting in much more far flung regions against greater threats, especially with the start of the Human-Covenant War. Thus Nick, as the hero of Cross Ridge, was able to get an exchange with the UNSC Army thanks to being amongst the only members of the Lycian Army who was trained at the Airborne Recon School. Nick underwent a basic training course with the UNSC Army at the Unified Combined Military Boot Camp before being posted to the 1st Airborne Division, becoming a platoon commander with A Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Airborne Infantry Regiment. During this period, Nick was originally deployed to anti-insurrectionist operations on Ortel V where they fought remnant elements of the local insurrectionists who had been much weakened after the efforts of the ODSTs and the Spartan VIIs.
However, the deployment on Ortel V became much more heated when the Covenant attacked in late 2527 which caused the Division to remain much longer than the planned year it was meant to be deployed. The 1st Airborne Division was the rapid response force and was initially planned to be para dropped into the hot zones of initial Covenant contact until dense Covenant anti-air meant the plan changed with them being air lifted instead by Pelicans to the frontlines. It was here that Nick first met the Covenant and led his platoon during the Battle of the Tsuen Wan Plateau. 4 Battalions of the UNSC Army met Covenant forces for the key plateau, Nick's 3/2 Airborne Infantry was amongst those Battalions and was tasked to take a ridge known as Ridge 716 in order for heavy to be stationed so they could look over the plateau. 
However, Nick's Company became ambushed and cut off whilst in a column down the forests of Ortel V as they were approaching the plateau by Covenant forces. Soon, the company commander and XO were both killed by Covenant mortars which left Nick as the most senior officer left in the company. Nick, remembering the ambush of his Platoon at Cross Ridge, was immediate to react. The company was pinned down with soldiers littering the trail, with help from his platoon sergeant, he rushed to the front of the column and made sure to bring every man with him to the front as men gathered around him to get to the head of the column. From there, they broke out to a clearing outside the forest where they were able to form an effective all around defense as Nick called for close artillery and mortar support for the battered company. The company was eventually able to extract thanks to support from C Company as well as Pelicans from the UNSC Marines. However, Nick received heavy injuries during this engagement with his legs becoming mangled from a Covenant spike whilst he was calling artillery support for his company. Despite this, Nick lived and soon his Battalion was pulled out from Jericho VII at the first possible instant after the heavy casualties sustained during the Battle of the Tsuen Wan Plateau. Nick's actions during the ambush earned him the Silver Star with many Bronze Stars with "V" Device being awarded to many other members of the company.
Soon after, Nick learnt that the Lycian Military Forces was being absorbed into the UNSC with the creation of the 96th (Lycian) Reserve Command to consolidate the Lycian Forces in the region for the time being. This meant that now, Nick was under a brand new UNSC Contract which allowed him to remain in the Airborne for longer than his billeted period. Nick remained the A Company CO due to the lack of officer replacements, however 1st Airborne spent over a year on Reach for refit and relaxation and thus Nick felt he wasn't doing enough for the war effort. Despite the fact he was the Company's most experienced officer, he elected to attend Army Special Forces selections and become a Black Beret.
=== Special Forces assignment ===
Nick underwent his Special Forces Assessment and Selection at the David Stirling Special Warfare Training Center towards the ends of 2528, it was here that Nick proved his acumen amongst the recruits for land navigation and infantry skills. Oddly, there were few Airborne officers in this class due to ongoing deployments meaning that Nick's opposite numbers were mostly from the Active Reserve as well as the infantry and the cavalry. One notable incident in Nick's assignment was a land navigation course, from an area called "The Yard" back to barracks within 6 hours. Nick, despite his skill, decided to cheat during the course. To this end, he smuggled in a map of the area that he procured from nearby civilians and hid it in a small capsule in his mouth in order to gain and edge in the course. He used the map to successfully complete the course in a record time as well as swallowing the map in order to cover his tracks, despite the instructor's reservations to the veracity of his success, there was nothing to indicate that Nick had cheated. 
Nick's period in SFAS went smoothly for himself, passing out as one of the 378 out of 3,992 that passed out that year. From there, Nick went on to do his training for Special Forces at Camp Narashino in Japan. Nick was taught the basic special forces skills required from an officer, commanding an ODA unit as well as mission analysis. Nick completed his training towards July of 2529 and underwent the Robin Sage exercise in Northern Hokkaido along with 84 other recruits. Nick himself, as the senior officer, was leader of one of the groups. The group infiltrated into the People's Republic of Snowmountain (the fictious country made from subprefectures in Hokkaido) and met up with the Snow Liberation Force, under former Black Beret Abdul Shareef, the force of 192 "guerillas" (made up of recruits from the local OCS at Sapporo) that constituted the force they were meant to train and advise against an opposition force (made up of 7th Battalion, 17th (Standby Reserve) Infantry Regiment) in their mission to rid their country of the "dictatorship" and free the country. 
Nick and his group of 11 landed in the area via a HALO Condor paradrop at night nearby the town of Utashinai and, after having hidden their parachute gear, met up with the nearby guerrilla group in the area under Abdul. Nick and his group proceeded to conduct training and advisory tasks for the guerrillas. However, they were not permitted to fight in combat unless absolutely necessary in order to limit the evidence of UNSC forces in the area. Nick's guerrillas were highly successful in their task and successfully conducted a number of sabotage and kidnapping operations within a 3 week period. However, this period of uninterrupted success came to an end when Nick along with 3 of the recruits and 9 guerrillas were ambushed during a recon of an enemy base. Nick's force came under intense enemy fire and soon became suppressed and pinned under a hail of machine gun fire. Nick and the recruits successfully regrouped under the cover of the snow, as well as concealment from smoke grenades, to return fire towards the enemy forces and Nick's round "killed" the ambushing force's commander. From there, Nick was able to hold off the enemy long enough for guerrilla reinforcements to arrive which allowed Nick and his group to escape from the area before further enemy reinforcements could arrive to eliminate them. 
Nick's time in Hokkaido came to an end after about a month, the had successfully built up an guerrilla force that was able to take on the opposition force. Their operations were able to be completely independent and not reliant on the Special Forces team to oversee their operations. Nick and his team were successfully able to complete their mission and went to their graduation ceremony, donning their black berets and officially becoming members of UNSC Army Special Forces.
Nick became assigned to the 67th Special Forces Group and undertook his first assignment against insurrectionist forces on the world of Phillipa. The world had become devoid of UNSC forces after the Covenant invasions in nearby systems and local insurrectionists had taken control over key military installations and cities from the local defence forces. Nick's 4th Battalion, 67th SFG was deployed on the world in an advisory and combat capacity in support of the local planetary defence force. Nick's ODA became responsible for the training of a company of Phillipian Infantry conducting counter-insurgency operations at a remote Firebase known as "The Cauldron" supported with a small artillery section. ODA 67422 conducted multiple operations in the region for a year period, the firebase coming under attack from insurrectionist forces on multiple occasions. Nick organised and commanded the company for operations during this period and led the ODA on multiple operations to seize weapons, destroy ammo dumps and eliminate high value targets which included multiple leaders of insurrectionist cells. Nick's leadership of the infantry company and his ODA was seen as exemplary and he received a Bronze Star with V for operations during the period.
Nick continued his service in command of ODA 67422 after the conclusion of the campaign and commanded them on a further two operations, achieving much praise for his command of local units and special recon operations. His team was famous in the battalion for able to locate and pinpoint enemy positions and monitor their actions far better than most of the other ODAs were, this was mostly attributed to Nick's Cavalry Scout background which meant the team placed a greater emphasis on their recon skills.
===Further assignments===
Nick left 67th Special Forces Group and became part of the 163rd Cavalry Regiment, his old Lycian Cavalry Regiment after the UNSC had absorbed the Lycian Military Forces, and led his old Troop from back when he was just a Second Lieutenant and received the Silver Cross. He hadn't barely been there for about a month, getting to understand his unit before they underwent a deployment to New Harmony. 
Nick's squadron was deployed to New Harmony, a small agricultural world. His troop deployed with the UNSC Army's 172nd Armored Division in a delaying action to provide the UNSC time to evacuate the small populous off the world before it would be left to Covenant glassing. NIck's troop fought as part of the 172nd Armored Division's 2nd Armored Brigade. Nick's men provided reconnaissance by fire for the Brigade and successfully conducted a number of delaying actions as the Division began to pull off the world by 2534. Nick received a promotion during this period to Major, becoming the temporary XO for 3rd Squadron for a short 4 month period after the Squadron HQ was hit, injuring a number of notable personnel including the XO. Nick's squadron further deployed to actions on Ophile against light Covenant forces before Nick was transferred to become the Personnel Officer in the 6th Airborne Division. Here he served under future Commander in Chief, Nick Pope, Nick served a year with the Division as it recovered from operations in the Hyperion Alpha System and eventually left as the Operations Officer to become commander of 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment. 
Nick's squadron, assigned as the strategic reserve of CENTCOM TWENTY EIGHT, was involved in OPERATION: CROSSBOW on Juiano against the small company size Juiano Defence Unit which had rebelled against the UNSC at the behest of the small planetary government with support from local resistance forces. 1st Squadron conducted counter-terrorism operations against the rebels during a 6 month period, during which it was noted that the Squadron performed their tasks most commendably though was noted for their vicious treatment of rebels and collaborators due to the lack of the local judicial system. These acts were mostly carried out under permission from the local commander in the region and Nick was mostly able to avoid scrutiny thanks to the effectiveness of his troops who were able to flush out and eliminate most of the enemy by the end of their tour. 
===Late war assignments===
===Post war service===
===Summary of assignments===
Begin	End 	Assignment 	Duty Station
2522 	2522 	Recruit, Paderborn Barracks 	Cyrit,Lycus
2522 	2524 	Officer Cadet, Kuiper Army Officers' Academy 	Kuiper,Circumstance
2524 	2526 	Platoon Commander, B Platoon, 3 Troop, 3rd Squadron, Lycian Cavalry Regiment 	Lycus, Lycian Omega System
2526 	2528 	Platoon Commander, C Platoon, A Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Airborne Infantry Regiment	Schofield Barracks, Reach
2529 	2533 	ODA Captain, ODA 67422, 67th Special Forces Group 	Fort Slammer, Callisto
2533 	2536 	Troop Commander, 3 Troop, 3rd Squadron, 163rd Cavalry Regiment 	Fort Un, Cut
2536 	2537 	Personnel Officer and then Operations Officer, 6th Airborne Division 	Sandhurst, Earth
2537 	2539 	Commander, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Squadron 	Rommel Barracks, Germany
2539 	2540 	Assistant Chief of Staff, 2nd Cavalry Division 	Air Force Base Amir, Persi
2540 	2540 	Student, Army Warfighting School 	Lagos, Nigeria
2540 	2542 	Commander, 24th Cavalry Brigade Group, 2nd Cavalry Division 	Air Force Base Amir, Persi
2542 	2543 	Chief, CENTCOM TWELVE Coordination Command 	Joint Base Howardson, Desodron V
2543 	2545 	Deputy General Officer Commanding, 5th Cavalry Division 	Joint Base McGill, Kryz
2545 	2548 	General Officer Commanding, 6th Cavalry Division 	Fort Rest, Bret
2548 	2552 	General Officer Commanding, II Cavalry Corps 	Joint Maneuver Warfare Center, Bret
2552 	2553 	Commander, UNSC Army Australia Garrison 	Camp Puckapunyal, Earth
2553 	2555 	General Officer Commanding, CENTCOM THREE 	Fort Gloucester, New London
2555 	Present	General Officer Commanding, 1st Cavalry Corps Group 	Fort Yun, Chi Ceti IV
===Awards and decorations===