Spartan Transfer & Retirement Program

Created and managed in a joint partnership between Sections Two and Three of the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Spartan Transfer & Retirement Program is the program that deals with any Spartan-II or III retiring or seeking a position or service transfer after the war.
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==Origin==
With the end of the war and the Spartan-IV program coming online ONI had to come up with a plan for if any of the few remaining Spartan-IIs or III Alpha/Betas wanted out, to retire, or if any of the Gammas wanted out now that the war was over. They would have to have backstories crafted if they wanted the program to remain secret, figure out a way to integrate them into society, and deal with the problems they might have with their augmentations. As much as ONI would like to keep them forever, there might be Spartans wishing for something different and there could be complications from forcing them to continue service, so letting them retire was the best choice. While not as great as the Spartan-IIs or IIIs the Spartan-IVs would be a suitable replacement for the other Spartan generations. With 145 https://web.archive.org/web/20160325091056/https:/www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/factions/spartans in the first class alone the UNSC would have over a thousand Spartans fielded in less than a decade. 
Section three, who managed the Spartan programs, sought section two’s help for this program as they needed the help of the section that dealt with the public. As section two dealt with propaganda and other aspects of the public they were the section best suited for helping section three create a program for Spartan retirement.
==Gamma Company==
Gamma Company represented a problem for ONI. They were given illegal drugs during their augmentation process. There was a good reason they were illegal and not even ONI would authorize their use, so the newest Spartan-III Company having them was problematic. It made them not suitable for the new Spartan Operations branch, so while they had little no experience ONI decided would let any of them go if they wanted out of the military. There would be more restrictions and monitoring on them than the other Spartans, but this was mainly due to the augmentations possible effects on their minds.
==Program Motives==
The program was created as it was decided that if a Spartan wanted to leave it was better to let them go than try and force them to stay. If they were pressured/forced to stay there would be major concerns of their dedication and loyalty. Realistically, humanity was not in such a desperate position that they could not afford them leaving. Projections had shown at most 10% of surviving Spartan-IIs and IIIs would retire within the next 5 years. With such small numbers it would not be hard to deal with the loss of a few Spartans from active service. Under a proper retirement program ONI would be able to ensure that they could properly monitor the Spartans and that they would be able to ensure that any special needs, like medical checkups on their augmentations, would be done in a controlled manner under their watch.
==Service Transfer==
While not part of a retirement process, the program also created procedures for Spartans seeking to transfer to different military fields. With the war over a few might choose to go into different services positions such as intelligence analyst, ship captain, researcher, and other non-Spartan related fields. They might want something different, but not retirement, so the program sought to address that need. ONI would help arrange transfers, getting them into needed schools or programs, and any other things that they might need to qualify for a transfer to a new position. Spartans were brilliant people and if ONI could keep them in the military, they would facilitate what was needed, within reason, to do so.
==Spartan Retirement Features & Benefits==
The program provided many benefits to retiring Spartans that could be tailored to each Spartan depending on their situation.
*Medical Care: While all UEG citizens had the right to medical care the program sought to ensure that Spartans would have the proper medical attention needed for their unique medical status. For the most part, Spartan-IIs and IIIs, Alpha and Beta Companies, augmentations were stable and needed little maintenance and monitoring. ONI would ensure that they would have proper access to the necessary medical personnel for regular checkups to make sure they were healthy, and their augmentations were stable. Gamma Company would receive much greater medical care than their fellow Spartans due to the illegal drugs used during their augmentation process. They would have more checkups with doctors to ensure they were healthy. Along with this they would be prescribed the necessary medication to handle the side effects of those augmentations while doctors worked on finding a treatment for them.
*Backgrounds:Due to their nature as either kidnapped children or orphans who “volunteered” and disappeared, each Spartan would need a background tailored to them so that the nature of the Spartan-II and III programs could be kept secret. The Spartans would need backgrounds that either created fictious family’s or have backstopped stories created for what happened to them after their planet was attacked by the Covenant. They would need educational records which would have to be created and for some they might need a degree attached to their name, as some meet the qualifications for certain degrees. The program would ensure that any background would hold up under public scrutiny, giving ONI time to come and deal with the problem.
*Financial Compensation & Educations: Besides giving each Spartan what they were owed in pay due to their rank and time in service, the program would give each Spartan a special onetime compensation payment. Due to the, unique, circumstances of the recruitment for Spartan-IIs and IIIs it was decided that they would get a onetime special compensation payment (tax-free) to help them get started in civilian life and as compensation for what was done to them (not that ONI would ever apologize or were remorseful). The payment starts with a 2,000,000 cR base and awarded an additional 124,000 cR per year of service starting on the date of conscription with it rounded up to the nearest year, i.e. 26 years, 5 months, and 3 days of service becomes 27 years with a total compensation of cR 5,348,000. Along with the funds, they were given education in how to earn, save, and spend the pay and compensation they were getting by ONI’s financial department.
*Job Assistance: Retired Spartans might decide to seek employment in fields that interested them, and ONI sought to help them find employment in that case. Finding employment would be difficult for Spartans as they had never applied for jobs before, so the program sought to help Spartans find employment in areas that interested them. 
*Therapy & Counseling: The Spartan program and the war had left deep mental scars, alongside physical ones for most, on the Spartans. This part of the program sought to connect Spartans to ONI affiliated therapists and counselors to help them deal with any mental problems they might have arising from the Spartan program or the war itself.
*Civilian Integration: One of the most important parts of the program was the civilian integration class. Spartans would need to be able to live civilian lives, something they had not had since they were young children. The program sought to teach Spartans how to live civilian lives by teaching them how to buy or rent housing, purchase groceries, pay bills, and interact with people in everyday life. Any aspect of civilian life that was not dealt with by another part was gone over in the civilian integration class.
==Overall Effectiveness==
Few Spartans used the program as most of the surviving Spartans remained Spartans either staying in or transferring to the newly created branch, but for the few who wanted to transfer to different positions in the military or retire the program was successful. It integrated the now former Spartans into society, as best as could be expected, ensured they got the benefits they needed, and kept the true nature of the Spartan-II and III programs a secret.
==Sources==