UNSC Army Special Operations Group

The UNSC Army Special Operations Group (ASOG) was a special operations force of the UNSC Army and the UNSC Special Operations Command established in the Galactic Era. It was previously an audacious and controversial special access program operated under the umbrella of the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence, but after the Beyond Veil's Azure Crisis, it was reformed into a more legitimate and accountable UNSC Army special forces unit in the dawn of the 27th century.
==History==
===JUST CAUSE===
Although the "Army Special Operations Group" is the most modern iteration of the name of this organization, the 
core framework of SOG has existed for over thirty years since the 2570s.
It was previously a highly controversial special access program operated largely by the UNSC Office of 
Naval Intelligence. It had its genesis as a special access budget known by the codename of "JUST CAUSE", an 
ONI program to organize and train advanced special operations forces, presumably to increase UNSC civilian 
security. Under the shell, however, was a macabre horror, a parody of the name of "JUST CAUSE". Under this program, 
the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence trained special forces veterans as covert action operators for ONI, molding 
them to be professional assassins in employ by "The Office". 
Eventually, JUST CAUSE became enormously successful, becoming a premier special activities unit of the Office of 
Naval Intelligence, later earning internal autonomy as an independent paramilitary hunter-killer program. Its 
epidemic success would encourage ONI to adopt its leading covert action program as a fully-recognized special 
operations unit in the UNSC military under the order of the Director of Special Intelligence.
===UNSC Special Operations Command===
During the Vector Era, JUST CAUSE would come under the joint authority of the UNSC Office 
of Naval Intelligence and the UNSC Special Operations Command, and would be renamed the UNSC 
Counterterrorism Activity Warfare Section (CAWS), commonly known as "Counterterrorism Activity'". 
The pronouncation of its abbreviated name ("CAWS"), pronounced "kawz" (kɔz), is a play on the phonetics of [[JUST 
CAUSE]], its predecessor program. During SOG's twenty-year tenure as the Counterterrorism Activity Warfare Section, 
little would be known about its organization and core operating tasks, with the Office of Naval Intelligence paying 
a particular interest in protecting the privacy of CAWS's operations. CAWS was known to be one of the extremely few 
field units granted complete operational jurisdiction and unrestricted area of operations (AOR), making it unique 
in its striking potential and liberty. 
Later, during the Beyond Veil's Azure Crisis, CAWS would be known as the UNSC Designated Expeditionary 
Task Group (DELTA), under Alice in Wonderland, before finally renamed as the UNSC Army Special 
Operations Group (SOG) several years later.
==Operational History==
===Vector Era===
Delta Team was a tactical unit attached to CAWS, although it was later 
reassigned to the UNSC Department of Strategic Intelligence. CAWS Team DELTA would participate extensively in 
the UNSC Special Operations Command counterinsurgency campaign in the Outer Rim in 2570, operating 
off of the UNSC Meridian Rays with other UNSCSOCOM operators, such as Chief 
Petty Officer Kimberly Ivy Blackburn in the extended Outer Rim campaign.
Afterwards, in the enduring post-War peace, CAWS would find significantly different usages. No longer was the unit 
needed for dedicated counterterrorism operations. The unit's already ambiguous history would take a turn for the 
worst as the unit was commissioned exclusively as a UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence unit, and its entire 
organization and core objectives would become retooled. All its existing members would become either officers or 
senior enlisted personnel in other elite UNSCSOCOM branches.
Renowned retired special forces operator Master Chief Petty Officer August Plummer, the husband of Kimberly Ivy Blackburn, was a former CAWS operator.
By the 2580s, ONI would "retire" the Counterterrorism Activity Warfare Section, instead resurrecting the unit under the guidance of the UNSC Department of Strategic Intelligence and Alice in Wonderland.
===Alice in Wonderland===
CAWS would later be relabeled as the UNSC Designated Expeditionary Task Group (DELTA) in homage of the American 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta ("Delta Force") and for the prior CAWS Delta Team. Under the operating name 
of DELTA, it would be resized to the platoon-scale, and would become extremely heavily involved with the classified UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence special-access program only known as "Alice in Wonderland".
Between the 2580s and the 2590s, Delta would become even more shrouded in secrecy than its predecessors, JUST CAUSE and CAWS, becoming intricately involved with Alice in Wonderland. A small Delta team would be deployed to Midgard in 2594 as part of UNSCSOCOM's Midgard Campaign. 
Delta's core operating tasks, organization, and leadership would be unknown under Alice in Wonderland.
===Galactic Era===
After 2595 and the disastrous events of the Beyond Veil's Azure Crisis, which would nearly extinguish humanity and would fatally cripple the UNSC and its armed forces, a major UNSC review board was constituted to provide military leadership control over the UNSC special forces, which had been accused of substantial humanitarian atrocities, as well as highly dubious operations. The Designated Expeditionary Task Group, in fact, was the most-cited unit responsible of controversial operating methods, and the entire unit would be disbanded, and highly-ranking ONI officers would be charged and court-martialed for Delta's operations prior to and during Beyond Veil's Azure.
The Designated Expeditionary Task Group and Alice in Wonderland would both be permanently disbanded.
Instead, Delta would be resurrected as a legitimate military special forces (SF) unit under the command of the UNSC Army Special Operations Command (ARSOC), and would be renamed the UNSC Army Special Operations Group, the Army's elite unconventional warfare (UW) and counterterrorism (CT) unit. Although many would regard the Army Special Operations Group inferior in counterterrorism activities to the elite Naval Special Warfare units, ASOG was a larger and more versatile organization, superior to the Army's Rangers.
Army Special Operations Group units would be deployed to Dashan during the Galactic Era, employed in advanced counterterrorism activities with the multiservice Joint Task Force 11.
====Organization====
*1st Army Special Operations Brigade: Responsible for Army Special Operations Group operations in the Core Worlds and Inner Colonies, in systems such as Sol ("Earth"), Alpha Centauri ("Thebes"), Epsilon Eriandi ("Reach"), and Procyon ("Arcadia"). Under the spatial jurisdictions of UNSC Special Operations Command Centauri and UNSC Special Operations Command Procyon. Responsible for advanced counterterrorism activities on core UNSC colony worlds, such as hostage rescue and bomb threats. Permanently headquartered on Alpha Centauri.
:Controlled Systems: Sol (Earth), Alpha Centauri (Thebes), Epsilon Eriandi (Reach), Procyon (Arcadia)
:Headquarters: Thebes, Alpha Centauri System and Cambridge, Sol System 
:Current Deployment: UNSC Core Worlds (2596-2604)
:Regional High Command: UNSC Special Operations Command Centauri and UNSC Special Operations Command Procyon
*2nd Army Special Operations Brigade: Responsible for Army Special Operations Group operations in the Mid Rim, in systems such as 47 Ursae Majoris ("Asphodel Meadows") and Epsilon Indi ("Harvest"). Under the spatial jurisdictions of UNSC Special Operations Command Indi and UNSC Special Operations Command Ceti. Permanently headquartered at the Asphodel Meadows Naval Special Warfare Center in 47 Ursae Majoris.
:Controlled Systems: 47 Ursae Majoris (Asphodel Meadows), Alpha Corvi (Bifröst), and Epsilon Indi (Harvest)
:Headquarters: Asphodel Meadows Naval Special Warfare Center, 47 Ursae Majoris System
:Current Deployment: UNSC Middle Rim (2596-2604) and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Dashan (2599-2604)
:Regional High Command: UNSC Special Operations Command Indi and UNSC Special Operations Command Ceti
*3rd Army Special Operations Brigade
:Controlled Systems: Carinae-2172 (Beryl), Alpha Draconis (Midgard), Nu Centauri (Atreus), MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb (Dashan), and Carinae-312 (Relic)
:Headquarters: Sagittarius Regional Special Warfare Center, Carinae-2172 System
:Current Deployment: Sagittarius Arm (2596-2604) and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Dashan (2599-2604)
:Regional High Command: UNSC Special Operations Command Sagittarius 
*4th Army Special Operations Brigade
:Controlled Systems: Alpha Orionis (Hekate) and 13 Capricorni (Absolution Court)
:Headquarters:
:Current Deployment:
:Regional High Command: UNSC Special Operations Command Perseus
*5th Army Special Operations Brigade: Specialized battalion responsible for fielding indirect action capabilities, such as electronic warfare (EW), psychological operations (PSYOPS), and civil-military operations (CMO), in support of other Army Special Operations Brigades.
:Controlled Systems:
:Headquarters: Asphodel Meadows Naval Special Warfare Center, 47 Ursae Majoris System
:Current Deployment: 
:Regional High Command: UNSC Special Operations Strategic Command
*6th Army Special Operations Brigade
:Controlled Systems: MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb (Dashan)
:Headquarters: Forward Operations Base Hotel California, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb
:Current Deployment: Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Dashan (2599-2604)
:Regional High Command: UNSC Special Operations Command Sagittarius and UNSC Progressive Warfare Command
==Known Personnel==
===Vector Era (2570)===
"UNSC Counterterrorism Activity Warfare Section" (Office of Naval Intelligence/Special 
Operations Command)
*Commander Hayes (CMDR, O-5): Troop commander
*Lieutenant "Delta-One" (LT, O-3): Team commander
*Chief Petty Officer "Delta-Two" (CPO, E-7)
*Petty Officer 2nd Class "Delta-Three" (PO2, E-5)
*Petty Officer 2nd Class "Delta-Four" (PO2, E-5)
===Galactic Era (2604)===
"UNSC Army Special Operations Group" (Army/Special Operations Command)
Delta Fourteen
*Major Courtney Archer West (MAJ, O-4): Company commander
*Master Sergeant Blake Robinson (MSG, E-8): Noncommissioned officer in charge (NCOIC)
*Sergeant First Class Gordon Hedges (SFC, E-7): Rifleman
*Staff Sergeant Alexander T. Grant (SSG, E-6): Designated sharpshooter
*Sergeant Pratik Shah (SGT, E-5): Communications specialist
*Sergeant Randall Ridenour (SGT, E-5): Corpsman
Hellcat One
*Staff Sergeant Peter Lancaster (SSG, E-6): Designated sharpshooter
*Sergeant Bethany Sullvan (SGT, E-5): Designated sharpshooter
==References==
*Halo: Vector
*Halo: Galactic Era
==Footnotes==
==Behind the Scenes==
*The name of the "UNSC Counterterrorism Activity Warfare Section" was named in part after the U.S. Intelligence Support Activity.
Category:UNSC Units