Allen Van Hoffman

"Remember kids to keep your head in the game and never look back" -Allen Van Hoffman during a press release after being asked about his unique survival stature. 
Allen Van Hoffman is a test pilot employed by the Misriah Armory. He served his time for the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps during the human covenant war and was honored for his actions during the battle for Reach in 2552. He is also one of the very few pilots to survive several battles during the covenant war and return home unharmed. 
== Early Life ==
Hoffman was born in Kenosha, Mars on May 29th 2505. His dad was once a test pilot and the chief operating officer for the Misriah Armory. His mom was also a test pilot, but had passed away after an unsuccessful test flight in which foreign debris was found to be the lead cause leading to a sudden loss in directional steering and colliding into a freeway. Hoffman's family lineage dates way back to where his great grandfather was once a famous ace pilot who fought during the second world war. It can easily be said that aviation ran in his blood stream from the very start and that factored in with the constant exposure to aircraft's, urged his desire in becoming a pilot.
Hoffman's favorite spacecraft was the longsword because he liked the fact that it was a combination of both a spacecraft and as he puts it "a flying house". Whenever he would find himself feeling down, he would ride his bike down to the Radford international spaceport where he'd watch the busy space traffic departing and arriving. He would do this often enough to where his mom would put a tracker on his bike since he would never tell his parents when he would leave. Since he knew that becoming a longsword pilot is proven to be very challenging, he would find himself learning advanced algebra and calculus in his spare time at the age of ten. This made him stand out amongst his teachers and would go out of their way to assign more challenging papers during exams in which he would mostly excel at. As a result of this, he would skip grades often enough until being assigned to a more advanced school. Because of the large age gap between Hoffman and his fellow classmates, he found it to be very challenging to socialize among others. Even from a very young age, Hoffman didn't have many friends as he would put flying first over others. 
Upon graduation in 2521, with secondary education to be completed within 15years as per the UEG established educational laws. Hoffman was offered a seat to attend the UNSC School of the North Star at the age of 16. Due to him being under aged to attend flight school, he was offered a position to partake in a special program meant for unique students like himself. This program would enable him to understand the fundamentals for his major in engineering, flight academy, personal life, and what's expected to become a member of the armed forces. 
Even from the beginning of his pilot career, many of Hoffman's classmates would describe his behavior to be that of a "hot shot" and having a "know it all" type personality. He was even described to be "cocky" among his flight instructors and would make frequent visits to the chair and dean of the school. After being issued three formal warnings violating the student code of conduct, Hoffman was kicked out of the program and was banned from attending the academy. It wasn't until where humanity received the covenant's declaration for war in 2525, where he was encouraged to re apply to the UNSC after undergoing necessary treatment. 
== Career ==
=== Marine Corps ===
Because the human covenant war marked a drastic increase in military recruitment and a sudden shift in pilot requirements, Hoffman was quickly selected to become a pilot for the EB-709 Longsword after congress passed approval to commence widespread production of the program. Hoffman was assigned to the 212th fighter wing based on New Alexandria, Reach. His early career as a pilot for the Marine Corps would mostly be training and familiarization flights after EB-709 longsword's had to constantly be upgraded to meet modern standards to compete against the far superior covenant fighters. This had upset him quiet a bit knowing that planets would fall every week with many aviators giving their lives to defend them all while being self-composed in his longsword. In 2531, Hoffman was transferred to the 40th Naval Air Squadron after the squadron suffered numerous losses in both experienced pilots and fighters. His first combat tour was in "New Cape" aboard the UNSC Polaris. Because the EB-709 Longsword was too large in going head on against covenant fighters alone, these longswords would mostly be subordinates once air superiority has been established. Nonetheless, these ships are not to be underestimated as cases have shown that EB-709 Longswords can easily pack a punch against reinforced covenant hulls. After numerous deployments to Skopje, Draco lll, Meridian, Arcadia, and Miridem; none of his previous missions would be more stressful than the battle for Reach in the middle of 2552. The war had claimed a vast majority of the fighter wing with no replacements to fill their spots put on top the numerous casualties humanity has endured during the war, Hoffman and the rest of his unit would aid in the evacuation efforts of New Alexandria and provide air support to UNSC ground forces. His stressful moment was when he was ordered to drop a shiva class nuclear warhead onto a covenant staging area despite the town being densely populated by civilians. Near the end of the battle, Hoffman received the news that he along side nine others would be the last of his unit to survive the battle and be incorporated into the Earth defense fleet. The UNSC High command declared last minute changes however, to put his unit alongside several other squadrons to the Martian defense fleet to aid in the evacuation procedure of both civilian and heavy industrial sites. Believing that the Covenant wouldn't prioritize on Mars, Hoffman assembled a group of willing pilots to flee the planet and bring their crafts to Earth to aid in the space battle, but this would be preempted when intelligence received a second wave of covenant ships called the "fleet of furious redemption" on an inbound vector to Mars. The battle for Mars would go onto to be devastating and be declared as a decisive loss for the UNSC, but due to the strategic importance to Earth, many of its infrastructure and loss of civilian life was minimal with the fleet departing to Earth after most of the UNSC presence on the surface were eliminated. 
=== Misriah Armory ===
After retiring from the UNSC in 2553, Hoffman was employed by the Misriah Armory and was given the opportunity to attend test pilot school for the C709 program. His 28 year experience in understanding the behavior and systems aboard the EB-709 longsword, put on top the numerous battles he was involved in with many pilots being not likely to survive such encounters quickly made him become the chief test pilot for the program. The signing of the peace treaty has given humanity more time to further expand its understanding of improving human technology and partake in their second major rearmament program.