UNSC Chain Of Command

Community Halo Universe
1

I’ve seen a Chain of Command posted online before, but it only left me with more questions. I’m aware that SPARTAN II’s and some select SPARTAN III’s remained within the Navy, but the SPARTAN IV’s are in a whole different command, allowing Commander Palmer to take command of the SPARTAN IV’s separately from Chief’s VERY large shadow.

I’ve also argued on here before that while MC holds the rank of Master Chief (E-9), he doesn’t complete the duties of an E-9. As an E-9 in the Army, your responsibilities are management and/or strategic adviser to the commander. While I understand the Spartans are not your typical Soldiers, they are still military and thus have a chain of command. I would argue that MC was given the rank of Master Chief for ceremonious reasons only. While he would need to have a rank high enough to legitimize leadership over his other Spartans, he was only given approximately 33 Spartans to command after augmentation, making him (at best) a Platoon Leader which is still higher than Master Chief (O-2 is your typical platoon leader)

Rank aside, who has direct command over the Spartan II’s if it’s not Commander Palmer? Given MC’s propensity to disobey direct orders from a commander, it’s understandable that he would never be promoted above his current rank. MC acts in the capacity squad leader/section leader (E-5/E-6) than he does an E-9.

Stalker117
Grey Team Alpha

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This is from Halopedia:

The majority of the Spartan-IIs serve under Naval Special Weapons, a division of the UNSC Special Forces with heavy ties to Section Three of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which initiated and operated the SPARTAN-II program. This remains unchanged despite the formation of the new Spartan Operations branch in the post-war era.

So it would be whoever leads NAVSPECWEP, then going up to the top the leaders of NAVSPECWAR, UNSC Special Operations (Annabelle Richards), and Serin Osman, Commander-in-Chief of ONI. Hope that helped at least a bit.

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All Spartans are to be transferred to the Spartan branch. Spartan Palmer does not own the branch… She leads the Spartans aboard Infinity. Buck was once a Commander of the Spartan Branch on a different ship. Spartan II’s are given high enlisted ranks because they operate by themselves, and are generally not commanded by any Naval or Army officers unless ONI tells them to listen. It’s a similar procedure to why Mass Effects Council has Spectres, and why Jedi are given the rank of General, because they don’t want clones commanding a Jedi. Even though Spartans are created as officers second and soldiers first, Spartans such as Kurt, Master Chief, Fred, and Carter, have proven to be amazing leaders and great tacticians. Especially Kurt.

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I believe Chief was actually offered a high position like Admiral from Lord Hood after the events of Halo 4 , but wanted to remain in the enlisted ranks believing he is of much better use in the field.

And I’d say oni is who they answer to, if they choose to. SIIs do whatever the -Yoink- they want

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> 2533274957148104;1:
> I’ve seen a Chain of Command posted online before, but it only left me with more questions. I’m aware that SPARTAN II’s and some select SPARTAN III’s remained within the Navy, but the SPARTAN IV’s are in a whole different command, allowing Commander Palmer to take command of the SPARTAN IV’s separately from Chief’s VERY large shadow.

I’m gonna stop you right there, Spartan Operations makes no sense… as you’ll see in a moment.

Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer is not the “Commander of the Spartan IVs”. She’s the ‘battalion’ commander for Infinity’s Spartan Operations contingent, her operational command ends there, and does not appear to extend to other warships with their own Spartan Operations.

The COC for Spartan Operations is as follows:

Rear Admiral Musa Ghanem (Haha, no, he’s not Chief of Staff… that honor goes to a former Warrant Officer, who’s now civilian) >>>>> Chief of Staff Jun A266 (who is also the Chief of Naval Education and Training equivalent and occasional recruiter) >>>> Battalion Commander Sarah Palmer (In the case of INF-101’s Spartan Operations detachment) >>>>> Fireteam Leader (“Company Commanders? Platoon leaders? What are those?”).

And that’s it.

Battalion Commanders are known to integrate themselves directly into the Squad level, probably due to the lack of effective leadership or a hierarchical system that would otherwise allow for more smooth transition of command and decrease overall workload for the guys at the top.

> I’ve also argued on here before that while MC holds the rank of Master Chief (E-9), he doesn’t complete the duties of an E-9. As an E-9 in the Army, your responsibilities are management and/or strategic adviser to the commander. While I understand the Spartans are not your typical Soldiers, they are still military and thus have a chain of command. I would argue that MC was given the rank of Master Chief for ceremonious reasons only. While he would need to have a rank high enough to legitimize leadership over his other Spartans, he was only given approximately 33 Spartans to command after augmentation, making him (at best) a Platoon Leader which is still higher than Master Chief (O-2 is your typical platoon leader)

You haven’t even heard the best part:

“You are Spartans now. You stand side by side with your Spartan brothers and sisters. You march into battle together—you do not charge ahead. You do not grab glory for yourself. Spartans don’t have ranks because Spartan is your rank.” - Rear Admiral Musa Ghanem

Since then this format has been universally adopted, because the best way to make sense of the system… is to not have one at all.

> Rank aside, who has direct command over the Spartan II’s if it’s not Commander Palmer? Given MC’s propensity to disobey direct orders from a commander, it’s understandable that he would never be promoted above his current rank. MC acts in the capacity squad leader/section leader (E-5/E-6) than he does an E-9.

Naval Special Warfare Command, SOC. As of 2555, Captain (O-6) Annabelle Richards is OIC for that component.

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Spartan branch current rank structure or lack of there of is one of the more unique but overall unnecessarily complicated structures to be used and does seemingly alienate the previous ranks of the IIs and IIIs.

The best way I can describe the IVs rank structure is a loose…very loose iteration of military in particular special forces respect/ pecking order. An operator would most times carry a rank equivalent to a corporal/Sargent when compared to his regular contemporaries. Operators who have been in the squadron/ unit longer would carry more respect “rank” as they would have served longer, if you had two Marines but one served 3 years with 1 tour and the second did 8 years and 4 tours, most would defer to the second person for advice despite them being the same rank. Team leaders and officers tend to be the most experienced thus not only having a rank but also the respect.

The disregard shown by Spartans to higher ranks most the time is due to the fact the tactical choices made would either end with unnecessarily high cost or fail altogether and the issuing person hasn’t or isn’t taking it into account. Just look at the exchange between 117 and Del Rio with escaping Requiem and to some extent dealing with Cortana. Spartans, especially the IIs are combat demigods as they know nothing else so when questioned or told to do something “wrong” they will object.

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Beta 5 Operator

I’m both extremely satisfied with your response, and extremely disappointed that’s it’s true. I wanted to get the question out there in hopes of exposing a large discrepancy in the Halo legacy that I love so much. Ultimately it’s the details that make these stories pass the test of time, and it seems Halo’s foundation has been fabricated with sand. While many details can be explained away with “Top Secret information that was redacted and we’ll never know” kinds of lines in the books, it leaves little satisfaction for the readers. It’s my understanding that 343 has a special team put together that catches continuity errors, but wonder if they have a representative who could speak on behalf of the U.S. military to ensure the accuracy of what is depicted in the games and books. While I’m not trying to turn the UNSC into the military I know, a more accurate structure would be refreshing.

Because of the lack of details, the story-line gets muddy and turns into interpretation and/or ridicule. Anyone have a connect to 343 to address this concern?

Stalker117
Grey Team Alpha

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> 2533274957148104;7:
> Beta 5 OperatorI’m both extremely satisfied with your response, and extremely disappointed that’s it’s true. I wanted to get the question out there in hopes of exposing a large discrepancy in the Halo legacy that I love so much. Ultimately it’s the details that make these stories pass the test of time, and it seems Halo’s foundation has been fabricated with sand. While many details can be explained away with “Top Secret information that was redacted and we’ll never know” kinds of lines in the books, it leaves little satisfaction for the readers. It’s my understanding that 343 has a special team put together that catches continuity errors, but wonder if they have a representative who could speak on behalf of the U.S. military to ensure the accuracy of what is depicted in the games and books. While I’m not trying to turn the UNSC into the military I know, a more accurate structure would be refreshing.
>
> Because of the lack of details, the story-line gets muddy and turns into interpretation and/or ridicule. Anyone have a connect to 343 to address this concern?
>
> Stalker117Grey Team Alpha

Some of the Devs are former military - one thing that is universally agreed on in the sci-fi world… rule of cool takes precedence over every other facet of a story or worldbuilding. Every concept has to go through multiple forms of analysis and commentary from every team within 343i and some folks at Microsoft Studios before being ‘published’ for the public to view, this includes the in-universe organization known as Spartan Operations. To assume that some staff or consultants of prior service (I happen to know some who are) did not provide their own perspective (whether in compliments or criticisms to certain aspects of Post-War material like SpOps is left to debate) over that matter is dubious at best.

On that subject, by bringing forward your concern, you have already connected to them - as they do read these forums.

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> 2533274829733449;3:
> All Spartans are to be transferred to the Spartan branch. Spartan Palmer does not own the branch… She leads the Spartans aboard Infinity. Buck was once a Commander of the Spartan Branch on a different ship. Spartan II’s are given high enlisted ranks because they operate by themselves, and are generally not commanded by any Naval or Army officers unless ONI tells them to listen. It’s a similar procedure to why Mass Effects Council has Spectres, and why Jedi are given the rank of General, because they don’t want clones commanding a Jedi. Even though Spartans are created as officers second and soldiers first, Spartans such as Kurt, Master Chief, Fred, and Carter, have proven to be amazing leaders and great tacticians. Especially Kurt.

#NoBodyNoProof.
Also, the rank of “Commander” when applied to Spartans only refers to the leader of the Spartan compliment upon that ship. Therefor as you said, when Buck was on his own ship with the rest of Alpha-9, he was Commander Buck. Obviously Palmer is Commander Palmer as she leads Infinity’s S-IVs, and theoretically any other Spartan leading a ships compliment would be a Commander as well (ex; Commander Mendez of the UNSC Seattle’s S-IVs)

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> 2533274907200114;9:
> > 2533274829733449;3:
> > All Spartans are to be transferred to the Spartan branch. Spartan Palmer does not own the branch… She leads the Spartans aboard Infinity. Buck was once a Commander of the Spartan Branch on a different ship. Spartan II’s are given high enlisted ranks because they operate by themselves, and are generally not commanded by any Naval or Army officers unless ONI tells them to listen. It’s a similar procedure to why Mass Effects Council has Spectres, and why Jedi are given the rank of General, because they don’t want clones commanding a Jedi. Even though Spartans are created as officers second and soldiers first, Spartans such as Kurt, Master Chief, Fred, and Carter, have proven to be amazing leaders and great tacticians. Especially Kurt.
>
> #NoBodyNoProof.
> Also, the rank of “Commander” when applied to Spartans only refers to the leader of the Spartan compliment upon that ship. Therefor as you said, when Buck was on his own ship with the rest of Alpha-9, he was Commander Buck. Obviously Palmer is Commander Palmer as she leads Infinity’s S-IVs, and theoretically any other Spartan leading a ships compliment would be a Commander as well (ex; Commander Mendez of the UNSC Seattle’s S-IVs)

That’s what I was implying, but I -Yoinked!- up my words and said Buch owns the branch, when I meant to say division.