Durant, M.

[Durant, M.]

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND DEFENSE FORCE
PERSONNEL COMMAND (PERSCOM)

CAREER SERVICE VITAE

Basic Information
Name: Michael Anthony Durant
Age: 23
Birth Date: 07/04/2519
Birth Place: Gotenheim, Heimdall, Sierra Succundus System

Service Information
UNSC Military Identification: 88857
Service Number: 88857-27379-MD
Rank: First Lieutenant (O-2)
MOS: 0302 Infantry Officer
Billet: Platoon Commander

RIFLE QUAL: 230
PISTOL QUAL: 225
SWIM QUAL: S3
PFT: Class 1; 246

Unit Information
Command: 22nd Marine Division
Regiment: 12th Regiment
Battalion: 1st Battalion
Company: Oscar Company
Platoon: Second Platoon

Medical Information
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 182 lbs
Eye Color: BLU
Hair Color: BLD
Blood Type: B+

Personality Profile: For those that have dealt with Lieutenant Durant, they can attest that he is not your typical officer. Rarely has he been seen to lose his temper. Generally people say that he is fiercely calm and collected, both on and off the battlefield. He's highly intelligent thanks to being given the best education that credits can buy, and it isn't unusual to find him reading a historical or philosophical book in his free time. During his duty hours he remains focused on the task at hand and stresses training and friendly competition heavily. It is his firm belief that the two go hand-in-hand. He likes seeing his Marines striving to do better every time, and promotes friendly squad rivalry so long as it remains just that. Friendly.

Michael prescribes to an unusual belief system, atypical of the common person. Having grown up on Heimdall, a planet whose name stems from Norse mythology, he researched mythology heavily as a youngster. For what most would consider ancient myths, he took the tales to heart and developed it into his own personal religion. Because of this, he values the character traits of honor and integrity most of all, believing them to be the necessary traits for strong warriors. Finally, he believes that all honorable warriors, who fight with bravery and valor, will be granted a spot in Valhalla to live on in the afterlife amongst the gods.

Very few things anger Durant. Though, this is not to say he doesn't find things that irritate him. Marines that overly complain or try to skimp on their duties will find themselves at odds with him. The only subject that truly sets fire to his emotions is the topic of his upbringing. Michael doesn't have much of a relationship with his family, in large part because of his decision to join the Marines instead of sticking with the future they had laid out for him. In truth, he'd joined the Marines to spite them. He never particularly cared for the extravagence of being wealthy, nor did he like how his family flaunted it to others. He chose to live in poverty as a Marine, and does not look down on others who hail from lower castes of the societal hierarchy.

Physical Description: Michael Durant's physical characteristics are in line with what has historically been attributed to those of Nordic-descent. Sporting close-cropped sandy blonde hair that is as of yet not long enough to fashion into a high-and-tight cut, pale blue eyes, an aquiline nose and slightly recessed cheek bones, most would consider him mildly attractive. He possesses a tall stature that eminates an aura of authority about him when coupled with his confident stride. His complexion is smooth and swarthy, and his body has not yet been marred by scars or burns, making him look pristine when compared to some of the Marines under his command.

Though not overly muscular, he's in relatively decent shape and likes to maintain his fitness via a tight regimen of morning calisthenics. His arms are lean and cut, most noticeably at the biceps. His hands are somewhat large and the skin surprisingly smooth. Almost like the bossom of a newborn infant. His pectoral and abdominal muscles are especially pronounced and very noticeable when dressed only in his skivvies.

While there are no tattoos of note on his body, he has expressed interest in getting some done. The most desired one will be a tattoo of the UNSC Marine Corps logo imprinted on his left breast, a brand to remain in his body til the day he's put six feet under. Further tattoo ideas are in the works, yet he has not decided upon what they will be or where he intends to have them placed.

Background Information: Michael Durant was born on the Outer Colony fringe world of Heimdall on July the Fourth, 2519. His parents were both very wealthy entrepeneurs and the owners of several highly successful corporate conglomerates in both the galactic shipping and mining industries. His father purchased an estate in the suburban outskirts of the capitol city of Gotenheim shortly after discovering that Carissa had become pregnant with Michael. Being the child of a wealthy family meant a very strict upbringing for the young Durant. His parents enrolled him into private school at the tentative age of four and began grooming him early on to be the inheritor of his family's business ventures and their exhorbitant wealth.

This meant participating in many lavish dinners with his parents' fellow corporate executives and being forced to take lessons in "proper civilized decorum." He was force fed information on how to greet a potential business partner, how to act at the dinner table and around strangers. Michael was also forced to take lessons in classical music, as his parents wanted to expand his horizons so that he could literally be anything he wanted. So long as it conformed to their pre-conceived notions of what was best for him.

The division between him and his parents started roughly around time he turned thirteen. By now, he'd grown both bored and tired of the life he was living. He was sick of coming down from his room every Saturday afternoon to greet his parent's guests and loathed sitting at the dinner table with them listening to them talk "business." There was no source of excitement in his life. Everything that he considered exciting, his parents practically abhorred. Coupled with strained relations with the people he once considered friends at school, he was practically fed up with being rich.

This led to many altercations at his school with fellow students. The most noteable had him sitting in the office being harshly scolded by his parents for sticking up for a new student who'd hailed from a lower class family. Michael had witnessed a pair of the school's richest and snobbiest gang of boys hazing a boy whom was the child of a single mom who'd spent years saving up the credits necessary to enroll him in private school. Michael marched over and tried to end the hazing, only for one of the snot-nosed punks to try and throw a punch at him. His mistake landed him with a broken nose, and the other boys immediately backed off after that.

However, his reputation from that point had been ruined. He stuck up for the poor kid with a hand-me-down uniform, and such a stigma would follow him for the rest of the time he was in school up until college. Michael didn't care, however. He believed he did the right thing and took pride in his decision, despite his parents constantly putting him down for it.

Things at home only became more heated as he began rebelling. He often would sneak out at night and head into the downtown area of Gotemheim to hang out with some friends from the lower castes of society. While he did nothing criminal, his parents always assumed he was when they began to catch on to his antics. It wasn't long before Michael started wearing more casual, non-name brand clothing instead of the stuff his parents bought for him. This only further served getting him in trouble, his father often telling him that he "looked like a bum."

When Michael's obsession with Norse mythology came to light, his parents were unsure of what to make of it. Deathly afraid that their son had completely lost his marbles, they had him enrolled into therapy. This only caused more anger and rebelliousness from him, and after several arguments, ended the therapy if only to cease the threats of running away.

Things calmed down, however, around the time Michael graduated high school and got accepted to Serace Leon University located on Sigma Octanus IV. Based on an agreement made between him and his parents, he chose to minor in english literature so long as he majored in business management. So, alas, that's what he did. But, he had no desire or intention of inheriting anything from his family. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do after college once he obtained his degree, but he knew it wouldn't be anything related to his family's businesses or managing his own corporate entity.

He didn't come to a decision until his junior year of college. One of his classmates in his Ancient Historical Literate class was a retired captain of the UNSC Marines. The two became close friends and the captain spoke very highly of the Marine Corps and the lifestyle. Michael very quickly became enthralled by his stories and soon decided that he would be joining up after completing college.

Naturally, he kept this a closely guarded secret from his family. If his parents were to find out his plans, all hell would have likely broken loose. He didn't want to have to deal with it while attending school, as he knew they'd likely consider shipping him back to Heimdall and keep him under close watch. So, he waited.

When he finally earned his degree, he marched to the nearest recruiting terminal and signed his life away to the Big Green Machine. He purposely waited until a few days before shipping out to inform his parents of his decision. As he expected, they didn't take the news too well. After a handful of heated arguments, and just the day before he was to depart to Reach for Officer's Candidate School, Michael's parents disowned him and had their money pulled from his bank account.

This didn't affect him very much, and he barely thought about it in his time at OCS. The training was grueling and unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Despite how tough it was for him, he absolutely loved it. He'd never felt so alive and indepedent before in his life. Picking up and firing a rifle for the first time was both an exciting and nerve-racking experience, but he quickly found he excelled at it. Marksmanship came natural to him and he scored high on his rifle and pistol qualifications. During many of the field exercises, his instructors noted his aptitude for battlefield strategy and tactics. There were few exercises he hadn't made satisfactory, or "sat," marks on.

The day he graduated OCS and earned the title of Marine Officer was the proudest day of his life. To celebrate, he and several of his fellow newly-minted Marine officers spent the entire night at a bar in New Alexandria. For the next ten days after graduation and before he started training at The Basic School (TBS) to be an infantry officer, he assisted some local Marine recruiters in recruiting potential officer candidates and stayed in a hotel that he paid for with the money he'd accumulated while in OCS.

Due to the The Basic School on Reach being booked to capacity, the now Lieutenant Michael Durant was shipped to the TBS located at Camp Horn in the Middle East of Earth. The training he received to become an infantry officer was fun and enjoyable to him, and he helped several of his fellow infantry officers-in-training through the program. Upon graduating from The Basic School, Michael received his assignment orders for his first command; Second Platoon, Oscar Company, First Battalion, Twelfth Marines.

Since then he has served with the platoon as its commanding officer for seven months, replacing their previous CO who was killed in combat action against the Covenant earlier into their twelve month deployment. In that time he's seen some action against the alien hegemony and had the unfortunate opportunity to witness his first glassing of a planet firsthand.

Operation: LION CLAW, on the planet Hydra III, ended in failure and heavy casualties for the UNSC forces that participated. Including a handful of Marines under Durant's command spread across the platoon. The Lieutenant holds himself partially responsible for the losses, and has since vowed to do better next time.

And that next time may come sooner than he realizes.