Harrison, D.

[Harrison, D.]

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND DEFENSE FORCE
PERSONNEL COMMAND (PERSCOM)

CAREER SERVICE VITAE

Basic Information
Name: Derrick Gregory Harrison
Age: 34
Birth Date: October 20th, 2508
Birth Place: Casbah City, Tribute, Epsilon Eridani System

Service Information
UNSC Military Identification: 44788
Service Number: 44709-88361-DH
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel (O-5)
MOS: 0302 Infantry Officer
Billet: Battalion Commander

RIFLE QUAL: 205
PISTOL QUAL: 185
SWIM QUAL: S2
PFT: Class 2

Unit Information
Command: 27th Marine Expeditionary Unit
Regiment: 12th Regiment
Battalion: 1st Battalion

Medical Information
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 176 lbs
Eye Color: BLU
Hair Color: BLD
Blood Type: O-

Personality Profile: Lieutenant Colonel Harrison is a career military officer. He's as much married to the Marine Corps as he is his wife of twelve wonderful years. As a military leader, he is straight forward and to the point, and does not tolerate any nonsense from his officers and senior enlisted. He expects instant obediance to lawful orders, level-headed thinking and planning, and flawless execution when it is possible.

Outside of the military, Derrick Harrison is a loving father of two children and a devoted husband. Aside from the typical certificates and commendations hung up in his office, he also has plenty of two-dimensional photos of his family framed and hung on the walls. Beside his bed on the nightstand is a photo of himself in dress uniform and his wife on the day they were married. It's the first thing he looks at when he wakes up in the morning and the last thing he sees before going to bed (when aboard ship).

Physical Description: Derrick Harrison is of average build and height. His hair is a dirty blonde and only half an inch thick, trimmed into a regulation high-and-tight. He has shimmering blue eyes and thin eyebrows. His head is somewhat oval-shaped and his eastern European genes are quite evident.

Colonel Harrison is normally clean shaven when aboard ship or garrisoned at a military installation planetside. However, when in the field for extended periods of time, he sports short stubble and a five o'clock shadow. Harrison carries an aura of authority about him that lets others know he is in charge, and he is always seen wearing the class ring of the military academy he attended on his right ring finger.

Background Information:

Born in Casbah City on Tribute in late 2508, Derrick Harrison was the child of a school teacher and stay-at-home mother. Despite the financial struggles of his family throughout most of his life, Derrick had a happy childhood. He made friends very quickly and easily, and so spent most of his time outdoors.

In school, he applied himself in every subject and made good grades. He wasn't quite a straight "A" student, but he was never far off from it. When he began middle school, he was elected president of his sixth grade class.

While attending middle school, he happened to run into some Marine Corps recruiters that were scouting for future recruits to join the Marine Corps. Derrick found himself mesmerized by them. Their sharp uniforms and crisp appearance were the first thing that caught his eye. Upon talking with them their professionalism and knowledge was what sealed the deal for him.

He wanted to be a Marine.

Derrick went home and told his parents about the encounter. At first they were against the idea, and told him to pursue another dream. However, their son's persistence finally caused them to cave to his wishes. At the end of the day, they simply couldn't refuse him his dream.

So, they told him they would agree to let him join on one condition: he were to join as an officer. Derrick agreed to their terms.

Without informing their son, they looked into several four year military academies for teenagers that would graduate its students as a commissioned military officer.

They found one such school on Circumstance, one of Tribute's neighboring planets next to Reach. The costs for tuition were outrageous, but his parents were determined to enroll him.

A year later they had the money and informed their son he would be attending the Puller Military Academy (PMA) on Circumstance. Derrick, upon finding out, could hardly contain his excitement. In just a few years he would be living his dream.

The day after his sixteenth birthday, Derrick was picked up by a pair of men from the academy and shipped off to Circumstance.

His first year was tough, as he was taught a great many things in a short period of time. Military customs and courtesies, proper wearing of a military uniform, squad-level tactics, introduction to military history; the whole shebang. He also learned that he wouldn't be able to pick what branch he wanted to go into until his junior year. The first two years simply covered basic skills that all military personnel should have.

After two months of R&R back home for the summer, Derrick returned to PMA for his second year. This year was much easier for the seventeen year old Derrick, whom was beginning to grow used to all of the drilling, knowledge, and physical activity. It was in his second year he learned that the academy was named after a famous flag officer of the defunct U.S. Marine Corps, and that the statue of the man in the main courtyard wielding an MA5 was him. By the end of Derrick's second year, he'd made squad leader.

At the beginning of his junior year, he chose the Marine Corps as the he wished to enter into upon graduating. Derrick was tossed into a class of fellow Marine bound juniors and from there they began learning how to be Marine officers. They learned about amphibious and expeditionary warfare, the structure of a Marine platoon and company, and small unit tactics. By the end of the year, Derrick was at the top of his class.

His final year was by far the best. He pushed himself harder than he had before and by second semester was the platoon commander of a class of freshmen. Derrick graduated the Puller Military Academy with honors and earned his commission as a Marine Second Lieutenant at the age of nineteen.

Immediately after his training on Reach at The Basic School, Second Lieutenant Harrison was assigned platoon commander of Third Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 17th Regiment, 322nd Marine Division.

His first combat action as a platoon commander came at Hat Yai, where UNSC forces fought a brief skirmish against the Covenant before the colony was glassed. Harrison's platoon suffered heavy losses at the hands of the genocidal aliens, and he swore he would fight better and harder next time to ensure something like that never happened again.

He quickly learned it wasn't a matter of choice. The Covenant were vicious and unrelenting, moving from world to world and turning them to ash covered glassy wastelands. For three years he commanded his platoon, watching good Marines fall under the alien onslaught, and only winning a handful of costly battles.

The only thing that kept him sane was the woman of his dreams, who he met on R&R at Kholo in 2530. They quickly hit things off and got married before the year was over with.

In 2535, Derrick was now a Captain in charge of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 41st Marines stationed at Elysium City, Eridanus II. When the Covenant attacked the colony, his company assisted in the evacuation of the civilian populace and fought hard against the Covenant. Despite how hard they fought, and his expert ground tactics, his company suffered 90% casualties and was disbanded after the battle. The survivors were used as replacements for units that needed them.

In 2537, Captain Harrison's battalion was deployed in a heavily forested valley during the battle of New Constinople. For three weeks his company fought alongside its sister companies, trying to drive the Covenant out of the valley and into the open where several coordinated air strikes could decimate there forces. Ultimately, they were successful, and with surprisingly minimal casualties.

As a result, Derrick was promoted to Major and assigned as the battalion's executive officer.

For the next year and a half, Derrick participated in numerous engagements against the Covenant, where his battalion fought with distinction.

Everything was going well for Harrison until mid-2539, when Kholo was glassed. His unit had been stationed on the planet when the Covenant arrived, and after a brief engagement with the enemy, his battalion had been almost entirely wiped out. Major Harrison escaped the planet by the skin of his teeth, and spent several months aboard a UNSC hospital ship recovering from wounds sustained during the battle.

Shortly after being discharged from the hospital, Harrison was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Marines as its battalion commander and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Since then he has led his battalion with distinction, in both victories and defeats. Even still, the memory of Kholo still haunts him, and he hopes that he will never experience anything like that ever again.