#michael stanforth

[dontaskchaosandco]

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Vice Admiral Hieronymus "Harold" Michael Stanforth!

Today is his -461st birthday!

During the inception of the SPARTAN-II program, Stanforth was the head of ONI Section 3, having hand-picked Halsey a few years prior. For this reason, he would continuously shield her during the program's unfolding. When the Covenant attacked, Stanforth took over the Spartan field operations, accelerating their training to prepare them for the new threat.

By 2530, he resigned as section chief to participate more closely in humanity's colony defenses. He enjoyed a friendship with Preston Cole--whom he had warned about his impending court martial three decades earlier--and was therefore one of the first people who received the recommendations that would become the Cole Protocol.

Stanforth lead the UNSC through the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, giving humanity a rare victory. However, the Covenant would find the location of Reach during the battle, forcing Stanforth to pursue them there. He would participate in Reach's defenses, ordering Operation: RED FLAG, a last-ditch effort to curb the Covenant invasion. He would hold the line at Reach, though he would eventually perish after his ship was destroyed.

A sidebar about this guy's messy lore:

His name is what?

Evidentially no one could agree on a name or birth date for him, which appear differently throughout the extended universe and lead to incongruous results (such as becoming a full admiral by age 17 and getting demoted four grades with no obvious reason).

In a classic Bungie/343i move, they chose to harmonize these details rather than pick one, so now "Harold" is a nickname for Hieronymus, which is the first name of a guy almost exclusively referred to as Michael.

[koryface]

This is an illustration of Fleetmaster Rho 'Barutamee and Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth for the table top game, Halo: Fleet Battles, The Fall of Reach. There are 2 cards in the box for your commanders, which also had busts made: https://dropshipstudio.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/halo-cov-01.jpg