James Ackerson

Colonel James Ackerson is a UNSC Army commissioned officer who is assigned to Section Three in the Office of Naval Intelligence as a liaison officer. He enlisted into the UNSC Army and served in an Airborne Division and Ranger Division before attending an Officer Candidate School. Ackerson commissioned into the UNSC Army in XXXX, where he served in the infantry branch and commanded at many positions throughout the Insurrection. In 2516, he was assigned to a Unified Special Warfare Command special project named Project: TITAN. He served as a project operations officer and deputy project director. He served in an officer exchange program with the Office of Naval Intelligence and ultimately led him to creating the SPARTAN-III Project.

In 2531, Colonel Ackerson served as the Project Director of the SPARTAN-III Project and amassed political power. He joined UNSC High Command's Special Weapons Development program and often sat alongside the leaders as a representative of ONI. Following his reassignment to Mars, he commanded a brigade during the Battle for Mars and Earth in support of the Battle of Sol System. Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, Ackerson was reassigned to Section Three and served as the directorate commander of the Special Projects Directorate within the Beta-5 Division.

Military Career
Enlisted Career...

After graduating from the Academy at Mare Nubium, James was commissioned into the UNSC Army as a Second Lieutenant and was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Division as a rifle platoon leader, weapons platoon leader, and pathfinder platoon leader. He then transferred to the 248th Ranger Division where he served as a rifle platoon leader, battalion assistant operations officer, and rifle company commander. James completed the Infantry Advanced Officers Course and was assigned to a Unified Special Warfare Command, Special Warfare Group 39 as an operations officer. Following a duty assignment with Special Warfare Group 39, he was assigned to Project: TITAN where he served in a biochemical augmentation military project supported by Unified Ground Command. After serving as a project operations officer, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and served as the deputy project director.

In 252X, James was selected to participate in an officer exchange program and joined the Office of Naval Intelligence in a temporary duty post. Under Section Three, he was assigned to the Black Operations Group alongside the Covert Operations Division as a deputy group commander. Under the Black Operations Group, he met Captain Aaron Gibson and Rear Admiral Ned Rich later in the Covert Operations Division. Following the start of the Human-Covenant War, James transferred to the Beta-5 Division where he served as a deputy commander of the special projects directorate. He then joined the Chief of Office of Naval Intelligence staff as the deputy of the special warfare development section. There, James pitched his idea of the SPARTAN-III Project to Admiral Margaret Parangosky.

Aboard the UNSC Point of No Return in 2531, James formalized his plan of the SPARTAN-III Project and began working closely with his partners in the Covert Operations Division. He became the Project Director of the SPARTAN-III Project and reported directly to Admiral Parangosky where he served in a special duty within her staff. Along with the creation of the SPARTAN-III Project, he created the Asymmetrical Action Group and began to build his own SPARTAN project to rival Doctor Catherine Halsey's SPARTAN-IIs. To grow his political power, he placed SPARTAN-III teams under the command of Colonel Urban Holland, someone he previously commanded during his tenure in Project: TITAN. In 25XX, Admiral Parangosky worked with James to secure him a spot in the UNSC High Command Special Weapons Development program where he worked under Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb.