United Nations Space Command

The United Nations Space Command is a human military, exploratory, and scientific organization. Originally the spaceborne military arm of the United Nations formed in response to widespread conflict in the Sol system in the mid-22nd century, the UNSC was incorporated into the United Earth Government upon its formation in 2170 and subsequently acted as its primary space-going arm in the subsequent centuries. Over the course of the 25th century, the UNSC gradually supplanted the Colonial Military Administration as the UEG's main military apparatus in the extrasolar colonies. After insurrectionist sympathies within the CMA were made public in the 2490s, the UNSC absorbed most of the functions of the CMA along with some of those of its parent agency, the Colonial Administration Authority. Shortly after the onset of the Human-Covenant War in 2525, the UNSC was granted unprecedented emergency powers, assuming the UEG's governing functions in order to facilitate the defense of humanity from the existential threat of the Covenant.

In the postbellum years, the UNSC, under the leadership of Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood, attempted to cede its power back to the UEG. However, the civilian government was reluctant to accept the handover before the situation in the colonies had stabilized, particularly as what remained of the CAA was now part of the UNSC. In response, the UNSC launched the Phoenix Initiative, an interim civilian body meant to oversee the reclamation process, albeit with the UNSC retaining considerable operational autonomy.

Strengths

 * 1) Survivor Spirit: the UNSC is generally motivated, and, hardened by the war and aware of the stakes, not afraid to fight dirty. Tenuous as peace may be, the end of the war still marks a resurgence of hope for the future, in contrast to the doom and gloom of the prior years.
 * 2) Well-Oiled Machine: for its size, the UNSC is very established, well-organized, and has relatively few rifts and rivalries that weaken its efficiency compared to many ex-Covenant factions. While many high-ranking officials are dead, its leadership was never decapitated, enabling a relatively smooth continuity of administration and strategic planning since the war.
 * 3) Eyes in the Sky: the UNSC's intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination capabilities, as well as the integration of said abilities to military operations and coordination, are without parallel in this part of the Orion Arm. While ONI's reach and resources are limited, and while they must take care not to spread themselves too thin, there is a fair bit they can do especially in their home turf and its immediate neighborhood. Equally, human cyberwarfare was always ahead of the Covenant, and post-war doctrine will lean heavily on successes in said area during the war, such as AI-augmented special force infiltration tactics.
 * 4) Artificial Minds: the UNSC's AI and high-end automation represent a unique technological advantage over virtually all ex-Covenant polities, one that should not be underestimated. While as of 2553, the UNSC stands at the verge of losing its capability to build smart AIs due to the loss of key infrastructure, the crucial nature of the technology will ensure that the reconstruction of the relevant industries and materials procurement chains will be prioritized. While the UNSC's use of AIs is a sticking point to many ex-Covenant, it is simply too integral for their civilization to give up. As well, without central regulation, it is likely that many progressive ex-Covenant factions will eventually develop AIs of their own, continuing on a trend of Covenant experiments in the final years of the war.
 * 5) Technical Efficiency: Covenant technology is impressive, but poorly optimized. The UNSC's tech, by and large, is the opposite, thanks to both less dogmatic and exclusive R&D methodologies and widespread utilization of AI computing. As Covenant-derived technologies reverse-engineered during and after the war are gradually implemented, humanity's technological disadvantage will gradually disappear—not necessarily in the form of direct counterpart technology, but just as often innovations focused on countering Covenant advantages, e.g. refractive coatings, improved reactor designs, and the repurposing of existing coil technology to create precision EM buffers to disperse incoming plasma.
 * 6) Unexpected Patronage: the UNSC has powerful allies among the ex-Covenant in the form of the Concord, whose fleets still police large parts of the human sphere, as well as the loose groups of ex-Covenant volunteers collectively known as the Contrite. The Arbiter's aid, primarily military at first, will help the UNSC focus on rebuilding in the precarious early years of the postbellum era.
 * 7) Reclaimers: humans have a special connection to Forerunner technology, granting them "administrator privileges" to certain Forerunner relics. Notably, this ability only extends to some Forerunner interfaces and does not grant any greater understanding of the inner workings of Forerunner technology; when it comes to reverse-engineering Forerunner machines, humans are on an equal footing with other species, and the Covenant actually have an edge due to their millennia-long history and well-established methodologies for dealing with Forerunner relics.

Weaknesses

 * 1) Modest Extent: compared with many other Orion Arm polities, the UEG's territory and population are on the lower end of the scale, particularly after the loss of most human colonies, and most of their worlds are concentrated on a relatively small region of space. Similarly, their ability to project power is extremely limited, mostly concentrated on peripheral regions of their own sphere of influence as well as some crossing zones between the human and Covenant spheres.
 * 2) Depopulation Crisis: much of the interstellar human population is dead or displaced, and a major issue of the post-war years will be to find the refugees viable homes. Many of these these efforts will be tied with the state-coordinated rebuilding projects, partly or wholly allotted to contractor companies, with settlement rights earned through a period of public or military service.
 * 3) From the Rubble: Many worlds and key industries lie in ruins, necessitating extensive rebuilding efforts. Some industries must be prioritized over others, causing potential issues—of at least development in unexpected directions—in the long run.
 * 4) Nowhere to Hide: the UNSC's greatest asset—secrecy—is now lost, and the locations of key human worlds and outposts are readily available to those who know where to look. The UNSC must take steps to decentralize and increase both its mobility and the self-sufficiency of individual worlds, or be eventually snuffed out.
 * 5) Outdated Technology: Even with advances made in the later years of the war, much of the UNSC's technology, from slipspace travel to communications, weapons and defenses, remains vastly inferior to the corresponding Covenant technology available even to small factions. While game-changing defense technologies are prioritized in reconstruction, it will be decades before they pan out across the entire UNSC. Particularly in the first decade of reconstruction, the UNSC must lean heavily on the Concord's aid for defense. Equally, with the widespread enactment of the Cole Protocol across human space, much data regarding specialist industries is simply lost, and recovering some of the lost data from backup caches will be another project in its own right.
 * 6) From Earth, For Earth: due to past—and partly ongoing—draconian policies and rhetoric, the UNSC is still heavily profiled as an Earth-first polity, and many Outer Colonies in particular remain unconvinced it represents their interests to any meaningful extent. There is much bad blood on both sides, and some of the past wounds will never heal. Even so, there are often more nuances even among said sides than might immediately be obvious to an outsider.
 * 7) Dependent: the UNSC remains afloat largely thanks to the aid of the Concord and their allies within the human sphere, to the extent they could be called an adjunct polity of the Concord. While much work has been done to returning them to self-sufficiency, more will have to be done before they can fully stand on their own legs against larger threats. As well, the UNSC is forced to walk a fine line between appeasing disgruntled survivors of the war, and keeping radical elements from jeopardizing the alliance with the Arbiter's forces. UNSC propaganda regarding aliens takes a virtual U-turn, emphasizing the Sangheili's role in ending the war while underlining the distinction between allied and hostile factions. Unsurprisingly, much of the population remains unconvinced, and it will take years of concrete actions on the Concord's part to begin healing the wounds of the past. This problem is also partly of Section II's own making, as propaganda up until then had downplayed the Covenant threat to prevent panic, and the consequent perception of the ex-Covenant as weak feeds revanchist sentiments among the general population.
 * 8) Cursed Inheritance: humanity's special connection to Forerunner technology—although mostly known among the general Covenant population on the level of speculation and rumors—makes them stand out as a potential threat, or at the very least asset to be controlled, to many ex-Covenant.

Formation and early years
On May 1, 2163, following fourteen months of conflict in South America, the United Nations formally votes to establish a supranational military that will take direct control of all national spacefaring assets for the duration of the crisis. Formally christened the United Nations Space Command, there was initially some resistance from non-complying countries, although thankfully most of these incidents were resolved without bloodshed. Their first formal military action was to pacify Luna of Frieden and Koslovic insurgents, whose possession of mass drivers represented an enormous threat to Earth-based cities and facilities. So complete was their assault that by the end of the year, there would be no more rebellious cells recorded on Luna for the rest of the war.

Although launched simultaneously with the Luna engagement, the UNSC would only begin the Mars Campaign in December of the same year. Later known as the first interplanetary deployment of the UNSC Marines, a series of blitzkrieg-styled attacks at the Argyre Planitia shipyards would, in spite of initial troubles thanks to a developing command structure and doctrine, prove to be an enormous success. This was a catalyst that saw the UNSC expand significantly in a short period of time, as more resources were demanded and justified to assist their efforts. They quickly sent forces all across the Sol system, efficiently destroying the sophisticated military hardware used by the Friedens and undermining the ideological strength of the Koslovics. So complete was their destruction that by the end of 2170, only seven years after the UNSC had been created, all three sides had ceased hostilities by ratifying the Callisto Treaty. This gave the UNSC total control in military matters over the colonies.

The success of the UNSC's performance eventually led to talks for a more direct reform of the United Nations itself, and it eventually blossomed in the formation of the United Earth Government. The UNSC was retained as the organization's military arm.

While the UNSC is now known as the UEG's all-encompassing land, sea, air, and space military force, this was not always so. At the time of its formation, the UNSC was strictly a spaceborne armed force. The early days of the Interplanetary War saw the creation of the UNSC's core component commands NAVCOM and UNICOM, borne out of a need to coordinate both space and surface forces on increasingly complex offworld deployments on Luna, Mars, the Jovian Moons and beyond. The respective jurisdictions and roles of the two would change over time, though overall they remained a constant as the UNSC's structure developed. As the forces folded under the UNSC were drawn directly from Earth's national militaries, the UNSC had no formal branches of its own at the time, though this would soon change with the military buildups that characterized the second half of the Interplanetary War. By 2170, the UNSC's fledgling Navy and Marine Corps had become well-established, and were staffed by personnel loyal to the UN first, the old nations second. The formation of the UNSC's Army and Aerospace Force would follow in the subsequent reconstruction period, as the Callisto Treaty called for permanent UNSC garrisons to be established on the offworld colonies to ensure a lasting peace.

The Rainforest Wars also saw the creation of the short-lived UN Terrestrial Command (UNTC), meant as an Earth-bound counterpart to the UNSC. The UNTC was far less successful and never consolidated as much power as the UNSC, with terrestrial national and supranational military organizations far more hesitant to give up their sovereignty. Though it endured for several decades, the UNTC eventually faded to irrelevance before being folded into the UNSC's UNICOM. In practice, national armed forces persisted on Earth for centuries afterward alongside the gradually growing UNSC presence, though they did diminish with constant brain drain of the best and the brightest to the more powerful and prestigious UNSC. A resurgence of international tensions and unrest shortly following the reconstruction period in the early 23rd century also called into question the value and relevance of national militaries in the postnational age. Various statutes were put into place by the UEG to further curtail their power while UNSC Army and Aerospace Force presence on Earth was increased. The creation of the UEG's protectorate system also saw the rise of the Home Guards, auxiliary citizen militias largely to be used as a reserve force for each regional protectorate. By this point, most smaller national military forces had been entirely abolished by their parent governments or replaced by smaller citizen militias, as their home nations themselves were little more than cultural vestiges. By the 25th century, the diminished national military forces - where they still existed - were seen as little more than auxiliaries, often relegated to various secondary duties such as disaster relief and crowd control by the UNSC.

Post-Covenant War
Following the ceasefire of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC returned governing powers back to the UEG and began a period of slow demobilization. However, the presence of the various Covenant remnants all throughout the Human Sphere required the UNSC to continue vast military campaigns in order to secure their former holdings. Between careful tactical planning, the introduction in the first wave of post-war spacecraft, and assistance from the Concord of Reconciliation's fleets, the UNSC were able to outmaneuver and force the majority of hostile Covenant factions out of the Human Sphere by 2558.

Organization
Far more than the UEG's military appendage, the UNSC is an all-encompassing organization that represents the UEG's interests beyond Earth in various fields, ranging from policing to large-scale engineering, scientific efforts, and the exploration of new worlds for settlement. Going all the way back to the days of the Interplanetary Wars, some have argued that the UNSC's organizational character is stronger and better-defined than that of the UEG itself. One key reason were the circumstances of the two organizations' formation: the UNSC was created during the wars and quickly stepped up to manage the crisis across the system, and it was only in the aftermath that the civilian government was established, largely at the initiative of the UNSC. As such, the UNSC has always existed in a peculiar relationship with the UEG that may not be immediately apparent from the organizational hierarchy between the two. The emergency created by the Human-Covenant War ushered in a dramatic increase in the latitude already enjoyed by the UNSC, in effect making the UNSC its own independent body. The formation of the Phoenix Initiative after the war, largely at the prompting of the UNSC's Security Council, complicated this relationship further, greatly reducing the UEG's power outside Sol.

There is no single UEG body supervising the UNSC, beyond the Senate. UEG government subdivisions, such as the Department of Security, liaise with the relevant UNSC organizations when needed, but the UNSC is given considerable autonomy, increasingly so the further out they are from Earth. The UNSC Security Council was created during the Covenant War to serve as the UNSC's primary command-and-control organ. Mostly seen as an extension of HIGHCOM, the UNSC Armed Forces' controlling body, the Security Council would also include token UEG representatives and deal with matters beyond military strategy.

The UNSC is formally part of the United Earth Space Corps, a vestigial organization encompassing the UEG's spacefaring branches, though today the UESC is considered a "ghost organization" with little relevance and mostly lives on in historical and ceremonial contexts.

Branches and departments
By far the most prominent element of the UNSC are its military branches, known collectively as the UNSC Armed Forces. The military branches are further split into two elements: the Expeditionary Forces and Defensive Forces, which by default operate under the Naval Command (NAVCOM) and Unified Ground Command (UNICOM), respectively. Although this scheme applies for most operations, there are exceptions to this; for example, Marine Corps units may be placed under UNICOM command in theaters where UNICOM has a well-established presence for the sake of smoother coordination. For similar reasons, Aerospace Force assets have at times been subordinated to NAVCOM.

The Expeditionary Forces, sometimes called "the Fleet", comprise the UNSC Navy and the UNSC Marine Corps and are defined by their interstellar mobility. Because of their history and the nature of the spaceborne human civilization, the Naval elements of the armed forces are often regarded as the UNSC's most prominent and glamorous aspect.
 * The UNSC Navy is the UNSC's primary spacefaring branch. They operate interstellar vessels and handle most interstellar transportation, space warfare, and policing operations.
 * The UNSC Marine Corps are the UNSC's naval infantry branch, mainly responsible for expeditionary operations.

The Defensive Forces encompass the UNSC Army, UNSC Aerospace Force and the local UNSC Home Guards and Colonial Militias. They largely operate on a planetary and system scale and act primarily as a garrison force, though elements thereof are sometimes deployed alongside the Navy and Marines on large campaigns.
 * The UNSC Army is responsible for all surface warfare, and represents the largest and most permanent UNSC military presence on UEG worlds. In addition to ground-based forces, the Army operates the UNSC's largest maritime combat fleet, known colloquially as the "wet navy" despite its lack of organizational ties to the UNSC Navy, having developed under the Army since its inception.
 * The UNSC Aerospace Force, known as the Air Force for short, operates atmospheric and orbital assets and is responsible for the bulk of planetary air and space defense. They work in close coordination with the Army and provide most of their planetary and interplanetary transportation.
 * The Home Guards are the UNSC's regional citizen militias on Earth and the Solar System, organized under the UEG protectorates. These are mainly reservist forces and often handle auxiliary duties for the Army.
 * The Colonial Militias are state-sanctioned militias on the extrasolar colonies. Originally intended as an outreach program by the UNSC to avoid colonists from falling under rebel influence, many Colonial Militias have since become increasingly organized to the point of being indistinguishable from full-fledged armed forces. This was encouraged by the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War, as HIGHCOM realized it was more beneficial to let colonies organize their own defense wherever they could, as the UNSC could not be everywhere at once. Over the decades, many of these forces have developed their own traditions and some have only a tenuous connection to the UNSC despite being officially aligned with the UEG. While this was an inevitability during the war due to the Covenant threat, it was also one factor that led to the increased colonial autonomy under the Phoenix Initiative, as the credibility of military forces effectively outside the UNSC had grown.

Enlistment
Traditionally, the minimum enlistment age for the UNSC's mainline branches has been 18, with 17-year-olds able to enlist with parental consent. During the Covenant War, this was lowered to 16, though recruits on the younger side would typically not be assigned to frontline duties at first.

Conscription
While previously an all-volunteer force with only selective drafts during major conflicts such as the Insurrection, the Human-Covenant War saw the UNSC instituting a system of universal citizen conscription. At the system's height, a period of military or some form of civil service (usually in the UNSC) was compulsory for any able-bodied citizens - male or female - above the age of 18. Separate youth training and service programs existed for those between 15 and 17 years of age; in practice teenagers aged 16 and above were a common sight in military service in the war's later years, albeit usually assigned to duties away from the front lines. Optional training and preparation programs existed for even younger adolescents, and even the curriculum in public schools shifted increasingly towards preparing individuals for the war effort over the course of the war. The compulsory citizen service system was maintained after the Covenant War, albeit scaled down and reoriented toward reconstruction efforts.

Some degree of individual preference played into the duties and branch a conscript would end up assigned to, though ultimately, the decision was up to the UNSC and conscripts could be assigned to non-preferred duties based on need and the conscript's individual capabilities. The Marines as well as the special forces of any branch were generally regarded as all-volunteer forces, while unmotivated conscripts would typically be assigned to the local Army garrison. One's existing expertise and job also played a part in one's assignment, for better or worse; useful skills might land one a favorable posting in the military, but they might also restrict one's options if that specific skillset was needed in a specific area. Generally, most duties were within the UNSC's military branches, either in frontline duties or otherwise, though conscripts were also used to staff non-combat organizations such as the UNSC Engineering Corps, Logistical Corps and Astronavigation. The length of the service period depended on a conscript's assignment; after one's service, one would remain in the reserves and could be called upon to serve at any time.

The conscription system was in effect on Earth and the colonies remaining at the time of the policy coming into effect; however, exceptions were often made for worlds with well-established and UNSC-sympathetic defense forces of their own as well as worlds too distant to realistically coordinate with. Individuals could also acquire exemptions from service by working in an industry critical to the war effort, such as factories and shipyards. Studying or training for such jobs was also grounds for an exemption. This placed considerable pressure on youths to successfully enroll in universities or trade schools on the first try, as failure to get accepted to any form of education, training or critical work would mean conscription, typically to the military. The right connections could also in some cases get one a way out of service, typically via acquiring a "job" of dubious value at what was considered a critical industry, or paying for a medical certificate claiming they had some debilitating health issue preventing them from serving. Such individuals were viewed rather negatively, however, due to the sheer existential threat posed by the Covenant.