Carter-A259

"Spartans never die, Jorge, they're just Missing In Action."

- Carter-A259

Commander Carter-A259 is a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to the UNSC Army's SPECWARCOM/Group Three. Carter is the leader of Noble Team, an elite team of Spartans who fought during the Fall of Reach. His call sign in the team is Noble One.

Biography
Carter was born in Durban, Biko on August 27, 2520. He was conscripted into the Spartan-III program's Alpha Company in 2531, and, after an unknown amount of time, became the leader of Noble Team. He has lead Noble Team through enough difficult situations to earn the loyalty of his teammates. He and Catherine-B320 are the only survivors of the original team, and share a close bond as a result.

Personality and Traits
Carter is described as charismatic and reassuring, as well as a born leader, inspiring confidence in those under his command. He is said to be cool under pressure, with laser-like focus, even while maintaining adaptability and flexibility. Carter is also noted as being capable of interacting with non-SPARTAN personnel effectively and efficiently with low-to-no expected stress issues, and is said to be at his best while building a team.

As team commander, his defining trait is his desire to bring his people back alive, but he knows the challenge of losing members of his command. However, he was said to have "minor trust issues" due to the death of Thom-293 under his command; Carter attributes S-293's death to his own "inadequate team preparation" while it was evidently due to enemy action or Thom-293's own lapse in situational awareness. Carrying the guilt over Thom's death may have also been the source of Carter's hesitation to commit to one of the replacements.

Trivia

 * With the rank of Commander, Carter-A259 is the highest ranked SPARTAN.
 * Carter's date of birth makes him one of the oldest SPARTAN-IIIs. The majority of the trainees for the first class, Alpha Company, were four, five, and six years old when the project began in 2531; Carter would have been eleven at that time, making him nearly as old when he was conscripted as most other Spartan-IIIs were when they graduated from the program.
 * He is the subject of the SPARTAN-III augmentation procedures in the Birth of a Spartan trailer.
 * Carter's voice is usable Halo: Reach ' s Firefight mode.
 * It is noticeable that in the portrait for Halo: Reach's Armory, his hair is noticeably different, bearing a cesar cut, and his skin tone is also noticeably darker.