Edward Buck (Earth-4001)

Gunnery Sergeant Edward Malcolm Buck (service number 92458-37017-EB) is a member of the UNSC Marine Corps throughout the Human-Covenant War, the last years of which he spent as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

Counting time spent in cryo-sleep, Buck was a 25-year veteran of the Covenant War and served in numerous battles. Regarded as an extremely skilled Marine, by the Battle of Earth, he was the leader of a small specialized fireteam, Alpha-Nine, which was appropriated by Captain Veronica Dare for a classified ONI mission before the drop on New Mombasa, Kenya in October 20, 2552.

History
The history of Edward Buck is the same as his mainstream counterpart up until the end of the Human-Covenant War in 2553.

Personality & Traits
Edward Buck is a brave soldier who consistently displays strong leadership skills and perseverance. He is also adept at de-escalating situations and hyper-focusing a team on a task, especially under great duress. Buck models a classical and robust strategy logic but also can think fast on his feet. He exemplifies a strong team ethic that includes a strong emphasis on the value of each member, even at the expense of the whole team. Decisions in the field are informed by the same wide moral framework that affects all aspects of his performance. Buck's commendable success in his early military career led to the acceptance of his application to the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Buck's over two decades of service at the front lines of the Human-Covenant War established him as an incredibly devoted leader and effective combatant, even among the elite ODSTs. By the time of the Battle of New Mombasa, Buck was considered to be one of the most skilled ODSTs alive, with only SPARTANs being better soldiers than him. By January 2553, he was being considered for both the SPARTAN-IV program by Musa Ghanem and the ONI covert intelligence unit, Kilo-Five, by CINCONI Margaret Parangosky.

Watching so many of his fellow Marines die has left Buck brash and ill-tempered, but this was not always so. When he was younger, Buck never had a particular interest in school. He did, however, love fishing on the Gold Sea with his uncle and other fishers. In his view, he felt free and believed he would be happy living life as a fisherman. However, when the Covenant attacked Harvest, he put his dreams aside to join the UNSC and aid humanity. Buck is particularly stubborn, a fact that he is aware of, having been told by his mother many times. Buck is able to always come up with a plan on the fly, an ability he believed was the reason he was in command of Alpha-Nine.

His only regret during his service is that he was not given the chance to participate in the Covenant's assault on his homeworld, Draco III, in 2545, in which many of the planet's residents were slaughtered by starving Unggoy and Kig-Yar soldiers; he only shared his remorse with his closest friends. This led to Buck forming a bloodlust against the Covenant, one which he eventually mitigated through his relationship with Veronica Dare.

Relationships
Buck developed a romantic relationship with Veronica Dare, an intelligence officer in Section One of the Office of Naval Intelligence. At one point, he proposed to her, but Dare remained silent, feeling that her job would force them to split. The two eventually agreed to end their relationship. The two first met on Castellaneta, a resort orbiting Saturn. Although the two enjoyed their week of shore leave together, Dare left him after Buck realized that she was a "spook". After their encounter on Sargasso, the two avoided each other for the remainder of the war, until they were forced to work together in the Battle of Mombasa. Although he thought he had buried his feelings for her, Buck's search for her during the battle made him realized that he had not gotten over her. After their time together on Mombasa reignited a spark in their relationship, the two vacationed together on Sundown.

Buck formed close relationships with his squadmates in Alpha-Nine. One of Buck's primary reasons for not joining the SPARTAN-IV program was due to his unwillingness to leave his teammates behind. He developed particularly close friendships with Taylor "Dutch" Miles, Kojo "Romeo" Agu, and Michael "Mickey" Crespo, having served with them for several years. He held himself accountable for the lives of each member of his squad.

Buck's impression of the Spartan-IIs lined up with the rest of the ODST sentiment that they are "glory hounds," but softened into having an admiration for John-117 after learning his military history and entering the SPARTAN-IV program, considering John as a "superhero".

Equipment
As an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, Edward Buck wore basic ODST armor with a CNM attached to the right side of the helmet and a combat knife on the right side of his chestplate. Buck typically uses an MA5D assault rifle and M6H2 pistol in combat.

Trivia

 * Canonically, Buck's blood type is O-, making him a universal blood donor, but O- is also the hardest type to match. However, in Halo: Reach, his MEDREF patch shows his blood type to be O+. This is because he has the same character model as all other ODSTs in the game, as he is not meant to be seen up close.
 * In an Easter egg in the epilogue cutscene after the credits, if the player looks to the left near the end of Johnson's talk with Quick to Adjust, the camera will pan over to Buck standing next to a caveman, he attempts to groom and eat off it.
 * Buck is the first character in the Halo series to speak while being controlled by the player.