Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson

Who, what, when, where, why?!

Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson (Sergeant Johnson, Sarge, Sergeant Major or Johnson for short) is one of the main characters in the Halo Series. He played a major role during the Human-Covenant war and was alongside John-117 most of the time. His date of birth is only known to be sometime near the late- 2400's, meaning that Sergeant Johnson must be around the age of fifty or sixty at least, at the time which Halo 3 is based at. He was born in Chicago, United Republic of North America, on Earth. Sergeant Johnson played a vital role during the course of the Great War and fought at major battles such as Harvest, Reach, Earth, and the events at Installation 04, 05, and at the Ark. He was key in forming an alliance between the Humans and Elites (Sangheili).

His Service Number was: 48789-20114-AJ

Past-Life
Johnson enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps of the UNSCDF when he was nineteen and was soon thrown into the Insurrection. His name was dubiously associated with dozens of black operations and programs, including assignment to the highly classified unit called ORION Project, which performed "enhancement" procedures on volunteer troops, who would later be referred to as SPARTAN-Is. Johnson was also known to have participated on missions codenamed TANGLEWOOD and KALEIDOSCOPE.

The files that contain the records of his involvement with the ORION Program were subsequently covered up by ONI Section Zero, and anyone who tries to access them is automatically sent a fake file marked "\P_BS48789-2011-AJ.txt", also known as the "Paris/BS Spoof" File. He was a graduate of the Naval Special Warfare Sniper School, where he exceeded the expectations of his superiors, and received training in Human Entry Vehicle orbital drops, and CQB (Close Quarters Battle), while serving in NavSpecWar. He also served as a Squad Leader on many black operations missions during the Insurrection.

In 2524, Johnson participated in Operation: TREBUCHET, leading Alpha Squad and a platoon of NAVSPECWAR Marines alongside Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne. Their squads used Hornets to conduct air assaults on multiple targets in efforts to eliminate Rebel bomb making factories. However, when a rebel (armed with a bomb) was cornered in a Jim Dandy restaurant, Byrne told Johnson to fire an M99 Special Application Scoped Rifle, (aka Gauss rifle), at an Insurrectionist holding a child hostage. Sergeant Johnson did not have a clear shot at the rebel, and his hesitation led to a civilian (the child's father trying to rescue his son) tackling the female rebel, who then detonated her explosives, which destroyed the Jim Dandy restaurant, along with all of the Marines in Byrne's squad (except Byrne himself), and thirty-eight civilians. Byrne would hold a great deal of animosity towards Johnson for quite some time as a result of this incident.

After the incident, Johnson came home and found his Aunt Marcille Johnson dead of natural causes, and soon went on a massive drinking binge. He started a brawl with bouncers at a Chicago club, and ended up in a gutter until he was found by Lieutenant Downs, a UNSC Marine Corps recruiter. He was re-assigned to planet Harvest by Jilan al-Cygni.

He has a very gung-ho attitude towards life, personal goals and as a leader to his fellow Marines. This earned him a reputation, respect, and admiration from his subordinates and superiors alike.

Career Achievments

 * Sergeant Major Johnson (When Pre-Ranked Corporal) was promoted to Sergeant after the successful assassination of Jerald Mulkey Ander, he also passed the final test of the Naval Special Warfare Sniper School.
 * Sergeant Major Johnson (|When Pre-Ranked Staff Sergeant) was promoted to Sergeant Major aboard Cairo Station.
 * He has also been awarded three medals, the Purple Heart, the Medal of Honor and the Colonial Cross.

Appearances in Halo 3

 * Sergeant Major Johnson is in nearly every campaign level of Halo 3.

Facts/Trivia

 * Halo: 3 ODST is the only game to have Johnson as a playable character. He is unlocked for Firefight with a code that came with pre-ordered copies of Halo 3: ODST.
 * Johnson's voice is usable in Halo: Reach's Firefight mode for 100,000 cR.
 * In Halo: CE, Johnson will always appear in later levels, even if killed.
 * Johnson was the first human to kill a member of the Covenant. He also witnesses Truth's death, making him the only human to have witnessed both the beginning and the end of the Human-Covenant War.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the popular Elite quote "Wort, wort, wort!" is actually a slowed-down reversal of Johnson saying, "Go, go, go!"
 * It may be presumed that Johnson could be or was married according to a quote during game play on the level Cairo Station where Johnson himself says that the Covenant are worse than his mother-in-law. In Halo: Contact Harvest, Johnson was involved in a romantic relationship with his commanding officer, Jilan al-Cygni, leading fans to theorize that the two were married at some point.
 * Johnson prefers Sweet William Cigars, like SCPO Franklin Mendez and Captain Ponder.
 * The character of Sergeant Johnson first appeared in a short video shown to kick off the Halo Launch Party held in Chicago on November 10, 2001.
 * His voice is portrayed by David Scully in the games, who also voices a number of Elites as well. In an out-take for Halo 2, David Scully says, "In Halo 4, I get a woman!".
 * Sergeant Johnson is partially based on the character Gunnery Sergeant Al Apone from the film Aliens, with whom Johnson shares many character and physical traits, as well as some dialogue.
 * Johnson is the only Human in Halo 2 to call the Arbiter by his title.
 * Johnson may have been as old as 82 at the time of his death. However, he was physically much younger due to Project: ORION augmentations and because much of that time was spent in cryogenic suspension during Slipspace jumps.
 * It is possible, through a glitch, to keep Johnson alive despite his death from 343 Guilty Spark. You can do this by killing him right before the cutscene in which he gets killed by Guilty Spark.
 * By doing the glitch above you can get Johnson infected, even though he is supposed to be immune to the Flood, to which he will say, "Ain't I immune to this?"
 * It was originally thought that Sergeant Johnson's Boren's Syndrome, and immunity to the Flood infection, were caused by over exposure to plasma. However this medical problem was a side effect of his Spartan-I augmentations. UNSC Officials created the Boren's Syndrome as a cover story, claiming it was caused by radiation exposure. Many of the other Spartan-Is experienced this medical problem, meaning that there were possibly many other troops who were immune to the Flood infection.
 * If all of your other marines are dead, Johnson becomes invincible, similar to 'Rtas 'Vadum. This can be used to always have one person capable of doing the fighting for you on higher levels.
 * In a recent fan interview hosted by Best Buy, Joseph Staten has confirmed that Avery Johnson is, indeed, a SPARTAN-I
 * Avery Johnson was known to have "chronic" nightmares, usually about his last mission. This is one of the many symptoms of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), a psychological condition formerly known as "Shell Shock", usually gained after an extremely traumatic psychological experience.
 * "Send Me Out... With a Bang" is the Achievement granted for completing the final mission of Halo:Reach and the final words of Johnson.
 * Johnson was alongside Private Jenkins in Halo: Combat Evolved. Pvt Jenkins was the marine's helmet that John-117 picks up on the first level involving the flood ever in the Halo Series.