General JB172 served as an officer and, later, leader of the United Nations for three generations. Below you can read his account of the UN's first generation.
6/2/2021 The account of JB: Reach was released. The clan was ambitious, its members ready. ShadowSniper172 began the construction of the many famous UN buildings in the early weeks after launch, the first of which was UN Hall, the main place of many internal and external clan meetings, looked like a church in all honesty. There was also Fire Base Alpha, a high walled formidable stronghold in those early days, though it was a classic spawn kill. Probably the most recognized structure, the UN Capital, the seat of UN leadership, originally completed in October 2010 with additions added over the decade by later UN generations, it was built with a mixture of a medieval Gothic style, looked a lot like Hogwarts to me. ChargedBullets, the past leader of the Rouge Spartan Command, would eventually be recruited into the UN by Shadow, giving him a chance of reclaiming his honor ever since the end of the Reaper War.
It was during this time that the United Nations clan began a series of restructuring, eventually phasing out the classic white armor from Halo 3. A sage and brown color was issued to all troops in order to resemble a realistic camo pattern and to blend in with Forge World, which at the time was the largest map ever created in a halo game from Bungie. The UN Army would for a time, remain as the sole consolidated branch for the clan.
It was not long before PhantomAustin showed his head, bringing forth the UN’s first Reach conflict. The ambitions of the 501st were very present. On October 3rd, PhantomAustin invited us to one of their meeting maps above the hanger, with the promise that no UN member would be harmed. Shadow, eager and curious to perhaps seek new relations with the 501st, accepted his invitation with his retinue. Upon our arrival, it was a shock to see DarkSkullKnight, an ex-member of Legion of Death Angels and ChargedBullets guarding Austin despite being in UN uniform. Austin then went on about how corrupt my brother was, claiming he was mistreating his own members poorly, a declared reason ChargedBullets chose to stand with Austin, betraying the clan. It was not long before verbal threats turned to gunfire, a 501st member shot a couple members but was gunned down by Austin soon after. UN members were killed and we were angry. The tensions were really high. Shadow somehow convinced DarkSkullKnight in the moment to step away from the 501st and join the UN ranks, enraging Austin in total embarrassment. ChargedBullets must have felt really guilty, or was simply not caring about the current situation, being he did not say a word the entire time. Nonetheless, Shadow’s temper had some renown, and butted ChargedBullets with his DMR, causing Austin to issue the order to kill my brother. Gunfire issued and we quickly left the game to reform our troops for a counter attack. Mere minutes later, Shadow, me, iTz DW, DarkSkullKnight and pwner 365 rejoined the game despite being numerically inferior in troops, fought in a complicated and unorganized hand-hand fight at spawn. The meeting was permanently over. I was able to escape spawn and get into a banshee, convincing a 501st guard that I was “on their side”. I targeted many 501st troops seconds later until I saw Austin and another member in a falcon, attempting to spawn kill our members. I destroyed their falcon with some difficulty then continued peppering enemy troops. Overall, it was a total mess, with no side being able to secure a total victory. Austin ended the game after 238 total casualties, proclaiming “war it is”. My brother was surprisingly really impressed with my actions and promoted me to major. The “war” however didn’t last very long, with a peace treaty being signed a week later. Austin would have the growing habit of being a friend one day to being an enemy the very next. But he would manage for now. The UN would quickly attempt to establish some more allies for future wars. A RAB OVERLORD would during this time end the Legion of Death Angels and establish the Legion of Deadly Phoenix’s, with DarkSkullKnight quickly returning to him. LDP would become a very close ally. DeafterReaper07, the leader of Reapers of Hell, would also offer his hand in partnership to us.
On October 17th, the UN would lose a handful of members to LDP and the quitting of most of the original founders like iTz DW, the UN’s greatest warrior (though DW would return every now and then if Shadow ever needed a powerful competitive player for a war) and DeathFu24. Natedawg287 would for a time go back and forth from joining to leaving. To make things worse, an elite clan by the name of the Sanghelli Regiment invited us to a so called peaceful meeting, but to no one’s surprise, the only thing we got was constant spawn killing. We then, with our new allies, held a meeting to determine the right action for such trickery. The UN, LDP, ROH and 501st unanimously decided that the right course of action was war and a joint 8v8 fair engagement was ordered. Me, Shadow and pwner from the UN, DeaterReaper from ROH, Austin and SmellyAnthony from 501st, Overlord and Skully from LDP, all joined together and fought the elites on Boneyard. We won in 9 minutes, 100 to 81. I vividly remember Overlord blasting marching victory music down his mic in victory, probably something British. It was a major victory and improved morale significantly. The same day, the formation of three new branches were made to the United Nations clan such as the UN National Guard, a blue and white armor pattern, was the police and reserve military arm to enforce the clan laws led by pwner365 but would quickly be phased out by a more effective dillthekill. The UN Army Rangers, a black armor color at first, the Special Forces branch led by iiGoTxSkiLLZz and the UN Air Force, a silver and blue color pattern, led by myself, whose role was to act as the air service branch for the clan, though its importance and relevancy was questioned many times by Shadow.
On October 25th, DeafterReaper’s partnership with the UN was short lived. After our proclamation of victory against the elites came to an end; Reaper without warning, began firing on our troops in the UN Hall. Shootouts on the UN Hall became such a reoccurring and repetitive thing, but in all honesty, was a very thrilling and adrenaline filled experience. The UN, 501st and LDP once more, worked together to defeat yet another adversary, wrapping it up on Fire Base Alpha. PhantomAustin would in short notice however, begin to grow very sympathetic towards a growing anti-UN movement in the community, favoring clans opposed to our existence. It was around this time that my media channel would begin to expand in popularity, with recruitment videos being the strongest source of UN membership leading to our weebly website. A DI program was created in order to funnel potential members, with various gamer tags to contact to begin your training.
I did not ignore the problems we had though going through November and early December; we did lose a lot of the original core leadership, leaving basically Shadow as the sole head of state. I was one of the highest ranks remaining in the clan, a Lieutenant Officer in the UNAF. It was a hard choice, but I believed my brother was failing to do his job and left the clan severely vulnerable. There were enemies encroaching on our doors, with clans like the Spirits of Reach returning and the 405th ODST declaring the UN to be the enemy of the clan community, the 501st and ROH were not far behind. The UNNG leader’s pwner365 and dillthekill were kicked for reasons unknown, possibly for questioning Shadow’s commands. The council, more of an informal advisory board, was disbanded. On December 4 2010, I established the Truth Acts, a measure in place that would limit Shadow’s position, allowing myself to become a leader rank and create a balance of power. This worked, and for a time, settled some division within the clan, but I learned over time that Shadow was truly the military leader and I simply could not match his abilities. My strengths were media, but I also favored the politics. If a battle were to commence though, I would do my part as the UNAF leader, but there was always people that understood the game better than me.
A RAB OVERLORD (Now UN Overlord) would return, ending LDP, and bringing his guys in, including a new face named CyberKat (quickly changing his GT to UN CyberKat), bulking up the clan population. Overlord would prove vital for the years to come, eventually heading the UNNG as a leader rank. There was so much trust with Overlord that after me and Shadow had a 2 week leave of absence; Overlord was effectively the steward until our return. He did a good job. Many others were recruited thanks to the recruitment videos that are too abundant to name, but some notable ones during the transition to 2011 were Dakota5324, who would in time, lead the Advanced Airborne Infantry Force (AAIF), a sub branch of the UN Air Force, StormRaize and StaticRush, who would play vital roles in early UN Army development, USMC Tanker, USMC Grunt, SOLID GHOST79 and DustinFTW, who would all play a hand in the UNAR and Hawx 906, who during the UN and after would begin a very long intelligence career, to name a few. The Bootcamps for each perspective branches would be completed at this time, including the AAIF and the UNNG’s Special Forces sub branch, SWAT. I was also able to establish alliances with the Crossed Legions, under the leader ben3110. Ben was a funny guy and was close friends with Overlord and DarkSkullKnight as well as a returning player from the United Spartan Command days, Gingemikev, who would take part as a leading role in the UN Central Intelligence branch, whose mission was to protect UN clan interests from internal and external threats.
Around January 2011, Fire Base Charlie, the last of the 3 main Fire Bases, was completed by UN Overlord, with the earlier FB Bravo being built sometime before in mid-December. FB Charlie became one of the most used of the UN strongholds, being very defendable against attackers. The map had its secrets though, with two other bases in different directions stocked with arms and equipment, in case Charlie was to fall by enemies. On January 30, UN Overlord decided it was best for everyone that he would retire temporarily for some time, leaving the UNNG in the care of his close friend DarkSkullKnight. His departure ceremony was met with a DMR salute with full honors and extensive participation from many members, including natedawg287 who would make one final appearance before his leaving from the clan. Shadow wished Overlord much luck, but little did Overlord truly realize that he would return one day to find the clan in much turmoil.
On February 5, the UN established an alliance with a clan called Vengeance 100 (simply called V100) under Vermilion FTW (nicknamed V). V was an interesting clan leader, with his membership based on skill, deception and a more “evil” theme but well mannered. V was professional and was keen on creating a variety of pacts and alliances. V’s 2nd in command named Frostbite, was really prominent in his clan, effectively playing a leading role in V100. In spite of the hope that such an alliance would last for us, the sudden execution of a V100 general named DHG Deadshot opened an unsanctioned UN investigation to determine its reasoning’s, with the conception at the time and the UN’s justification was to make sure our ally wasn’t unstable. The digging proved significant, with UNCI intelligence and tips from a very helpful clan called Third Echelon (who’s leader Panther 13 would prove to be very valuable) revealing supposed evidence of plans to attack the UN or weaken its position. Deadshot was attempting to cause a rebellion within V100, but was foiled from Frostbite and swiftly disposed of. The “Cold War” between the two clans followed suite, and the promising alliance was utterly shattered. It wasn’t long before V100 started recruiting members from the Black List, a list of assorted anti UN criminals at the time posted on the UN website, who were so eager to fight our clan in any capacity possible in addition to forming pacts with clans to fight us in proxy. Many of us believed the Black List did more harm than good, being basically a resume of anti UN accomplishment. If any UN member were caught to have any in game contact or at one point simply suspicion of association with any of the gamer tags listed, it wasn’t uncommon for members to face executions without trial or banishment.
The Next Generation (TNG) was an ally of V100, and the United Nations, making our position complicated. Things got worse when TNG demanded that one of our own, a UNAR named Ice Demon 034, was to be forcibly kicked out of the UN immediately, with the apparent reason that he started a civil war in the TNG long ago. From what I remember, Ice Demon warned us that TNG’s leadership were very demanding and cruel to its members, but regardless of Ice’s past, we cared about him and planed in no way to give him up to simply be executed later. If the UN were to decline the offer, they would leave the alliance and likely fully support V100 with future action against us. A meeting was held, with a couple choices laid out before us, hard decisions would need to be made quickly and as efficiently as possible. Just as the situation looked dire, intelligence from Third Echelon was told of that a plot of assassination was to be set into action in the current meeting, regardless of the decision we make; TNG would attempt to assassinate UN members or leadership. I had the idea to make ourselves invulnerable, purposely foiling TNG plans, making it impossible to kill one-another. TNG were invited to the game and once seated, made outrageous demands for Ice Demons removal, stating one member isn’t worth losing an entire alliance. Shadow and I refused and TNG attempted to kill everyone in the UN Hall. “They failed!” Shadow said. After the failed attempted killings like clockwork, which indeed made a fools worth of themselves after its recorded game; the UN declared war in retaliation.
February 12 2011, the Battle of Fire Base Charlie. I remember this engagement very well, in time being one of the UN’s most monumental battles. ShadowSniper172 would muster the members that were in the earlier meeting, including Ice Demon, who wanted clear revenge for his past clan, one of my pilots in the UN Air Force minor corporal IronHitman2000, a UN National Guard private named SuPah DoNut, warrant sergeant DarkSkullKnight, 2nd LT SOLID GHOST79 the new leader of the UN Army Rangers, DeathFu24 returned for the battle, a new recruit named aniememan117, a new apprentice grade 1, I Punch B3ars and myself. We all rushed to our posts on Charlie to prepare for the incoming wave of enemies that we knew were only minutes away. At the 13 minute mark, TNG forces joined the game and were immediately fired upon by our riflemen as I took the Falcon with my gunner, Ironhitman to pepper enemy troops that would threaten any weak point to the base. The defense held firm for some time, until somehow; Some TNG retainers breached the third wall and killed many of the UNAR snipers, exposing the armory. The members that remained swiftly dispatched any remaining trespassers, securing the breaches until our members could return from spawn. Out of nowhere, IIPOWERIII joined the game, who at the time was a high ranking V100 member. Our worst fears were realized or perhaps we were overthinking, was this a V100 backed operation against us? Would V100 attack? The Next Generation would retreat 1 hour into the raid, with the entire engagement lasting 76 minutes. Honestly, we were lucky that they seemed to not have any knowledge about the two other outposts filled with weapons on the map. Everyone met in the chow area on Charlie, with Shadow delivering a speech of commendation, to “Always be ready”. We lost 27 men compared to 308, a total victory, but still a spawn kill.