HALO The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund

                  In “HALO The Fall of Reach" by Eric Nylund, although I didn't get that far into the book the main idea is clear. From the very beginning you can see that John a kid from Reach was born to be a strong leader. It all started when Dr. Catherine Halsey a U.N.S.C. scientist goes to secretly interview Candidate 117 (John) for her top secret experiment right before kidnapping him. From there John and a group of 70 other kids go through agonizing military training. Dr. Halsey then does her experiment to enhance the kid’s growth, reflexes, muscles, bone strength, and knowledge complicity. Dr. Halsey ends up making the perfect supper soldiers. That are tested and trained even more brutally in the next couple of weeks. At the end of all this john is made the commanding officer of the remaining 30 soldiers.

           To me John is the perfect leader; he cares and helps his team from the very beginning. In every training mission with teams John put his team before himself. For instance, when all 70 candidates were told to hike to a spot on a map to be picked up by a Pelican (plane). Commander Mendez told everyone that the last one to the Pelican would have to stay behind. John told his men that if anyone was getting left behind it was going to be him. This shows how John is a good leader because it shows how he puts his men before him. It also shows John is a good leader because he won’t leave one of his men behind. Finally, it shows that John is a good leader because he knows how to boost the morale of his men.

           Another example of how John is a good Commanding Officer is how he cares when he loses men. For instance when he lost about 40 out of 70 of his men due to affects of Dr. Halsey body inclement experiment. When his men died he felt as if he had lost a part of himself and when he doctors were moving the permanently crippled men he made sure they would still get a chance to serve their country in some way. As John said, "That's all we want, a chance to serve,"(Nylund 55). This proves John is a good Commanding Officer because he really cares about his men and what happens to them. John would probably rather die than loose men, which is what a good Commander would do for his men.