Yehudi Sharan

Yehudi was born to an old Jewish family on an orbital in the Masada system in 3172.

His early years were unremarkable other than a good level of academic
achievement combined with a passion for sports. This lead to his joining the Cadet Defence Force at the age of 13. He quickly became passionate about being a Cadet and lived only for the zero-G simulations the Cadets ran for regular attenders.

Instead of waiting for his call-up at 18 for compulsory service Yehudi volunteered for the Marines at 17. He passed out as top cadet in his intake on the GF basic training. On completion of Ground Force Training
he was posted to the Air Assault Battalion pending psychological evaluation and a transfer to the Xyonist Marine Corps.

During this time he was a passenger on a shuttle that crashed. He survived with minor injuries and carried an unconscious comrade to safety before going back to see who else he could rescue from the
wreckage. He was given a Commander's Special Commendation for his
coolness in adversity. This also tipped the balance in his entry to the XMC as his psych evaluation had shown him to be a thrill seeker and borderline in suitability for space duty.

On 3190. he transferred to the Marine Corps. He was better at the active parts of the course than the routine elements, although he wasn't top he was in the top third and therefore eligible for the NCO cadre once he'd got some combat experience.

Following normal policy he was posted outside his home quadrant to Q8 on board a DDI . During his 480 days on board the DDI he was involved in two combat missions against pirates, both of which involved marine action (all robots disabled) to finish it off. He was wounded in the second action and transferred to a base hospital in the Quadrant Capital where he spent 93 days recovering. After his release from hospital he was sent on an NCO cadre having applied for it during his time on board ship.

Initially the NCO cadre went well, Sharan was in the top five on his course when it came to the live fire exercise at the half-way point. The exercise was a disaster. Sharan was commanding the platoon (it is normal on the NCO Cadre for the candidates to fill all the command appointments) when a large group of robots was reported on the outer deck of the ship they were assaulting. Sharan ordered his entire platoon to engage with grenades. This was incredibly effective (over 20 grenades
were launched). However at the rear of the robots that were spotted were two Directing Staff and a squad of NCO candidates. One of the DS and four candidates were taken down by the grenades, two of them dead, including the DS.

The Board of Inquiry found that Sharan had been negligent, but that so also had the DS who hadn't checked that the platoon were all on the same IFF code, especially since this was a live fire exercise. Sharan was administratively discharged.

That was nearly ten years ago......