Below is a summary of Spartan ShowTom's history.
Early Life
Tom [CLASSIFIED] was born December 19, 2520 on an outer colony planet to a middle-class family. In 2526, the Covenant invaded the planet to commit genocide on the human colony. Tom's father at the time was a military sergeant who abandoned his post to recover his family. Reports on the incident are limited, but indicate that a Sangheili assailant murdered both of ShowTom's parents. The Sangheili attempted to slay Tom, but Tom drove a knife into the alien's eye before fleeing the house. A military corporal picked up Tom from the street and transported him to the civilian evacuation zone. It was at that time that Tom met Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, who recruited him into the Spartan III Alpha Company.
Spartan III Training
Tom was assigned the Spartan ID A375 and trained alongside the likes of Jun-A266, Emile-A239, Carter-A259, and Rosenda-A344. He looked up to both Chief Mendez and Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose and strived to become a Spartan that acts without fear or hesitation. At a very young age, Tom's peers coined the nickname "ShowTom" as a play off words from "Show Time" to highlight Tom's bravado and gutsy tactics. ShowTom was known for climbing trees and dropping from above to neutralize opponents during combative and survival exercises. His resourcefulness and ability to quickly improvise put him, in the words of Kurt: "on par with the Spartan II commandoes." ShowTom eventually underwent and survived the augmentation procedures at adolescence.
Battle of Reach
Considering ShowTom's excellent leadership skills and ability to inspire others, he was considered too valuable to be deployed on OPERATION: PROMETHEUS. Kurt pulled ShowTom from Alpha company along with other Spartans to deploy on Reach. ShowTom was originally sent to suppress insurrectionists and often operated alongside Spartan II commandoes. He was given Mark V armor as an upgrade to his SPI armor. His purpose on the planet quickly changed when the Covenant invaded Reach and Winter Contingency was declared. ShowTom fought many battles on Reach, defending critical positions and defense posts alongside army soldiers, ODSTs, Spartan II, and Spartan III commandoes. He was eventually promoted to Lieutenant to have operational command of army forces. Despite his best efforts, the war was lost and he was evacuated from the planet in a Pelican and transported to Olympus, a Paris class heavy frigate.
Olympus
After the Battle of Reach, ShowTom was grouped with fellow Spartan III Commando Janna-B604 on Olympus. For a few months, the two operated in tandem on various missions across Covenant invaded planets. The two were eventually deployed to Earth to join forces with Spartan II Takao-024 and Jack-042. ShowTom was assigned as fireteam leader due to the title of Lieutenant earned during the Battle of Reach. After the Battle of Earth was won, ShowTom and Fireteam Freedom have been operating in postwar battles from Olympus.
