John Penta would be about the last person you'd expect to become a Colonial Marine Corps officer. Born to a solidly middle-class family on Libran alongside his brother Mike, his dad was a civil servant for the Colonial Ministry of Defense, an electrical engineer who managed the Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation of new communication systems for both the Colonial Navy and the Colonial Marine Corps (ironically, this would include several of the systems used by John during his Marine Corps training and service), while Mom helped manage a real estate agency. So they were comfortable, but not rich. John, for his part, was a bit of a nerd growing up - he was unquestionably a bright kid, although not quite to the level you'd call insanely brilliant. He was smart, and like all smart kids, he got picked on. This somewhat shaped his views, you might say: He wanted to grow up to protect people. To be someone who stopped the bullies (as his 10 year old self would have put it). In another age, maybe he would have wanted to be a knight. He wouldn't look the part, but then how many knights ever did?
So when he was 18, John graduated high school like any other teenager - not remotely the valedictorian or salutatorian, but solidly placed. (Like any teenager, he'd had some rough points academically during his adolescence.) Enough to get a some decent academic scholarships to the University of Themis, a renowned institution on Libran when it came to the study of the social sciences and what would generally be called the Liberal Arts. That would be where he found his homes, so to speak: Politics, particularly the study of inter-Colonial relations, would become his academic home. The ROTC unit at the Univerisity, the "Golden Knights" Battalion, became his social and mental home. It's not to say that university life was easier for him, but he had more success at being with people and not just books. He was your average ROTC cadet, in other words, if one quickly identified as a high performer with a lot of what his Professor of Military Science (his ROTC unit's CO) called a "great degree of upside potential in any field of Defense activity". Not for no reason, then, was he encouraged to try out as a Viper pilot as his post-commissioning training and career selection when he had to make that choice in his third year of school - something he actually turned down, having developed a love for ground combat during field training exercises with the battalion. His PMS, a Viper pilot himself, sort of pouted at his idea of becoming a Marine (an infantry officer at that! Such a waste of talent!), but sighed and agreed to pass it along.
It was with that in mind, then, that he spent the summer between his third and fourth years of school at boot camp, learning how to be a Marine - he was actually the honor graduate for his boot camp platoon, but it was an incredibly hard experience, made harder by the fact that leadership was, for him, a *learned* skill and not a natural ability. But he made it through the Crucible, picking up the (rather cheesy) nickname of "Wolf" for his ability to detect a hiding individual during a search operation "practically by sense of smell", as his DI commented. A year later, he would graduate the UoT with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, a 3.8 GPA, and a commission as a Marine Corps Ensign. Again, during OCS and Infantry AIT, he'd prove himself to be a solid performer, in this case coming in third for the status of honor graduate in both cases - it helped decide his next assignment, at least: Airborne School, learning all about parachute and other airborne operations, as a student for 3 weeks, followed by an assignment as a Rifle Platoon Leader in the first battalion of the Second Marine Regiment based on Caprica. He'd do well there, learning the ropes from a physically-gigantic Gunnery Sergeant by the name of William Lincoln, who managed to teach his new Ensign all about the Marines, about leadership, and maybe even a bit about life. But the time for learning must end eventually, and so John was reassigned in June 2004 as a student at the 12-week Mountain Leader Course, followed by one month's leave (since he had 30 days of leave he was required to take, he took it on Libran visiting his extended family) before he reported for a staff officer posting at Colonial Fleet Headquarters on Picon in October 2004, where he was assigned to work in the office of Legislative Liasion. Warday, fortuitously, would find him on the other side of Picon from Fleet Headquarters, assisting a delegation of members of the People's Council with issues that, in retrospect, are hilariously unimportant. This was fortunate, as it meant that when the Cylons nuked major sites, he did not die. Indeed, he was in such isolated terrain that he was able to hide for over a month before establishing contact with resistance forces.
That would be the longest period of his life, so far. He would wind up, after some shuffling, as a staff officer at an impromptu resistance command post on Picon - his commander was merely a Captain who happened to be the ranking military officer in the area as of warday, who had John acting as an intelligence analyst and interrogator of persons "brought in" by the young members of operational resistance units. It lasted past the return of JTF NOMAD on AWD #264, as there was still cleanup work to be done. It wasn't until AWD #440 that he was able to be extracted from Picon to Piraeus for rest, evaluation, debriefing, and eventual reassignment. Evaluations and debriefing and rest took three months, at the end of which he was ordered by medical staff (particularly counseling staff) to take three solid months of leave on Piraeus before returning to duty in any form. He did that - and it did help. He has crippling nightmares from his experiences on Picon, and the effect shows in the haunted look on his face - especially in his eyes. But they're not as bad as they were, though he drinks copious amounts of caffeine to compensate after the nights when he has them.
It was with that in mind that with the coming of August 2006 he was formally assigned as the new S-2 (Intelligence and Security Officer) for the 3/8 Marines. Is he still the star performer he once was? Perhaps. Or, perhaps, war has broken him as it has so many others.
***
His service as S2 on the Orion was, while not perfect, solidly Good. After the Second Cylon War's end, he had a fairly standard rise up through the ranks. Along the way, he took a year of educational leave to get a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Caprica - the CMC paid the bill in exchange for him teaching the fundamentals of Colonial politics at the Colonial Military Academy on Caprica for 3 years. He also spent a few weeks Colonial time on Arpay, undergoing the VR combat and technical training as well as receiving the Arpay gene-therapies (although he decided to forego the surgical enhancements). Prior to assignment as Commanding Officer of the Marine unit stationed aboard the Orion, he was Executive Officer of the Marine battalion stationed aboard the Battlestar Justice.
Despite numerous attempts at relationships, he remains unmarried even in his late 40s - he won't *say* he's given up hope, but the very topic of him and relationships leaves him a bit grumpy, a lot of the time. He's gotten psychological counseling on a regular basis since the end of the war, which has helped the nightmares subside, but not the depression that went with them. So, lacking much else to focus himself on, he buries himself in his work. He has hobbies, yes, but mostly there's work. It's a dull sort of existence.