Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODSTs for short, are the toughest of the tough among the human ground forces (Spartans excepted). They are basically heavily armed and highly trained paratroopers.

The Master Chief, John-117, is a Spartan II cyborg with Mjolnir armor. In Halo 1, he wore Mark V armor, but is expected to get an upgrade to Mark VI in the sequel. He is shown here brandishing a shotgun. Like Covenant Elites, he has a full-body self-recharging energy shield that deflects energy and projectile weapons. It was, at least in part, reverse engineered from Covenant technology. Due to the Mjolnir armor and their numerous genetic and cybernetic enhancements, the Master Chief and the other Spartans are tougher, faster, and stronger than all other human ground forces.

Sgt. Johnson survived Halo 1 after being killed (at least once, if not more) and was not assimilated by the Flood because of Boren's Syndrome, a disease he contracted from hanging around too many plasma grenades. Johnson declined treatment for his Boren's Syndrome to get back into battle more quickly. The effects of the disease on his nervous system led the Flood infection form to reject his body. Boren's Syndrome is named after Brannon Boren, keeper of the Halo Bible and, as of this writing, working on Matrix Online. Johnson is shown here with a battle rifle. In Halo 2, you can exchange weapons with the Sarge or other human units.

The Pelican dropship, so famously piloted in the first installment by Foe Hammer, can carry troops, weaponry, as well as a single Warthog jeep. Once rumored to be pilotable in-game, although that is currently unconfirmed and now unlikely. In the first game, all the human vehicles were indestructible, as were Covenant dropships. Vehicle destructibility has been added into Halo 2, but it is still unknown whether or not dropships are included.

The Warthog is a four-wheel drive combat vehicle. It holds at least one driver and two passengers, one who mans a rear-mounted gun, which can be a rocket launcher, a chain gun, or a Gauss gun.

In the first game, the Warthog was indestructible, as were all human vehicles, both in the single-player campaign and in multiplayer. In Halo 2, it can be destroyed in stages, killing or wounding the occupants and other nearby units.

Other configurations (not shown) forego the rear-mounted gun and instead carry extra passengers.

The Scorpion tank made difficult sections of the first game seem like shooting fish in a barrel, with only Wraith tanks and Banshee flyers posing any serious danger. In multiplayer, using it was more of a tradeoff, as the tank could be slowed by the effects of plasma weapons, and the driver was vulnerable to being sniped, as are Warthog drivers.

In Halo 2, that trend continues; although the Scorpion cannot be simply boarded like the other vehicles, it is possible to jump on the tank and melee the driver.

The image appeared on Halo2.com; at the time, it was speculated that this was an orbiting space station of human, rather than Covenant or Forerunner design.

In the released game, the Malta is a station similar to the Cairo that has a MAC gun and is part of Earth's orbital defenses.

Unlike the plasma grenades used by the Covenant, human fragmentation grenades bounce, rather than stick, when they hit surfaces or targets. Like the plasma grenade, you can carry a maximum of four at a time.

Detonates after one half of a second after impact, and has a blast radius of 15-30 feet.

UPDATE: This weapon is expected to be in Halo 3. Exact designation and specifications are unknown. However, it is expected that due to the addition of Spike Grenades, the maximum number of frag grenades you can carry will be reduced from four to three.

UPDATE: In the Halo 3 Public Beta, the number of grenades per type that can be carried simultaneously is in fact two.

The human sniper rifle is changed slightly from the first game. It now has recoil, requiring the user to aim again between shots. When holding the weapon and not using the zoom scope, a "live" image is displayed on the scope.

The sniper rifle cannot be dual-wielded.

The scope provides 5x and 10x zoom. The rifle magazine holds 4 14.5mm armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding-sabot rounds. It is generally only useful at medium or long range due to low capacity and long reload time.