[quote]The only reason there wasn't more of a military presence there was because of Red Team.[/quote]A stronger military presence without Spartans would not have been able to get the job done. The walkway leading to the Apex site is only wide enough for 6 to 8 marines standing shoulder to shoulder. Side struts on the walkway prevent supporting fire from standing away from the walkway. Undoubtedly a Marine task force would have been able to hold them off for a while, but given Sangheili superiority, they would have broken through. [quote]Yes, MJOLNIR is a powerful combat system. But without energy shields, that armor is about as effective as that of Stormtroopers in Star Wars, at least when pitted against Covenant weaponry. Case in point, Samuel's armor was catastrophically compromised from a single shot from either a Plasma Pistol or Plasma Rifle.[/quote]He was hit with an overcharged Plasma Pistol which is known to take down the most stalwart of adversaries, and even then, he was still in fighting condition. The only reason he died was because he couldn't complete the EVA to finish the mission. Compared to standard plasma discharges, MJOLNIR can take quite a beating, and with the Spartan's extreme tolerance of pain, [url=https://youtu.be/I7fHoDm7NUE?t=1m41s]can remain operable in MJOLNIR after multiple direct hits.[/url] We even have a good example of just how powerful MJOLNIR really is. [url=https://youtu.be/8e1No_Oo8f8?t=35m1s]Compare a Spartan-I in standard marine BDU to a Spartan-II in MJOLNIR Mk VI when they take direct hits from a Forerunner focus beam.[/url] The truth of the matter is that you are severely downplaying MJOLNIR's defensive capabilities in an attempt to relegate the Spartans to a role of marines with energy shields. [quote]With that information in mind, Red Team was insanely lucky that the Sangheili that attacked them didn't have ranged weapons with them.[/quote]Which is implying Red Team wouldn't have adapted their strategy to deal with ranged opponents. [quote]Spartans are powerful, but the odds of any of the three members of Red Team surviving combat against an entire legion of lance-wielding Sangheili in full combat armor are slim to none.[/quote]Which is totally why the Master Chief was unable to deal with the Prophet of Regret's Energy Sword wielding, energy shield equipped honor guardsmen with suppressing fire from Grunts, Jackals, and Regret's gravity cannon.