Jonathan Cunningham

From a young age Jon was a bit of a rambunctious child. Growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere imbued Jon with a tremendous work ethic, but also with a reckless streak and a disdain for unproven authority. Growing up, Jon never lacked for modern convenience; however his parents ensured that he never lived in such a way as to rely solely on such convenience. Learning from a young age to cook over a fire and do his chores by hand he developed a disdain for modern conveniences, as well as an appreciation for their benefits. Jon’s adventurous attitude got him into trouble often growing up, having numerous discipline problems through school with a serious enough effect on his grades to disqualify him for entrance to the academy. Needing to get off of the farm, Jon decided to enlist in Starfleet.

The structure provided by Starfleet basic training did wonders for Jon, which seemed to fit him like a glove, enabling him to rise to top levels of his training class and receive meritorious advancement to Crewman upon graduation. His attitude got the best of him in “A” school however, being cited multiple times for disrespect to superiors and culminating in being caught throwing a party in his barracks room, with alcohol in abundance. This resulted in him being reduced in rate to Crewman Apprentice, and being assigned further training in the fleet marine force combat medical program. At his case, the school CO stated as his reasoning for sending him to such a prestigious program as follows: “Mr. Cunningham possesses an amazing potential for greatness, yet concurrently possesses what can only be defined as a glorious lack of discipline. I believe it is in the best interests of the fleet to give him the unique discipline and structure that only the Starfleet Marine Corps can provide.”

Unique discipline and structure is the best way to describe Jon’s time at FMF school. In addition to receiving the medical training needed, his instructors all but put him through Marine Corps basic training. The transformation was nothing short of miraculous and the Crewman Cunningham that reported to Kilo Company in February of 82 would not have been recognized a year prior. That self discipline and newfound organizational ability allowed him to begin working toward his Bachelors degree through the distance learning program. He also had calmed down enough to get married and in 2384 and start a family, successfully managing to divide his time to the many field exercises, family life, and classes and maintain low stress levels.

In January 2386, 6 months short of earning his degree, tragedy struck for HM2 Cunningham. While on a 2 month exercise on a moon orbiting Galorndon Core, Cunnigham received a message stating that his family had been in a tragic vehicle accident that left his child dead, and his wife in critical condition. Being placed on emergency leave he immediately returned to Earth and received even worse news upon arrival. An unidentifiable infection resulting from the accident was slowly poisoning his wife and at the rate of decay, she had less than a year to live. He was immediately given a humanitarian re-assignment to Starfleet Medical Headquarters in order to assist some of the greatest medical minds in the fleet in diagnosing and saving his wife. Their efforts were not successful and in June, just six months after the accident, Jon’s wife died. In a twist of irony, exam results posted a day later and he was advanced to First Class Petty Officer, making him eligible for his next assignment to Independent Duty Corpsman school.

In an attempt to withdraw somewhat from society HM1 Cunningham took assignment to the USS Honshu, a Nebula Class science vessel on a deep space research mission. While not quite the independent duty he was looking for, it did afford him the deep space separation he was looking for to re-focus on his studies. Given the relative slow operational tempo of a research mission, Jon was able to finish his Bachelors in Biology, and then earn his Masters in Herbalism two years later.

 

MEDICAL & PSYCHOLOGY REPORT

 

INITIAL PSYCH REPORT 01-02-2381:

 

Crewman Recruit Cunningham possesses an intuitive intellect and the critical thinking abilities to go outside the box and utilize unconventional methods to solve problems. His lack of discipline is apparent yet his intellect is currently making up for that fact. This gap between the two will become more startlingly apparent the longer he goes without changing his own habits.

 

Lt. Commander Xaja Elgae, PhD

Chief Psychiatrist, Recruit Training Command

 

SUPPLEMENTAL PSYCH REPORT 12-06-2385:

 

This evaluation on Petty Officer Cunningham is submitted in accordance with regulation to follow a traumatic event. Petty Officer Cunningham’s wife passed away 3 days ago and his reaction is unremarkable given what has transgressed. He is processing his grief easier than expected given that he has had the past 6 months to prepare for the event. All conditions considered, including his recent advancement, it is recommended that he be placed back to work, after having a few weeks to himself, in order to keep his mind busy. Petty Officer Cunningham is the type of person that can process much better provided he has something to work toward. Giving him a new challenge to work on and then providing him the right assignment to enable him to achieve his personal goals concurrently with his professional goals will enable him to make a complete recovery from this tragic event.

 

Captain Tracy Armitage, PhD

Chief Counselor, Starfleet Medical HQ