Ames Bunkle, who later went by his Imperial operating number DX-578, was a male human who lived with his parents on the planet Lothal. When Bunkle was sixteen he enrolled in the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal, where he ended up specializing in stormtrooper training. The process drastically changed Bunkle's personality, breaking him down and then rebuilding him as a loyal but near-emotionless servant of the Empire. Bunkle graduated into a full fledged trooper, and took part in the arrest of a group of Lothal dissidents who had bombed Imperial mining operations on Lothal.