, a biotics training program. Vanguard was started in 2180 as a purely-militaristic division of the Ascension Project with the responsibility of creating supersoldiers. The program's main goal would be to develop and train these supersoldiers to act as special forces commanders and operate on covert or otherwise high-risk operations. Those who graduated from the elite Vanguard Program would become galactic icons and heroes to humanity, becoming symbols of man's advances, strength, and courage.