Born on Earth, John Shepard had no parents. He was raised on the streets, learned to look out for himself. He ran in a street gang known as "the Reds" for some time before realizing it was wrong. He then left and joined the Alliance Military at age 18 to get away from the streets. He had nightmares about them for sometime, but they eventually passed. With his Earth life behind him he turned to the possibilities of what he could do to serve humankind, and later, the entire Galaxy.