[@Garden Gnome] [url]http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Outer_Colonies[/url] All Spartan II and Spartan III's were all taken from the Outer Colonies most of them have dates that the colonies have been destroyed by The Covenant. There's tons to choose from there, though some of the planets have only been mentioned in the extended universe and so on. The Spartan III's were children who were orphaned by the war, while Spartan II's were taken from their homes by ONI at the age of six before the war started.

As for equipment search for weapons from Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo Reach, Halo 3 ODST, and Halo 3. However Halo 4 and Halo 5 weapons however would not have been in use at this time, or in early prototype phases, but shouldn't be used unless bossman accepts them.

Hope that helps. :)