Dmitri Zaitsev was born on Earth to a couple in the old country of Russia. At age 11 he began hunting in Siberia with his father and grandfather. He generally used a bolt-action rifle, as he felt that he had better control over his shots the longer he took. This changed when he could empty a five round magazine from the rifle in six seconds by age 16, and brought down a Siberian Tiger with one shot at 1.2 kilometers. At the age of 18 he enlisted with the UNSC Marine Corps, and was immediately made the company marksman.