OOC: Headcanon
Keep in mind that this headcanon is mostly for fun and doesn't effect any games I am currently in.
Tucker was born in Detroit to a normal middle class family as the oldest of eight siblings. In a house with four sisters and three brothers (excluding himself) he was the only one who got his own room. Since he was the oldest by a few years, Tucker was also the first go get a job, realizing that if he wanted to pick-up women, he'd have to get a car. Even though he was lazy for the most part, he eventually got himself a junker and bought nice hubcaps to make up for the fact that it was a piece of shit.
Knowing he needed more money, Tucker looked into something that would get it to him fast. That was how he ended up joining the army, much to his parent's dismay. Since he was never one to pay attention to the news, he had no idea there was a war going on, so he joined up anyway. Eventually, during an Orientation, he realized what he'd have to do and his reaction could have been comparable to a string of mental curses.
Despite the fact that he had left home, Tucker carried a memento from home with him. The hubcaps. The Staff Sargent at the time didn't really know what to do or say when he found them in Tucker's locker until Tucker convinced him to let him keep the things to give him morale. He later fused them to the first Warthog he got to drive. This would later prove to be a mistake since Master Chief took it out on a mission and got it blown up. Because of this, Tucker caries around a shard of that hubcap and harbors a special dislike for Chief.
Eventually after his one memento of home and hard work got destroyed, Tucker went from an average soldier to a completely useless one. He did everything he possibly could, short of being discharged or demoted, to the point where he was declared useless for combat by failing a hell of a lot of tests (not that he was much use for anything that wasn't driving) and scuffed off tho the simulation Blue side. And that's when he met Flowers.