1-5: Compromised

1-5: Compromised (Day 1)

The M-60 in Concert

Mission Intro

In the southern end of the Shahikot, Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters take the bait and walk into your irons as you draw them closer with tactical fallback maneuvers.

Mission Start

This is Rabbit's fifth mission -- and it begins with a brief CS that should reveal that you are the unit that Deuce was supporting in the last mission.  Also, your situation is not so good -- you have a large group of insurgents in pursuit as you make a strategic retreat through some pretty rough terrain.  The brief CS that opens this mission (or transitions it if you are continuing from the previous mission) has you taking shelter behind a fallen tree.  The enemy is not far away at all, but you may find that using your scoped rifle is a bit more effective at taking them out than using your assault rifle if only because the scope allows you to spot the enemy in the distance easier.

Eventually enough time will pass -- or you will kill a sufficient number of attackers -- and you will be prompted to fall-back to the smoke marker.  Just follow the path that the rest of the team is on behind you until you reach the next rally point, where you can once again take shelter -- this time in some ruins that are backed by boulders -- and defend your position as best you can. 

Eventually your ride out of here will arrive -- a large utility helicopter -- and you will be directed to proceed to the LZ, which as you see when you arrive happens to be previously occupied by Tangos!  But the crew of the chopper do a pretty good job of making the LZ safe, at least from Tangos.  Sadly the wind is a bit too brisk to permit the chopper to sit down here and pick you up, and once your Sargent realizes this, he does a wave-off and orders the chopper to the next LZ site on the map.  That means that you need to re-position, so follow the team!

After the chopper flies off proceed ahead to the ruined hut and out its back door, dropping down into a wash and running in the direction of the chopper where you will find another ruined hut.  Pause here to pull out your target designator and target the hut you just left a few moments ago to take out the now grouped-up enemy who are occupying it.

Once air support delivers its load your Sargent realizes that it was not enough, and pops smoke to call in a heavier bomb, and you immediately continue your retreat towards the alternate LZ by doing a buddy-hoist up the rock ledge behind the ruins -- and just in time too!  A nice large bomb drops very close to the hut you were just in, leaving you stunned and bleeding from your ears, but still alive thanks to your buddy.

Fun with the M60 & a Bit of its History

Unfortunately as a result of pulling you up he dislocated his shoulder, which means he cannot carry and use his M60 at the moment, so you -- yes you! -- Rabbit, are tasked with carrying and using that very lethal weapon!  You are probably expecting to read that there is a miss-able achievement associated with this mission -- and there is!  Not only that, but it relates to this fine high-caliber weapon that you have now acquired for your shooting pleasure!  The Achievement is called "Feeding the Pig" and to unlock it you need to perform 15-kills with the M60 (that being the Pig) before that part of the mission ends. 

An Introduction to the M60 Machine Gun:  The M60 was first widely introduced to active military use in the US Army and Marine Corps in 1957, where it was designated the USMG 7.62-M60 by NATO, and simply the M60 by the Army and Marine Corps.    Development of this weapon began in the late 1940's, when it was envisioned as a crew-served weapon as part of the squad-level TOE.   Its development, design, and engineering are actually based upon a mixture of two German crew-served machine guns from World War II: the air-cooled Maschinengewehr 34 (MG34), and its sister, the Maschinengewehr 42 (MG42).   While it was intended to replace the Model M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), the final design ended up filling several critical roles in squad strategy for modern warfare.

The primary features that made the MG34 and MG42 unique were their air-cooled quick-change barrels and a belt feed mechanism that made use of what is called disintegrating belts -- ammunition belts that are created by using a special mill machine that connects the rounds using small lightweight metal clamps that disintegrate (fall apart) as the spent casing is ejected, thus removing the need for a second Assistant Gunner (AG) for the weapon. 

Prior to the introduction of this new style of belt this class of machine gun used either drums or cloth belts, making it necessary to have two AG's -- one to load and feed fresh belts, and another to hold and clear the spent belts, and clear the frequent jams.  In addition to being faster to load, the disintegrating belts did not have the moisture weaknesses of the cloth belts, and thus was less prone to snagging or jamming in the weapon.

Bear in mind that the M60 was first widely deployed during the period when tactics for the DMZ separating North and South Korea were in the process of being defined, and this weapon played an important role in the establishment of the basic tactics of squad-based patrol security still in use today. 

In a nutshell, the M60 is a squad-served weapon: every member of the patrol or squad usually carries a pair of ammo belts and a spare barrel for it, in addition to their regular load, while the M60 Gunner and his AG carry a heavier load of ammo and redundant service kits and tool for it.  That pretty much completes your introduction to the M60!

Back on Task

From your position outside of the village prior to dropping down among the rocks you can easily pick off the first ten kills that you need for the Feeding the Pig Achievement -- after which simply drop down and head to the partial wall nearby, and then aim around that to the right and put a two-round burst through the wall on the right-side of the door to the nearest hut to kill the Tango hiding there.  Then aim at the center of the car hut on the right at about waist-high, and fire off a two-round burst to kill the Tango hiding there and thereby unlock the Achievement.  Good on ya!  Now that was easy!

With that little bit of side-work out of the way, and confident in your new understanding of the vaunted M60, that Swiss Army Knife of he squad support weapons, you can now move forward with a new-found swagger and the certain sureness that you have mastered the weapon, fully grok its penetration power, and are a warrior to be feared by the insurgent tourists and the local Taliban as well.  Okay, maybe that is all in your head, sure, but that and some Megadeath on your iPod and you will feel every bit the modern video game warrior!

 Now that you do not need to worry about counting coup, go ahead and work your way through the village with your buddies, taking out targets of opportunity of which there are plenty, until you are told in no uncertain terms to retreat forward to the bird.  Yeah, I know, when you are moving forward that is not really falling back, but look at it like this: it is a strategic advancing retreat.  Yeah.

Well the Bird Bird Bird, The Bird is the Word

On the other end of the village along the edge of the cliff is where the bird has laid down its loading gate and is waiting for you.  You are ordered to man the MMG mounted on the read of the hatch on the bird -- so do that now!

As you fright from the back of the bird no matter how well you do with the MMG the bird will eventually take a hit from an RPG, damaging one of the engines and force the bird to abandon the LZ with only half of the squad on board.  That is how this particular mission is supposed to conclude.

When you report back to AHQ and provide your AAR to the CO you learn that you will be sent back into the LZ because -- and this is simple enough to easily grasp -- you do not leave men behind!  As the CS fades you unlock the Achievement "Cliffhanger..." for completing Compromised.