Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Easy (Relative) Veteran Guide

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*Author:                   Nate Stone*
*Email:  [email protected]*
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Version 1 - Complete campaign.  Generally missing specific weapon call outs.

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Table of Contents
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Introduction
Basic Strategy
Act 1:
[A1A] - "S.S.D.D."
[A1B] - "Team Player"
[A1C] - "Cliffhanger"
[A1D] - "No Russian"
[A1E] - "Takedown"
Act 2:
[A2A] - "Wolverines!"
[A2B] - "The Hornet's Nest"
[A2C] - "Exodus"
[A2D] - "The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday"
[A2E] - "The Gulag"
[A2F] - "Of Their Own Accord"
Act 3:
[A3A] - "Contingency"
[A3B] - "Second Sun"
[A3C] - "Whiskey Hotel"
[A3D] - "Loose Ends"
[A3E] - "The Enemy of My Enemy"
[A3F] - "Just Like Old Times"
[A3G] - "Endgame"
Copyright Stuff

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Introduction
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This will be an extremely basic guide for the veteran difficulty of the Modern
Warfare 2 campaign.  For simplicity, I will assume everyone playing the veteran
difficulty has already played through the campaign at least once and knows the
basics of the controls.  I also admit that there are often better strategies
that what I will mention, but the strategies I use should be simple enough (and
some may say cheap enough) for even novice players to do with patience.  I know
many people will think that the game is no fun if you allow the AI to do most of
the work, and the simple answer is to play the game in whatever way it is fun
for you.  This guide is merely to help players get through veteran difficulty
without requiring a lot of skill.

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Basic Strategy
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The general strategy is to realize that you almost always have an invincible
team mate and use that to your advantage.  MacTavish, Price, Ghost, Foley, Dunn,
and Makarov are all invincible when you are fighting along side them.  They can
be knocked down, and they may let enemies run past them, but they will not die,
so let them lead the way, be cautious, take cover, heal almost any time you take
damage, and you will eventually get through all but a few short segments of the
game that require a little more skill.  Also realize that while there may be
numerous enemies, they are always limited in number, so if you can find a way to
pick them off from behind cover without being overrun, you will beat them.  This
is a slow method that takes a lot of patience, and the randomness of grenades
means that the game will just take that much more patience.  Also realize that
in most of the game where you have several guys aiding you in the fight, while
they can die, most of them will be replaced by reinforcements fairly quickly.
While they are usually lousy shots, use them to your advantage, and try moving
from cover to cover to get them to advance ahead of you whenever possible.

Also, when clearing an area of enemies, you will generally want to peek around
your cover clearing the far side of your area first.  By this, I mean that if
you are taking cover on the right hand side of a door, as you move towards the
doorway, you will see enemies on the left first.  Take the left-most enemy out
before moving further into the doorway, and repeat the process until you are
actually in the doorway looking to the right-hand side of the area being
cleared.

Any time you begin a mission with a pistol as your secondary weapon, swap it for
something better as soon as you can.

Reload often, and refill your ammo any time you see an ammo crate.

Do not pick up specialty weapons like rocket launchers and carry them through a
mission.  You will be better off to have a secondary gun that works well against
infantry, and anytime the game requires you to have a specialty weapon, one will
be available near the spot where it is required.

Remember that enemies can take enough damage to fall to the ground without
dying.  Those enemies will pull out a pistol and continue shooting at you, and
some will even crawl around.  Anytime you see an enemy on the ground who is not
dead, fire another round into them to finish them off.

Stay behind cover as much as you possibly can.  On veteran difficulty, it can
take as little as two shots to kill you, so stay behind cover.  Choose your
cover well.  Try to use solid objects that can not be penetrated by bullets, and
try to find locations where the enemy will not be able to flank your position.

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[A1A] - "S.S.D.D."
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This mission really has no difficulty.  It is merely your training course where
you get to select the difficulty.  So I will not bother giving explanations of
it.  If you are having trouble, look for someone else to provide a guide for
getting good times.  But you should be able to get through this with little to
no skill and still select the veteran difficulty at the end.

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[A1B] - "Team Player"
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This mission is one of the easiest in the game.  It is entirely possible to beat
this mission on veteran difficulty firing only one shot.  I do not recommend
playing it that way, and it will obviously be faster if you help your squad just
a bit, but the only shot you have to make is to hit the truck on the bridge with
a grenade.  You do not have to use the minigun at all, but I admit that it does
take a little luck to get through the driving section without using the minigun.
In my experience, I've been killed multiple times in that segment on regular
difficulty, but I've never been killed through there on veteran difficulty
despite completely ignoring the enemy vehicles every time.  I do not know what
determines if you live or die while riding in the hummer, but all I'm really
getting at is that the level is easy if you are patient and take cover.  Anyway,
on to the actual walk-through.

In the opening area, feel free to shoot at the enemy if you want, but there is
not much point.  Go prone behind the armored vehicle or in the blast depression
and wait.  When prompted, switch to the grenade launcher and watch the far side
of the gap in the bridge.  An enemy truck will pull up there.  Try to hit it
with a grenade to keep those guys from destroying the bridge layer.  When
prompted, run up the stairs and get in your vehicle to take a little ride.  Do
not fire until you are fired upon.  As soon as you are fired upon, start firing
at the rooftops ahead of you.  Soon, the envoy will start to move again, and
about all you can do is blindly shoot at the second floor of every building you
pass without letting off the trigger, or you can shoot at the enemy trucks that
come out.  After your ride, you will be thrown out of your vehicle.  Immediately
sprint inside to the back corner of the room.  Switch out your pistol for a
better weapon.  The RPD works nicely in this mission.

Some enemies will come down the stairs in the next room, so you can take them
out or stay behind cover while your team takes them out.  Flashbang the second
floor when prompted and follow your squad up the stairs (or if for some reason
you want to get through this mission with the single shot, crawl up the stairs
in the prone position to get Foley and Dunn to clear the next rooms).  You will
be under fire from the school, but you do not need to kill anyone here.  The
safest option is to go prone and follow Foley to the door.  When he runs out,
wait for him and Dunn to kill off a few enemies and then follow him to the
doorway of the school.  Wait beside the door while your squad clears the first
hallway.  Feel free to peek around the corner and help out.  When you do move
forward, be very careful of two guys in the room on the right side of the
hallway.  Your squad generally will not take them out until they get to the far
doorway, so you can ease your way around until you see one, and kill him, or you
can sprint past the door and let the squad enter the room to take down both
enemies.  Stay to the back of the group when you get up the stairs and round
each corner cautiously.  Several enemies will be out in the open ready to be
taken out, but there will also be a few that hide behind tables and a pillar
that you'll need to watch out for.  Clear this floor allowing Foley to go first,
and there may still be one or two enemies right outside.

Now that you have cleared the school, move down the street.  When you come to a
sharp turn to your right, go to the far side of the corner and take cover there.
A few enemies will come through an opening in the right side of the next alley,
so take them down while they have their backs turned.  Wait for the cars in this
alley to explode before moving up, and feel free to help them explode faster if
necessary.  When you do move up, be cautious of the doorway on the left because
an enemy is generally in that garage area, and a couple more enemies may spawn
at the end of this alley.  I will generally take cover in the yard on the right
that the first few enemies came out of.  The number and behavior of the enemies
at the end of this alley seems to vary a bit, so be cautious as you move around,
and when the way is clear, go to the far end of this alley out of view of the
enemy down the next corridor.  Foley can take him out quickly.  Once he's down,
the mission is clear for you to run to the end.

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[A1C] - "Cliffhanger"
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This mission will require some trial and error, and it involves a decent bit of
personal decisions.  The climbing is easy enough.  Just alternate the triggers
to stick your pick axes in the ice, and hold the triggers down until you are
ready to pull them out for another swing.  The main idea in the beginning (after
you've climbed the cliff) is to move slowly and watch your heartbeat sensor for
enemies.  Also listen to MacTavish to know when large groups or vehicles are
coming towards you, and especially listen for him to alert you when the BMP has
targeted you.  If the BMP does target you, immediately run away from any enemy
dots on your sensor to get away.  If the BMP does start firing, you generally
die very quickly.  Also, feel free to swap your pistol for a better weapon at
any point.  Just don't use an un-silenced weapon before you detonate the C4.
The first guys that you take out in the level are a great place to get a better
weapon.

After planting the C4 and regrouping with MacTavish, blow the C4 and shoot every
enemy in the doorway of your building.  Ignore what MacTavish is telling you.
Slowly move down the stairs watching for more guys to come into view.  Watch for
two to three guys to be lying down beneath the Harrier directly across from your
building.  One may be behind the concrete barriers.  Once they are down, ease
over to the right to look for enemies towards the left of your building, but do
not actually exit the building.  When the left is clear of everything except the
BMP, ease towards the left of the doorway to clear enemies to the right side.
There is likely to be another enemy lying beside the control tower on the near
side.  When they are cleared out, sprint across to the concrete barriers and the
first Harrier.  From there, move up between the jeep and the control tower to
keep the BMP from targeting you.  The downside to this route is that the jeep
can blow up and kill you if it takes enough damage.  Watch for enemies to come
around the corner in front of you, and slowly ease your way around.  There are
usually three or four enemies in the runway, and a couple more that come around
the far side of the building.  Sometimes MacTavish will kill some of them, but
do not expect him to do so.  Sprint down the runway to the first jet, and take
cover.  Peek out and pick off enemies in the distance.  Keep moving up from
cover to cover until you get behind the jeeps at the far end.  Do not use them
for cover unless they are already destroyed, but pick off any remaining enemies
from here.  When the building at the end of the runway is cleared, follow
MacTavish to the slope and slide down.  Immediately sprint behind the nearest
building and heal.  Peek around the corner taking out the guys that appeared
behind you and shooting as many guys off the snow mobiles as you can.  When the
snow mobiles start down the slope run back around to where you had been in front
of the building to avoid the scripted segment of MacTavish taking down the snow
mobile.  Kill the two guys that get off their snow mobile and then hop on the
near one.

From that point to the end of the level, it is just driving the snow mobile.  If
you are having trouble on this part, the best way to get through is to play the
Special Ops mode until you unlock the Timed Race.  Then beat that on one of the
harder difficulties to learn the path that you should be taking.  Then repeat
that path in the campaign and shoot anyone who gets in your way.  Keep in mind
that your gun has infinite ammo at this point, so once you start firing, you
might as well empty the magazine and reload so that you have a fresh magazine
ready if anyone else gets in your way.

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[A1D] - "No Russian"
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This is another easy mission.  You do not have to fire your weapon until you go
outside.  You could theoretically beat this level without firing a shot, but
I've not done it yet, and I do not trust the AI to be competent enough to take
down the riot shield guys.  Just let the terrorists take the lead and do not get
in front of them.  They will shoot you in the back!  If you see a security
guard, feel free to shoot them, or take cover until someone else kills them.

Once outside, your main concern is going to be all those guys with riot shields.
While they are all lined up, switch to your grenade launcher, and fire a couple
grenades between them.  Do not aim directly at the riot shields.  The grenades
will be much more effective if they go between the guys and land directly behind
them.  Switch back to your gun while they are recovering and pick off as many of
them as you can before they get their shields back up.  When you take out enough
of them, they will start to retreat.  Watch for opportunities to shoot them if
they drop their shields, and you can even shoot at their feet when they are
standing upright.  That will sometimes be enough to get them to drop their
shield enough for a better shot.  Whenever the riot shield guys group together,
throw another grenade at them.  Stick to cover along the wall on your right.
Whenever possible, stay completely behind cover and just peek out enough to see
the left-most enemy.  Focus on taking out that one enemy even if you do not have
a clear shot on him.  The enemies move around enough that you'll eventually get
a shot.  Only move forward when the area is clear, and always take cover to heal
if you get hit.  Makarov is invincible, so let him take the brunt of the fire.
When you get far enough up, there will be security forces on a second floor
overlooking your position.  Use the same method of taking cover and exposing
yourself only to the left-most enemy until he is killed, and then peek out just
enough to get the next one.  With enough patience, you can get through this
mission with very few deaths.

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[A1E] - "Takedown"
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The beginning of this mission is easy.  Just duck down into your seat before you
are even told to, and after the car gets shot up, chase down your target.  There
are no other enemies, so do not worry about cover yet.  When you get the shot,
shoot for his legs.  Next, you will have to assault the Favela.  The rest of the
level is extremely tedious, but it is not as bad as first impressions would lead
one to believe.  I'm certain that there are faster methods than what I will
write, but without memorizing the map or relying on actual skill, patience and a
large block of time are essential for getting through this mission.  I think
this mission took around two hours the first time I played through on veteran,
and I have no idea how many times I died in that two hours.  But patience and
perseverance are the keys.

First, I suggest hiding behind the brick walls and dumpsters while your two
comrades jump down.  These provide solid cover, and enemies rarely throw
grenades up there.  Just sit up there and pick off any enemies you see.
Especially take out anyone on the rooftops because they'll be easier to target
from up here.  There is also a sniper in a small, dark second-floor shack that
needs to be taken out carefully.  The ACOG scope really helps with this part.
Whenever the rooftops are clear, and you feel like moving up just a bit, jump
down and sprint to the nook in the far right wall.  From here, take out enemies
in the far left room and the center shack.  Watch out for grenades and sprint
behind one of the cars when a grenade comes your way.  Then sprint back after
the grenade explodes.  This is extremely time consuming, but the enemies will
eventually stop coming.  When that happens, cautiously move up listening for gun
fire or enemy chatter, and be ready to retreat quickly.  When the enemies
appear, they generally have better cover than you, so you'll need to retreat to
solid cover and heal from any hits you have taken.

When you make it up to the first alley on the right (the alley runs west and
then turns southwest), there is likely to be a shack with several guys in it
looking directly down that alley at your position (once you've made it to the
bend in the alley).  Take cover and pick them off.  When the way looks clear,
switch to the shotgun and sprint to that shack.  Kill anyone remaining inside,
and look for a back room with only one entrance and no windows.  From here,
several guys may try to come in after you, but the shotgun will make short work
of them.  When the way seems clear, peek out briefly and duck back inside.  Keep
trying to draw the enemy closer to you, and keep listening for signs of enemy
presence.  From here, switch to your assault rifle and continue to move down the
right hand (west) side of the map to a narrow alley.  Multiple enemies will
likely run around the corner and present their back to you for easy kills, but
watch for an enemy to be shooting at you from inside the window and possibly on
the roof of the shack directly ahead of you.  Take them out quickly, and sprint
directly ahead to the side of this shack.  You can go inside and catch an enemy
waiting by the far door ready to surprise you if you happened to come from the
other direction.  You can run up on him and knife him or shoot him, the choice
is yours.  This shack provides decent cover, and enemies will not spawn down the
street to the west.  When this area is clear, head west and up the stairs.
There is no need to clear the east side building by building, but if you do,
keep an eye on the rooftops.  A few enemies will spawn up there as you move
through the area.

**An alternate method for making it through this first area is to quickly run
for the southwest corner of this area as soon as you regain control of your
character.  This is risky, and I've only ever made it to the previously
mentioned shack where I suggest hiding in the back room.  So that always leaves
me surrounded by numerous enemies, and no easy way out.  When the immediate area
is clear, you can run down the narrow alley to the south, and one of your guys
should be waiting there to help you.  The problem with this is that you can
either maintain cover against the guys to the south leaving your back exposed to
men on the roof of the building you just left, or get a wall between you and the
guys behind you leaving you exposed to the very men you are trying to kill.  I
know it is possible to use this method, but I have not been successful using it
on veteran difficulty, and I do not recommend it.**

In the next area, you can quickly knife the dog through the fence and take cover
behind the dumpster.  Peek out with your assault rifle and pick off enemies.  If
they throw a grenade, sprint back to the first dumpster to take cover there.
There will likely be enemies behind the building directly ahead, coming down the
alley to the left (east) of that building, on the roof of that building, and one
that likes to wait behind the building, although he does come out from time to
time.

If you follow the southern-most path, be prepared for an enemy just around the
corner (when you are turning east) and another to pop out of one of the two
windows directly ahead when you turn back to the north.  It varies as to which
window he'll be in, so watch for the window to open and immediately backtrack to
the alley and heal.  Then slowly peek around the corner until you can kill him
safely.  Continue north down this alley, and you will soon encounter decent
opposition.  At least one man will run towards you, so kill him and get behind
cover quickly.  If a grenade comes near you, sprint back to cover further back.
Be very careful of guys that spawn on the rooftops to the left (west) of this
alley.  When the guys on the roof are down as well as anyone further down the
alley, look to the top of the stairs and take out the sniper there.

If instead, you chose the northern path, you do not have to worry about the man
in the window, and you can immediately dart into the shack here and pick off
enemies down the alley including the sniper at the top of the stairs.  When you
get close enough to the northern door of this building, a few guys will run
across the boards above the alley.  Shoot them as they cross, or wait for them
to take up more stationary positions on the rooftops.

Now that the way appears clear, take note of the window at the end of the alley
just to the right of the stairway.  There is an enemy just around the corner to
the right of that window, and as you run up on him, another enemy will throw the
window open to surprise you.  Take the shotgun and sprint down to take out the
man around the corner first, and then the man in the window.  More guys may have
spawned on rooftops behind you, so continue by going up the stairs to where the
sniper was, and immediately to your right at the top of the stairs, there will
be one or two men that are easy to kill with the shotgun.  Stop and heal.

Switch back to your assault rifle, and ease over to the east around the end of
the building so that you are looking south.  Take out enemies on the roof to
your left.  There is a building with several enemies in and around it, and on
the nearest side, there is a ladder going up to a doorway for that building.  To
the left of the building is a small wall with a sniper crouched behind it.  He
is your first priority, followed by anyone on the rooftops and anyone shooting
at you from the window of that building.  You should also be able to get an easy
kill by shooting the door at the top of the ladder.  When everything looks
clear, go to the ladder, but do not climb it.  Throw a grenade into the building
and head up the slope to the left.  As you look over the small wall where the
sniper was, be prepared for several enemies.  They may not be visible yet
because they move around, but there are generally several to be taken out here.
The nice part is that you should have a clear view of them, and they will be
fairly close together making it easy to transition from one target to the next.
If you take much damage, drop behind the wall and heal.  When all looks clear,
assume that there are still more guys inside this building along with the
building behind it and the building to the southeast.  Go up the ladder now and
clear the inside of the building with the shotgun.  Feel free to use a
flashbang.  As soon as the building is clear, crouch with your gun covering the
entrance and stay away from the window until you are ready to engage more
enemies.  Through the window on the south side of the building, look to the
doorway of the next building and take out anyone in there.  Switch to your
shotgun and sprint into that building to ensure it is cleared, and then focus on
the building to your east, and clear it.  Throw a grenade in the door before
going inside to help yourself out a little.  Things should get a little easier
from here.

Now you can move around to the back side (south side) of the building you just
cleared, and there will be a set of stairs against the left wall.  Ease up those
stairs keeping an eye on the rooftops ahead.  Clear out any enemies you see up
there.  There should be around four.  At the top of the stairs, there is a
doorway on your left.  Do not go inside.  Look around the corner for more
enemies on the rooftops, and as you ease up the next set of stairs, take out
enemies further down the alley.  Quickly move to the left from the top of the
stairs and take cover behind the partially constructed brick wall.  Move up from
wall to wall taking time to watch for approaching troops before each move.  At
the end of this building, you should be next to a stack of windows, and from
here, you can shoot the guys on the balcony at the end of the alley.  When the
way is clear, move up from the partially constructed building to the end of this
alley and turn to go up the stairs to the next alley.

Once again, watch for enemies on rooftops first, and when they are down, ease up
the stairs to deal with guys on the ground.  When things clear out, move to the
gap in the buildings on the right.  From this gap, you can move far enough to
the right to see around the next building for a different view of enemies at the
end of the alley, but you will not have much cover.  So switch back and forth
from looking down the alley to looking around the building picking off anyone in
sight.  When the way looks clear, go to the back side of the building you've
been using for cover (where you can see around it), and drop down to the balcony
of that next building.  The lower floor should be clear, but have your shotgun
ready just in case, and then move up the stairs to clear the top floor.  There
is generally one man in here, and he will usually be behind you as you come up
the stairs, so either throw a flashbang up, or ascend the stairs backwards.

Almost directly across the street from the door of this building is another open
door.  There should be an enemy crouching behind a table in there, so kill him
quickly before turning your attention back to the alley.  Move from cover to
cover to proceed to the end of the alley just in case anyone is left.  Now
proceed to the end of the mission to see the takedown.

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[A2A] - "Wolverines!"
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When you get out of the vehicle, immediately sprint behind the house on your
right to avoid the BTR.  Make your way through the yards until you come to a
cross street.  Cross the street and go into the back yard on the opposite side.
Pretty soon, Foley will tell you to move up staying behind the vehicle, so
follow his lead and stick to the right side of the road since the alley will be
on that side.  Take cover behind the ammo crate.  Just on the other side of the
hill, the BTR will stop and let troops out.  Right as it stops, throw a smoke
grenade under it, and shoot everyone that gets out of the vehicle, focusing on
the passenger side first.  When they are down, look down the alley on the right
and shoot the man at the end, and then toss a grenade down to his position.
Move up behind the first dumpster and let your squad take out the troops that
are coming out.  Move further down the alley keeping your gun aimed at the
corner of the small jog in the alley (to the right of where the man had been
standing) because at least one enemy will come down that next segment of alley
towards you (sometimes it will be three or four guys instead of one).  Kill him
and take cover letting your squad move forward.  When you get behind the
restaurant that you can go into, stay to the left of the alley using the nooks
for cover and let your squad kill off the enemy troops.  Focus just on the
troops to the right since you'll have the best view of them.  Even if they are
staying behind cover, do not shift your focus to the left until they are dead.
Move up to the gas station watching for any enemies inside.

Now you will be tasked with getting to Nate's and defending it from the roof.
Sprint as far as you can across the parking lot to the building marked as your
objective.  Use one of the ladders to get to the roof to defend the sentry.
Just peek over the edge of the wall to pick off the rear-most infantry, and go
prone if you take damage.  Focus on troops with RPGs if you see them since they
can take the sentry out faster than the rest.  If the infantry get close to the
building, turn around and guard the two ladders to make sure enemies do not come
up behind you.  Your team will do well enough at killing everyone on the ground
floor, but they are slow to kill anyone who comes up to the roof, so watch your
back.  When the first wave is done, move the sentry to the opposite side of the
building (although doing so is not necessary to getting through this segment)
and repeat the process of picking off the distant enemies first to limit your
exposure.  Once again, when the enemies get close to the building, just watch
the ladders coming up onto the roof.  You may find it helpful to plant a
claymore at one ladder and cover the second.  But I do not suggest planting
claymores at both ladders yet.  You may have more use of those claymores later.

**Another method for getting through this section is a bit slower, but
potentially safer.  You can position the turret away from the edge of the roof
watching both of the ladders.  This way, the sentry is almost impossible to
destroy, and there is no way for an enemy to make it onto the roof.**

**Another method for this segment that is a little risky, but has worked well
for me, is to climb the ladder to the roof of Nate's, fall off the roof, and
immediately sprint to the back of the bank to the north.  You should get there
about the time some troops are coming out, so keep your gun aimed at the back
door as you strafe to the north of it.  From here, you can pick off any enemies
running into the back lot of Nate's to go up the ladder.  Then go around to the
door on the northeast side of the bank and wait for the second wave of infantry.
A military truck will pull right up to this door allowing you to grenade the
troops as they are getting out and then mow down the two guys from the cab of
the truck and anyone who survived the grenade.**

When Nate's has been defended from assaults on both sides, a predator will fire
at the roof.  Jump down the ladder to the kitchen taking the sentry gun with you
if it is still operational.  Your new task is to cross the parking lot again to
go back to the restaurant to the west and get the controls for the predator
drone.  Go out one of the side doors and sprint towards your objective.  Take
cover behind cars or signs or go prone in a low spot to gain back some stamina
to sprint further and to heal if you get shot.  You can also use smoke grenades
for cover.  I generally wait to cross the street until some of my men join me.
When you get into the restaurant, some guys will come through the back door, so
kill them quickly.  The computer is on the counter.  Pick it up and go prone
behind the counter.  Then use the predator to take out infantry, and destroy the
armored vehicles only after the infantry is gone.  The reason for this is that
the vehicles can not shoot you when you are lying behind the counter, but it is
possible for the infantry to come in behind you even with members of your squad
supposedly guarding you.  So take out the immediate threat first.

You'll then be tasked with going back to Nate's, but it will be destroyed before
you get there.  Instead, you will need to go to the burger joint to the south.
I generally try to land some predator missiles in the windows to take out as
many guys as I can before I approach the building.  When the troops are cleared
out, go to the ladder on the southeast corner of the outside of the building.
Go up to the roof, and set up your sentry so that it can guard both ladders, if
you still have it.  Otherwise, place claymores covering the two ladders, and
make sure that neither are facing where your squad will be.  Then go prone
beside an air conditioning unit and go back to taking out infantry with the
predator until you lose contact with it.  Then you can peek over the edge of the
roof to pick off a few enemies, but your main concern needs to be listening for
you claymores to go off, and then covering the ladders.  As usual, your squad
will be sufficient at clearing out enemies so long as you cover their back and
keep anyone from coming up behind you.  Also, be aware that teammates may come
up the ladder to replace fallen comrades.  Do not shoot your own team!  You can
generally kill one on accident, but the second one will set you back to the
previous checkpoint.

Now that the burger joint has been defended, your new objective is to take out
the two attack choppers.  At least one Stinger can be picked up in the
restaurant where the predator console was, but I've had no problems with going
back to the roof of Nate's to use the Stingers there.  So head over to Nate's
(if you are getting shot, try going to the taco place first, healing behind
cover, and then moving to Nate's) and get onto the roof.  Going to Nate's first
decreases the amount of time spent out in the open, and the only downside that I
can think of is having a little less cover from the first chopper when taking
that shot.  Pick up the Stinger, lock onto the chopper, and shoot it down.  Get
another rocket ready and lock onto the second chopper as soon as the objective
marker comes up.  If you get some message about more infantry, ignore it.  Once
you fire the second rocket, take cover from that chopper because it may shoot at
you before your shot hits it.  Once the two attack choppers are down, run off
the south side of the roof and sprint behind the taco place.  Wait here until
the convoy stops moving or you may become the victim of friendly fire.  Then
just run to your vehicle to finish the mission.

******************************
[A2B] - "The Hornet's Nest"
******************************
To start this mission, run up to the back side of the building ahead and take
cover.  I like to switch out my automatic pistol for something with a bit more
range and accuracy, and there is usually a MP5 on a barrel at the nearest
corner. If you continue to the front of the building and take cover behind the
short wall, there is also a Druganov, assault rifle (AK47, I think), and akimbo
weapons that you can use, but the MP5 works well and does not require you to
expose yourself much to get it.  Use your assault rifle with the ACOG scope to
peek around the left side of the building shooting anyone on the rooftops or on
balconies.  MacTavish and your other squad mate will take care of anyone on the
ground level.  When things die down, move up to trigger two trucks driving in
with mounted machine guns in the back.  Pick off the guys manning the gun
turrets, and take cover to wait for the rest to be killed.  When the area is
clear, run forward to the truck in front of the alley you'll be going down and
use the mounted gun to cover that street.  There should be several enemies that
run out at you.  If they don't come out automatically, fire a few shots to try
to draw them out.  When those guys are cleared out, dismount and move to the
intersection sticking to the left wall, or go back and search bodies for your
weapon of choice.  When you proceed down the street, be prepared for enemies to
run around the corner at you, and let your squad advance ahead of you when you
get to the corner.

Move down the street following your squad, but stay behind cover.  Try to only
expose yourself to one or two enemies at a time, and take them out.  Follow your
squad down to the grassy area, and take cover.  Take your time eliminating the
enemies in this open area, and then move along the fence on your left over to
the stairs.  You can use the wooden fence for cover while taking down enemies at
the end of this alley, but realize that they can shoot through the fence.  You
can also stay back on the stairs and help your guys clear the alley, but letting
them do most of the work.  The position on the stairs has a low, solid wall for
cover, but the chain link fence will obscure your view.  When the alley is
clear, sprint up behind the concrete barriers to get a good view, with good
cover, of the street running to the west.  Continue into the building next to
the concrete barriers, go upstairs, and clear the balcony.

Continue over to the next building and kill the guy inside.  Do not worry about
pushing all the way through as quickly as you can, but take out any enemy that
can see you.  Stay in this room, and do not expose yourself much in the doorway.
Just peek outside to pick off guys in the street and in the balcony above the
ice cream parlor, and kill anyone that runs through that door towards you.  When
things start settling down outside, ease towards the doorway expecting someone
to be waiting immediately to the left of it.  There may be no one there, but if
someone is there, they can kill you in a hurry.  Finish clearing the street in
your immediate vicinity, and turn your attention to further up the street.  Move
across the street to the ice cream parlor and go upstairs.  Watch the top of the
hill for guys to be hiding at the corner or behind the wooden fence, and when
they are down, move forward.

You'll be in another grassy area, and a truck with a gun turret on the back will
come out.  Get behind cover and kill that gunner.  When the gunner is down, take
out the RPGs on the top floor of the building on your left.  Let your squad
worry about everyone else.  When you move forward towards the truck and the
market, beware that someone might be hiding in the alley to the left, but do not
go down that alley.  The game has a bad habit of spawning an enemy right behind
you if you go down there.  If you see someone down that alley, shoot them and
move on.  Otherwise, just move on.

The market will take some time to clear out, but make use of the fact that you
can often crouch and shoot at people's legs and feet when their upper body is
not exposed.  Also take advantage of the fact that bullets will go through most
of the objects in the market.  Once again, take your time clearing this area.
There is no rush to get through it.  When the first area is cleared, take the
path on the left and be ready for an enemy to run at you.  Take him down and
wait in case a second guy runs at you.  If nobody else comes out, ease forward
to the jog in the alley.  There will be a guy waiting just around this jog for
you.  Kill him and move forward to get two more guys to come at you, but do not
move forward beyond the solid wall of the building on your right.  Watch for one
or two men to run into view a little to your right and take cover.  Kill them
and turn your attention to the man with the shotgun behind the wicker basket to
your right (you might even see his gun barrel sticking out).  He stays hidden
until you move out away from the building.  You can shoot him through the
basket, and follow your squad through the buildings to the soccer field.  Take
cover and kill the guys across the field, starting with anyone on the roofs.
Climb up on the roof and follow MacTavish to the next LZ, where you will fall
short of a jump and regain consciousness with no weapons.  Since you have no
weapons, your only option is to run, and hopefully you remember the path from
playing on an easier difficulty.  Just be fast to avoid being shot up from your
pursuers and make the jump to your helicopter.

******************************
[A2C] - "Exodus"
******************************
I do not know of any specific strategy that will really help with this mission,
so the only advice I can really give is to be slow and methodical as you
advance.  Regardless of what is said during radio chatter, Honey Badger is not
likely to be destroyed by RPGs if you happen to be slow in clearing out the
enemy.  The vehicle will start smoking after a while, but I have never had it
completely destroyed even when I was intentionally negligent.  Also realize that
Honey Badger is an extremely lousy shot, so its main purpose is to lay down
suppressive fire and take out the few helicopters that come to drop of troops.

Start the mission by immediately targeting one of the houses up the street on
the right side and run for cover in the yards to your right.  Enemies come out
of the houses up ahead pretty fast.  Keep using the laser designator to direct
fire in their general direction, and heal up from any shots you take.  Peek out
to designate new targets any time Honey Badger stops firing.  Allow your team to
advance ahead of you, and always move from cover to cover.  Your squad will
often miss an enemy who will pop out and surprise you, and this seems to be
pretty random, so it may take a few tries to work your way through the houses.
Enemies will also run around the left side of Honey Badger to come up behind
you, so watch out for that.  When you get down to the grey house (just past the
yellow house with all the troops), watch for incoming helicopters and target
them with the laser as soon as you can.  You'll easily be able to take down two
of the three before they drop off troops.  Once the helicopters are gone, target
the office building on the corner, and move up to the far side of the fire
engine so that your squad will engage enemies inside the office, and then circle
back around Honey Badger and take cover to avoid any guys that may come from the
purple house on the right side of the street.  From here, you can make a detour
and target the upper floors of the apartments with the laser to kill off some
enemies, but there is no harm in continuing forward.

The security checkpoint will take some time to clear out.  There are enemies
everywhere, and the sentry gun will do a lot of damage until you can take it
down.  I suggest running up the right side and taking cover behind the ammo
crate.  Let your squad destroy the sentry, and then pick off any enemies you see
and go prone when you get hit so that you can heal.  Use the laser to target
groups of infantry and the buildings on the left side, and after a while, the
area will be cleared out.  Move up cautiously staying near cover until you are
certain that nobody remains in the buildings.  Refill your ammo while you are at
the ammo crate.

Now you will move down the street and across a bridge.  Stay close behind the
vehicle, and when it stops, peek out to designate targets, but then take cover
again.  Enemies here are incredibly accurate at long range.  Keep designating
targets until the fighting dies down, and then move to the short wall on the
left side of the street where your squad is.  Go prone if you get shot, but try
to take out any remaining enemies down the street.  When all looks clear, hop
over the wall and run to the gate in the wooden fence watching the garage for
enemy troops.  Look through the window to check for enemies, and jump through if
all is clear.  From this little room, use the laser to designate the living room
so that Honey Badger will target any enemies coming in the front door to attack
you.  Then when you move to the next room, immediately turn to the right to see
if there is anyone in that extension of the room.  When that room is cleared,
slowly make your way out to the living room killing anyone you encounter and
using corners for cover.

When this first house is clear, everyone should start moving to the end of the
street.  Move up and designate the front door of the last house on the right to
keep guys from coming out the front door.  Then carefully look into the basement
garage and kill anyone inside there.  By now, Foley should go up the front steps
and into the front room.  Follow him up careful for anyone who might be on the
floor above you.  Find some cover to the left of this front room and wait.  As
your squad moves forward, move up with them, but stay a little ways behind them.
If you go up the stairs, be careful for guys crouching in the corner of the
passageways through to the back of the house, and if you stay on the main floor,
be careful for guys running out into the hallway.  Either way works, but I
prefer to stay on the main floor.  If you keep to the main floor, watch for an
enemy to be in the far corner of the back room and other to be on the top floor
overlooking your position.  When you clear that floor, go to the balcony
overlooking the pool and jump off.  Don't bother clearing the rest of the house.
Just move forward and designate enemy vehicles for missile strikes.  Then follow
your squad to the panic room.

******************************
[A2D] - "The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday"
******************************
This mission is not pretty easy until you have to fight through the smoke
screen.  You will need a weapon with a thermal scope at the end of the mission,
but there will be a couple to choose from right before you need them.  So you
can swap out weapons as you see fit, but I recommend keeping your original
assault rifles, one with the red dot sight and one with the thermal scope.

After the cut scene, swim up behind your target and take him out when prompted.
Follow your squad up the stairs and silently take out the man leaning over the
railing.  Your squad will take him out if you get close enough to him.  For
breaching the room, I suggest using the door closest to where you entered.
After the breach, follow you men up the stairs to the next breach.  Breach the
room, take out the enemies, and plant the C4.  Now go out to the scaffolding to
watch the enemies come to check on what happened.  Feel free to swap out a gun
for the LMG under the scaffolding since you won't need a silencer anymore.  Blow
the C4 and take down the enemies here.  When they are cleared out, I generally
switch back to my assault rifle or pick up an assault rifle with red dot sight
from the many downed enemies, but take whatever you are comfortable with.  Move
up to the next corner and continue to take down the enemies along this side.
Just stay behind good cover, and you should not have any problems.  When this
level and the staircase are clear, move up to the next level and take cover
again.  Fighting here is pretty straight-forward, so just stay towards the back
of the squad and pick off any enemies you see.  Stay behind cover, and go prone
any time you need to heal.

When the helicopter comes out, you can pick up an AT4-HS rocket launcher, or go
into the room on the right to find a Stinger.  The AT4s can be found all over
the place.  Do not bother with RPGs because they simply are not accurate.  You
are better off with the AT4, or the Stinger even though the Stinger requires a
lock.  If using the Stinger, use the couple of seconds the helicopter uses to
wind up its guns to get a lock and fire.  Once the helicopter is taken out, swap
the rocket launcher for another gun.

With the helicopter down, proceed around the corner and take cover for more of
the same cover-to-cover fighting.  There is really no challenge until you head
up to the top level where the enemy throws out smoke grenades.  There is a crate
with an Intervention and a few F2000s, all equipped with thermal vision, on the
level where you take out the helicopter as well as on the next-to-last flight of
stairs.  Make sure one of your guns has the thermal vision, and go up the final
flight of stairs.  You'll want to take cover quickly.  Your first objective
needs to be clearing out the enemies on your level to keep them from flanking
you.  The crates to the right of this area can work fairly well, but until the
enemy troops are thinned out, enemies may rush around those crates to catch you
by surprise, and you may be dodging several grenades.  I prefer to follow
MacTavish to the left-most path, and take cover there picking off the enemies on
that side first.  This location is fairly safe from grenades, but there is a
risk of enemies getting through behind you.  Use claymores to keep them off your
back remembering that those claymores may be destroyed by incoming grenades.  As
long as you watch your back pretty well, this location works well.  When the
ground level is cleared, snipe the guys in the windows one floor up from you
exposing yourself to only one at a time, or just sprint along the left-most path
to get to the door breach.

******************************
[A2E] - "The Gulag"
******************************
This will be another easy mission.  It is fairly easy to beat this mission on
veteran difficulty without firing a single shot, but I do not recommend playing
it that way.

Start this mission by sniping the guys around the SAM sites on the bastions.
You can actually just sit their watching your fellow soldiers snipe them.  When
you land, immediately run with your squad and go prone behind the nearest cover.
You should be able to make it to the destroyed jeep, but you'll need to go prone
near the driver's side of the front bumper.  From here, slowly move around the
driver's side sniping the guys on the upper level as you go.  Then run up behind
the tracked vehicles and wait for the helicopter to come in and clear out the
next set of guys on an upper level.  Let your guys do most of the fighting as
you proceed to the broken out window on the right of the next building.  Exit
this room when your squad has moved up, and move forward along the right wall
when the area is clear, moving from cover to cover in case more enemies come
out.  When possible, let your squad advance ahead of you to take the brunt of
the bullets.  After the smaller courtyard, let your squad move down the corridor
and assault the control room.

Once you get in to the control station and your squad goes down the stairs to
the first cells, go about halfway down the stairs and then go back up.  This
will spawn the first wave of enemies and allow you to shoot at them from
relative safety on a higher level.  Then move down to advance with your group.
When you take damage, go prone and heal.  If you stay with your squad, they will
generally throw back any grenades that come at you.  Take out easy targets, but
do not bother going out of your way to get kills unless you just want to do it
and don't mind the extra risk.

Slowly make your way around this level taking cover behind the low walls as you
go.  When you drop down the broken stairs to the central weapons cage, you are
told to get a riot shield.  You are welcome to do so, but I get better results
from just going prone in any corner.  When the gate opens, and the gunfire
starts to die down, crouch and pick off any enemies that you see.  Then you can
take your time selecting which weapon you want from this cage, or you can take
the riot shield.  Personally, I suggest taking the riot shield as a secondary
weapon and keeping it for the shower room, or using it for the rest of the
mission if you want to be a pacifist.  Then make your way around the last bit of
this floor following the same procedure you used before or just pushing forward
with the riot shield, and repel down to the bottom floor.  Switch to night
vision.  If you brought a riot shield, this is a decent place to use it just to
get your squad to move forward.  Do not get too eager, though.  Enemies can hide
in the cells on either side and shoot you as you ease past with the riot shield.
So if you are using that method, just move up enough for your team to clear the
next set of cells.  Otherwise, be patient and wait for the enemies to expose
themselves, and your squad should move up when it is clear.  Proceed through the
next room, and when you get to a corridor with lots of pipes, crouch and take
out the enemies that are exposed.  Then strafe to the left to get a view of the
narrow passage and take out the two enemies before they jump down.  Now go to
the end of this passage and carefully peek around the corner until you can take
out an enemy waiting for you to expose yourself.  When he is killed, continue
strafing to your left to kill a guy at the end of the next corridor.  Reload and
prepare for the breach.

Breach the wall into the shower room and kill the guys right in front of you
followed by anyone you can see further down the room.  When everyone visible is
down, switch to the riot shield and get your back into a corner (or you can do
this during the initial breach).  If you did not bring the riot shield, take
cover behind the partially destroyed wall right in front of you, and let your
men move forward.  Do your best to take out guys on the second floor while your
guys clear the shower rooms.

Move up keeping as much cover as possible, and do not go into the locker room
until it is pretty well clear.  Simply getting into that doorway should trigger
the remaining enemies to advance if they have not already done so, so you can
now retreat to safer ground to pick off any vulnerable enemies.  This is a great
place for the riot shield.  Use it to lure enemy soldiers with riot shields
towards you so that they expose their backs to your men.  When all looks clear,
sprint to the last room and drop through the hole.

Now that you are in the sewers, follow MacTavish to the wall breach.  Price will
kill the enemy in here, so there is not much point in shooting.  Just follow
Foley to the extraction point and clip onto the cable.

******************************
[A2F] - "Of Their Own Accord"
******************************
You start this mission in an underground base.  Look around for another weapon
to swap out for your pistol before leaving the bunker.  Then just follow Foley
up to the building.  Take cover behind the first barrier you come to and wait
for Foley to advance.  Then advance across the street to the taxi and then to
the concrete barriers for more cover if you need it.  Then move inside.  You
should not have to fire a shot before going inside the building.  Take cover and
focus on the men on the balcony above the next room.  When the large room is
cleared, advance down the elevator hallway on your right.

When you come to a small, outdoor area, let your team advance into the courtyard
before you expose yourself.  Take cover behind the ammo crate outside, and watch
the door on the right to get any enemies you see.  Advance to the door on the
left when it seems clear, and run over behind the desk.  Let Foley advance down
to the corner in the hallway and clear the enemies for you.  There is a door at
the corner of this hallway where a man will crack the door open to fire at you.
Shoot him through the door and proceed up to the second floor.

Quickly move up behind the couch on the left, and watch for a couple enemies on
the walkway on the far side of the room (the front room you fought through when
you entered the building) as well as one just to the left of the doorway into
that main room.  Take cover, and let your team move out to the walkway first.
They may take a little bit, but once they get through their dialogue, they will
lead the way.  Once they are moving, ease out onto the walkway watching to your
right just in case someone is still over there.  Your squad will sometimes
ignore enemies over there if they hide behind a pillar.  At the next room, take
out the guy hiding behind the partial wall.

When you climb the rubble slopes up to the fourth floor, you will immediately
have a view of an anti-aircraft site through a balcony door, and if you were
quick to get up there before your squad, the enemies here will be unaware of
your presence.  There are several ways to tackle this, but I suggest tossing a
cooked grenade onto the balcony as you sprint into the hallway to the right of
the balcony doorway and crouch behind the low wall.  There is one soldier down
the hallway to the left that you'll need to shoot.  There will be some enemies
taking cover on the opposing balcony that need to be taken out pretty quickly,
but also watch for more enemies running out onto the near balcony.  Let Foley
take care of the hallway.  When the area is clear, plant C4 on the AA, and
restock on ammo.  Detonate the C4 as you head upstairs to the fifth floor.

On the fifth floor, run around the corner into the hallway on your right, and be
prepared for one enemy to be crouched at the far corner of this hall.  He
usually is not there, but every once in a while, he will catch you by surprise.
You should look through the doorway on the right of the hallway to catch a
glimpse of some enemy troops moving through another doorway along the next
segment of the hallway.  This is a great spot to use a grenade to thin out enemy
numbers, or you can just open fire on them to take down several without being
shot at.  Be careful about actually going into the room on the right, though,
because there is another doorway at the back right of that room where enemies
can flank you if you stay there too long.  Continue along the hallway until you
get to the room the enemy troops were entering.  Foley should continue along the
hallway and start clearing the next section.  Go left into the room and clear it
and the following room of any enemies, and then let your troops lead the way.
There will be some enemies at the end of these rooms hiding behind a wooden
panel and some desks.  Your squad will have a hard time hitting them, so just
shoot through the wood to kill them.  Move up to the "eagle's nest" and toss a
grenade inside.  Clear out anyone remaining.

Once you have cleared the corner room of enemies, feel free to plant some
claymores in the hallway to thin out the first assault on your position, but it
is not necessary.  Go down the slope to the far corner (southwest) of this room
and get on the sniper rifle.  Use this to take down all the enemies out on the
mall who are firing at your helicopters.  When they are all down, get off the
sniper rifle and turn to take out any enemies attacking through the door or the
hole in the wall.

With the sniping done and the first assault cleared, you can take some time to
go back out into the hallway to plant some claymores.  These will buy you a
couple more seconds when the enemy infantry start to overrun your position, but
I actually suggest waiting.  Pick up a Javelin and start destroying the attack
choppers staying towards the back of the room with your back to the wall.
Target the choppers first because they can actually attack you while the ground
vehicles can not.  If you want to plant claymores, I suggest doing it after
destroying two or three vehicles and then coming back to finish off the
vehicles.  Doing so has generally allowed me to take less fire from the attack
choppers, but I do not know why.  When enough vehicles are destroyed, you will
automatically switch back to your rifle.  Now you just need to run over to the
doorway in the hallway where two of your guys are crouched.  When they break
down the door, run up the stairs.  There is a wooden doorway at the top of two
of the flights of stairs.  A guy will pop out of the second one of those, so be
prepared to knife him and keep moving to the roof.

Now that you are on the helicopter, things will be easy going.  What you do here
really does not matter at all.  You do not have to shoot anything, and you can
even shoot friendly helicopters without getting the friendly fire failure.  But
assuming you are playing legitimately, fire at the vehicles and men in front of
the war memorial until you get a view of the men on top of the tower firing RPGs
at the evacuation chopper.  Mow them down along with more guys on the ground
inside the memorial and the guys on the second tower of the memorial.  Then
destroy anything left out in the road.  You'll soon fly past an upper story of a
building, and once you see troops in the windows, just hose that entire floor
with lead until the helicopter starts to climb.  You can take out some of the
SAM sites on the roof, but you get shot down anyway.  When you regain
consciousness in the downed chopper, wait for the mission to end.  You will not
take damage here, and killing enemies does not make any difference.

******************************
[A3A] - "Contingency"
******************************
This mission starts off very easy, but ends up being one of the most annoying,
in my opinion.  For the silent part of the mission, simply listen to Price and
do whatever he tells you to do.  If you do that, you can make it across the
bridge without taking any damage.  Once you start across the bridge, sprint
ahead a little ways to get ahead of Price, but do not use up all of your
sprinting stamina.  When you get to the area where the BTR emerges, sprint into
the forest.  Once again, do whatever Price tells you to do, and you can make it
to the town without taking any damage.  Whenever possible, line up multiple
enemies to take them down in a single shot.  At any point, switch out your
pistol for an enemy's weapon, but do not use it until you get to the town.

Once you get to the town, feel free to swap out weapons, and go prone behind the
crate with the weapons on it.  Use your predator missiles to take out enemies
from here.  Do not bother moving from cover until the area is clear.  Price will
take out anyone you don't hit with the missiles.  When the area is clear, move
forward to spawn more enemies, take cover, and use the predator missiles again.
If you chose your cover well, this area is very easy.  Move ahead to the path
overlooking the sub facility.

Switch out weapons if you want, and jump over the edge to the cover below (don't
bother taking the time to follow the path).  Do not use the predator missiles
until the alarm sounds.  At that point, you only have two minutes to get to the
sub (unlike in lower difficulties), so you'll have to be fast.  Use your first
missile to take out the attack chopper, and remember that once you are on target
with the missile, pulling the right trigger will speed it up to save you
precious seconds.

Now we get to the hard part of the mission that is going to take a whole lot of
luck and persistence to get through.  The best option I've found is to stick to
the right side of the map and use the dumpsters, building corners, and vehicles
for cover as you move.  As soon as you get another predator missile, take cover
and use it to clear infantry and get another missile arming.  Do not bother
taking out the armored vehicle with a missile yet.  Instead, clear out infantry
and destroy the truck full of troops when it arrives.  When you get all the way
down the right side of the map, sprint across the road, turn left to look
towards the objective marker, and take cover.  There should be an RPG and some
other weapons there, but don't bother switching weapons unless you need to.
Now the only thing standing between you and the checkpoint for making it to the
sub are the crates with several enemy troops hiding all around them.  Use your
grenades and flashbangs to move up, and sprint towards the vehicle on your right
if you are short on time.  You should get the checkpoint, and your squad will
quickly move up and take out remaining enemies.  I've also had the enemy armor
completely disappear at this point, but I can not guarantee that it will
disappear.  If it does not, use the predator to destroy it.

Cross the street and go up the stairs to the top of the building where you will
defend the sub dock.  Pick up a sniper rifle if you do not have one, and go
prone behind the ventilation units.  Use the predator drone to take out enemies
and watch the dock for a few enemies to come out.  When they do come out, one
will have a sniper rifle, and he is usually a very fast shot, so kill him first.
Pick off the last few guys down that way and let your team worry about defending
the stairs.

******************************
[A3B] - "Second Sun"
******************************
This opening has been done before.  Just wait it out.

When you get out of the downed helicopter, follow Foley to take cover in the
building.  Oddly enough, this part is sometimes the hardest part of the level as
stuff comes crashing down, but other times, you can stroll right through.  If
you keep dying here, start by following Foley, and after the chopper crashes
down on the right side of the street, run over and stick close to the buildings.

When you head back outside, follow the squad to the street corner where you'll
find a dead soldier and a gun to swap for your pistol.  Then enter the corner
building to find an ammo crate, or just move ahead.  There will be another ammo
crate in the next building you enter.  Head down the road to meet up with the
messenger, and continue into the building and up the stairs.  You will get into
an office shootout.  Go to the left and make sure the right side of the room is
clear when you enter the room.  Let your squad do most of the work, and move
forward to new cover when things start to die down to get the squad to advance.
Shoot through the cubicles to kill hiding enemies.  After the shootout, search
the dropped guns to see if you like any of them better than what you are
carrying.  Because of the EMP blast, you may prefer a weapon with iron sights.
Move up to the next office and another firefight.

When you drop down outside, you will see three enemies on a vehicle.  Take them
out at any time or just run up to them.  You do not have to wait for Foley's
command, and you do not have to wait for his command to engage the unidentified
patrol.  If you stay behind cover, your squad will clear out the enemies fast
enough, and then you can proceed down to the president's bunker.  Alternatively,
if you are far enough ahead of your squad, you can run right through the patrol
without engaging them, but that only works about half the time and is not really
worth the risk considering how little time you will save.

******************************
[A3C] - "Whiskey Hotel"
******************************
Follow Foley through the bunker and come out in the middle of a big fight.
Sprint to the nearest blast depression and go prone.  Wait to heal and rebuild
stamina and sprint to the metal pylons ahead and then to the next depression.
Oddly enough, you can get on the mounted machine gun to the left of the tunnel
exit, and you will get shot less, but you will not be doing much good there.
Now go left to take cover behind a downed chopper.  Wait again before sprinting
to a destroyed vehicle next to a tree.  Let your men move up, and sprint back to
the chopper if a grenade is thrown in behind you.  When you are ready, go around
the tree and sprint to the front of the jeep where there is likely to be an
enemy.  Take him out and expect one or two more to run at you from the direction
of the building.  Then advance through the bushes and clear the porch area and
wait for your squad to move up to the door.

Once inside the building, let your squad open a door and engage the enemy.  Stay
back and pick off anyone that comes into your view, and then move forward to
cover.  When your men advance, they will clear out the nearest enemies, so
follow them staying crouched and watching for any easy targets.  When the press
room with the podium is cleared, move down the right wall to the podium so your
team will engage the next room.  Stay on behind the podium while down here
because the enemy AI can sometimes see you through the curtains and severely
hurt you.  While they are busy with that, circle back around to the back of the
room and to the porch on the left, and use the plant bases for cover to move
forward.  At the far end of this porch are some barrels, and above those is a
balcony.  Watch for troop movement up there and take down any guys that appear.
Your team will most likely not clear the cubicles on their own, so try to get a
side view of enemies in the cubicles to take them out, and then toss a grenade
to the back of the room and move up.

In the last section of cubicles, you will get a two minute warning.  Throw a
grenade into the left doorway to the next room, and move in through the right
doorway.  Now throw a flashbang into the next room and clear it out.  Foley
should advance pretty quickly and take down the guys at the top of the slope in
the next room.  Do not bother trying to take down those guys because they can
kill you pretty fast if you expose yourself.  Just wait for Foley to run up the
slope, and then follow him.

When you come out on the next floor, ease out into the hallway to take down any
enemies there using the slope exit for cover.  When you do move forward, beware
of the possibility of guys in the room to the left, so quickly check that side
before focusing all of your attention on the stairs on the far end of the room.
Once the enemies stop coming down the stairs at you, run up the stairs to the
top floor and pop your flares.

******************************
[A3D] - "Loose Ends"
******************************
This is a little tedious, but it is really not too difficult on veteran
difficulty.  It takes a lot of patience and trial and error.

At the beginning of the mission, sprint down staying to the left against the
rock face and go prone when the mines are tripped.  From here, you should have a
clear view of two to three enemies that spawn at the top of the cliff.  When
they are down, crouch and take out as many enemies further down the slope as you
can before the smoke obscures your view.  With the smoke keeping you from seeing
anyone, move forward along the cliff to the edge of the smoke, but do not go
into the smoke.  Let your team move forward to clear the area, and shoot any
enemies that you see, but do not bother pursuing them.  Only move forward when
you see members of your squad moving up ahead of you.  Stick to the left side
and take cover behind the stumps when you get down to the bottom of the slope.
Peek out enough to take out any enemies you can easily see, but let your squad
do most of the work.

**An alternate method for clearing the enemies in the smoke is to move to the
right side once the enemies at the top of the cliff are cleared.  You will most
likely see a few guys in ghilli-suits, so take them out before going into the
smoke.  When you enter the smoke, sprint through it staying all the way to the
right.  If you get stuck in a bush, turn a little to the left and keep running.
On the far side of the smoke, you'll see a white fence on the right.  Keep
running along that even if you get shot.  At some point along that fence, all
the enemies in the smoke will have sudden heart failure and die.  Just keep
running until you hear the message about the trucks leaving, and then backtrack
to avoid splash damage from the predator missiles.**

When the field is clear of smoke and enemies, go back and swap out your pistol
for something better.  If you can find something like an RPD with red dot sight,
that can be very useful.  Move up the hill and avoid the two vehicles as they
leave if they are not already destroyed.  Move on up and kill the guys as they
get out of their vehicles in the driveway.  If you take much damage, go prone
and let your squad move up.  Reload your weapons before breaching the house.

You can breach the house from whichever doorway you choose.  I won't go into
specifics here because it will vary depending on which doorway you go to, and
the AI behavior varies significantly each time.  Once inside, clear all three
floors of the house before breaching any other rooms just to make sure nobody
comes out behind you.  At the top of the stairs, quickly knife the guy (or shoot
him if you so choose) in the bathroom on the right (although he sometimes
charges at you as soon as you start up the stairs).  Other than that, clear the
house in whatever way you want.  One of the rooms you breach in the basement has
a wall of guns that you can select, and the wall to the right of that will re-
supply your ammo just like an ammo crate.  Go around the house and select the
guns you want, and then go back to that room and restock on ammo, and that will
automatically reload your weapons to give you the maximum ammo you can carry.

Now you need to get ready to hold off several waves of enemies, and this is
going to be tedious.  There really is no good place to be where you can cover
all of the entrances, so you'll have to do the best you can.  The places I
prefer are the top of the stairs and to the right of the windows in the living
room crouching at the end of the couch (northeast corner of the room).

From the top of the stairs, I can cover the main entrance and the side doorway
where most of the enemies from the basement come into the living room.  From a
crouched position, I can shoot guys out by the jeeps and coming in the front
doors.  Watch closely for flashbangs to be thrown in, and when they are thrown,
quickly step behind cover to your right to avoid being blinded, and step back
out when it has gone off.  This will allow you to kill most of your opponents
quickly and easily, but some will take you by surprise.  One of the ways that
they do this is by throwing multiple flashbangs with only a second or two
between them so that you do not see the second one come in, and it blinds you as
you step out from cover.  About all you can do at that point is throw your own
flashbang and/or a grenade to slow the enemy down while you get your sight back.
I do not recommend blindly firing at the front door while blinded.  While you
may kill some, you are likely to leave yourself open to enemies coming in from a
different entrance, and you can very well end up dead before you get your vision
back.  Another benefit to being at the top of the stairs is that grenades are
rarely thrown up there.  In multiple times playing through this, I've only had
one thrown up at me.

If you use the living room method, you will have a clear view of the south side
entrance next to the stairs to the basement, and several of the flashbangs will
not come inside far enough to hinder your vision.  When you are blinded, you can
blindly fire with an LMG here until you get your vision back because your line
of sight covers both main entrances without shifting your gun, and your gun will
follow any incoming enemies when they cross your line of sight.  Alternatively,
you can go prone for protection and let your ally in the living room hold off
the assault until you can see again.  An added bonus of the living room position
is that when enemies do go around through the back of the house, they have a
tendency to shoot a few rounds at the computer, and then come out into the
living room to kill you instead of simply destroying the computer from cover.

A third option that I have not tried but might work would be the small room
directly opposite from the main entrance looking directly past the computer you
are trying to protect.  This room does have two doorways, though, so you will be
forced to move back and forth between the two doorways which takes time and
focus.

Regardless of where you plan to be for the file transfer, you'll need to set out
claymores before starting the transfer.  The claymores in this area can be a
safeguard, or they can be little more than a distraction to buy you some time.
Either way, use every single one.  There is no reason for you to have unused
claymores, because each unused claymore is potentially another enemy that is
going to be shooting at you, throwing flashbangs, and trying to shoot the
computer.  My method is to place several claymores along the route through the
back of the house, namely in the room behind the stairway and anywhere that will
keep enemies out of that room because that is the only path I can not cover from
my two preferred positions.  Then I also like to place a few in the living room
if I am at the top of the stairs.  The claymores in the living room are not
essential, but every now and again, an enemy will slip past and take cover in
the living room.  Thankfully, for some reason, they generally do not shoot at
the computer from in there, so they are more of a nuisance than a threat, but
they can still potentially shoot at the computer, and they will shoot at you
when you come down the stairs once the transfer is complete.  So the claymores
there are just to keep that area of the room clear.  Once those areas are
covered, place the remaining claymores in high traffic areas to get some quick
kills.  Those will all be gone after the first wave, but they'll at least allow
you to conserve some ammo.

So once you have all the claymores in place, you have your weapons of choice,
and you are full on ammo, start the transfer and get into position.  This is
going to take a long while, and unless you know something I don't, you will
likely die several times in this part of the mission.  Be very careful with
reloading, especially if you have an LMG.  Remember that you have a second
weapon if things get tight, and you can also throw an uncooked grenade to buy
you a few more seconds for reloading.  Unfortunately, I do not know of any easy
way to get through this.  But oddly enough, once the transfer is complete, the
enemies generally stop shooting at the module, so you can patiently kill them
until the house is clear, and then run to get the module and get back to cover.
That should get you another checkpoint.  If you have done a good job of clearing
the house, running back to cover is not necessary, but I suggest doing it as a
precaution and to get the checkpoint when you are at lease close to cover.

Now that you have the module, Ghost will tell you to get to the chopper.  You
can go back to camping your spot to wait for any other enemies to come in, or
you can just head out to Ghost.  If you do wait, you will never take out all of
the enemies because some just will not come into the house, but taking out all
the enemies possible will give you the best chances for survival.  Once
everything is calm, head out the front door and just down the slope to the first
clump of trees where Ghost is waiting.  Do not cross the field.  Just walk close
enough for him to move forward (or start talking if you can not see him), and
then sprint back up to the house and up the stairs.  Sit here watching the
infantry run past the door.  Some of them will fire in the door at you, but they
will not come in after you or even stop to fire more shots at you.  Once they
all run by, just wait about a minute and a half to two minutes, and then go look
out the window to look for movement.  If you see movement, or if anyone shoots
at you, go back to waiting.  They will eventually just die on their own, and
this includes the snipers that would not come into the house before.

**[Note: If you want to see a great example of this AI programming, go to the
Special Ops mode and play the first snow mobile race, and when you get to the
frozen lake, do some donuts on the near side for a bit.  You'll notice that the
AI will slow down and shoot back at you, but they will never stop and never turn
around to come back for you.  They are meant to go in a single direction, and
once they get to a set point, they all just die.  They leave a nice row of snow
mobiles and bodies.]**

So now that you know the house and surrounding area are clear, you are free to
look for intel if you have not found that, or do whatever you like.  Next, head
down across the field to where you were supposed to go, but do not go into the
trees.  Just go far enough forward for Ghost to engage the enemies and start the
mortar barrage.  The mortars can hit you and kill you, but you should not have
problems waiting for twenty to thirty seconds so that Ghost can clear out some
of the resistance.  So while you wait, run in circles and do a jig in their
mortar fire just for fun.  Then follow Ghost down the hill and out towards the
helicopter.  I suggest sticking to the left of the slope.  More guys will spawn
behind you when you are partially down the slope, so you do need to sprint.
That will bring up the sequence where Ghost is dragging you to the helo, and you
are supposed to fire at the approaching enemies.  Do so if you want, but you are
not required to shoot any of them.

******************************
[A3E] - "The Enemy of My Enemy"
******************************
This mission is tedious and cheap.  Just like with Takedown, be prepared to
spend a lot of time on this mission, and expect to die several times.  Some
examples of the cheapness of this level are that, even though you are wearing a
ghilli-suit, enemies can spot you lying in grass from over a hundred yards away
while they are engaging closer and more obvious enemies, the level is designed
for infantry to spawn behind you at several points, and checkpoints are fairly
sparse.  To add to the difficulty, they threw in a helicopter with a mini-gun
that is constantly on the move (making it very difficult to hit with one of the
few RPGs available), and I have yet to see the AI take down the helicopter
regardless of how much they shoot it, and even though the helicopter's cockpit
is pretty open, it at least appears to be impossible to snipe the pilot.  But,
the helicopter can be destroyed if it takes enough fire, or you can avoid it
fairly easily if you do not want to waste the time and ammo on it.  Also, since
the two factions are fighting one another, and enemies move around a lot on this
mission, enemy positions and numbers will change from one play-through to the
next.  For that reason, this guide will be very basic.

To start the mission off, go prone and let the two factions kill each other off.
When the fighting dies down, crouch and look for remaining enemies to snipe.  If
you get hit at any point in this mission, get behind cover immediately, or go
prone if there is no immediate cover and then sprint to cover when you've
healed.  Enemies will shoot at you from a long ways away, and they are
ridiculously accurate with fully automatic weapons, but watch for that gun fire
to tell you where enemies are positioned.  Also, listen for radio chatter and
movement to tell you when you are close to an enemy.  It may be helpful to play
this mission at an easier difficulty setting first to learn the sounds that come
from dumpsters and other environmental objects versus the sounds made by enemies
reloading or moving around.  When the initial area is clear, cautiously exit the
segment of the plane you are in and start scouting the area.  Find two or three
pieces of cover that give solid protection while also offering decent views of
the field.  You will run back to these pieces of cover multiple times, and they
will be your place of refuge.  Also note that along the right side of the map,
there is a well protected road where you can take cover behind several crates.
This area provides a good point of cover mid-way through the first area.  Other
things to note are the hummer inside the fuselage of an airplane along the right
side of the map.  Do not go past this hummer yet.  Doing so will spawn enemies
behind you.  If you move along the left side of the map, you will round a corner
where an enemy sniper will come out on a raised platform (I believe an airplane
wing), so take him out quickly and then run back to cover.  A second man usually
comes out to check on the downed sniper, and he can easily come up behind you if
you take too long.

When they are both down, slowly move forward along the left wall until you hear
voices or a vehicle engine, and immediately backtrack to a predetermined piece
of cover.  If you are along the right wall walking past the hummer, a truck will
park directly behind the hummer, and you will have very little cover.  You can
survive there by just letting the men pass by, but sometimes they will come in
after you (knowing exactly where you are even without seeing you).  After
backtracking to cover, use that cover to pick off enemies from a distance until
the area is clear again.  To advance through the level, use this same method of
moving forward until you see or hear enemies, moving back to cover, and after
the enemies have killed one another off, finish clearing the area from a
distance.  Expect new enemies to spawn every time you come to one of the large
airplanes that leave only a few gaps for advancing to the next area, and always
be prepared to backtrack quickly.  When the helicopter spawns, keep cover
between you and it.  After a while, you will come to a place where the only way
to advance is through an airplane fuselage.  Move to the ledge and counter-snipe
the enemies on the far hill, and then move just a bit further forward without
dropping down yet.  This will spawn more enemies and vehicles down below.  You
do not need to pick off the enemies on the far hill, but doing so will allow the
Russians more time to devote to shooting at the helicopter if you want it
destroyed.  Now you can just wait for the fighting do die down.

When you are ready, drop down from the fuselage into the next area.  You will
slide down the hill a little, but immediately turn around and run back up and to
the right (as you are facing the hill you just slid down) and hide in the narrow
fuselage there.  You can wait out more fighting from here, and when the fighting
dies down, this fuselage will give great cover for sniping the remaining
enemies.  When all is clear, move forward from cover to cover assuming that
someone is still hiding out there.  If you make it to the road without getting
shot at, you are ready to move up the next hill.  I suggest staying a little to
the left side of the map and coming up the hill directly behind the armored
vehicle.  Moving up the right side is just fine, but there is at least a small
window where the vehicle can shoot at you while you do not have cover.  Assuming
you move up the left, when you get behind the vehicle, it will drive away from
you.  There will be a fairly open area along this left wall that you need to
cross, but enemies will just be spawning and will not be shooting at you yet, so
sprint across this gap.  Ready a grenade and throw it as soon as you peek around
the airplane tail at the far end.  There will be around five or six guys grouped
there, so hopefully the grenade will clear most of them out.  When it goes off,
throw a flashbang and finish them off.  If you moved quickly, you should get a
checkpoint in this corner and a one minute warning.  Do not run out to the
vehicle just yet because you will likely be run over by a crashing SUV.
Instead, wait for the armored vehicle to be destroyed and the SUV to crash, and
then sprint around the SUV and to the jeep.  You will likely take some damage,
but should be able to make it pretty easily.

Once in the vehicle, focus on taking out the man on the mini-gun atop the SUV.
Once he is killed, focus on shooting the guys riding in the beds of the white
trucks, but don't worry too much.  The game is pretty lenient on this part, and
you can finish without killing very many guys.  Also, your driver gets shot, and
you are supposedly given control of the vehicle, but you can put the controller
down and the game will put you on the plane.

******************************
[A3F] - "Just Like Old Times"
******************************
Start by doing exactly what Price says.  You don't really have to listen to him,
but if you do, you will make it to the caves easily and without being shot at.
Inside the caves, follow Price and let the patrol pass, and then knife the guard
smoking by the TV.  Continue to follow Price and do whatever he says.  You can
get ahead of Price to knife the guy at the top of the stairs, but he starts to
turn around when you get close, so there is less risk in just letting Price do
it.

This next part is hard.  You will need to use your night vision, but even with
night vision, enemies are terribly difficult to see, and they can see you
clearly.  If you have seen a weapon with a thermal scope before getting to this
cave, it would be worthwhile to have it here.  Unfortunately, I've not found
any.  The way I used to get through this is simply to backtrack to the entrance
of this room, crouch, and watch for an enemy to come into view.  When things get
pretty crazy, duck into the tunnel on your right for cover.  You can also use
your grenades to help clear things out right as they breach the room, and don't
forget that you have flashbangs that will really help you out.  But for some
reason, flashbangs usually blind a few while leaving the rest completely
unfazed, so be cautious.  Watch for the laser from enemy weapons, and follow
that back to them.  You may be able to get kills without even seeing the enemy
just by firing where it looks like the laser is coming from.

When that room is cleared, go outside and pick up a riot shield.  Keep the
shield between you and the enemies and walk along the walkway.  Price will kill
everyone, so you should have an easy time with this.  When you finish, move into
the next cave to trigger the next wave of enemies rappelling in from the cliff
face and get Price fighting them.  Then you can back out and get a new riot
shield that hasn't been shot up if you so choose.  It takes price a while to
kill the guys with riot shields, but he will eventually kill them.  If you want
to help, just move down closer to the action to provide a distraction so that
Price can get a better shot.  If you get close enough to someone, hit them with
your shield.  Staying in the entrance tunnel through most of this part should
protect you from any grenades since they will roll down the slope.  Move forward
to the next section of the tunnel to spawn a few more guys.  Just stay behind
the riot shield and let Price take them out or hit them with the shield if they
get too close.

The next room has a narrow chasm in the middle with several enemies, some with
riot shields, on the opposing side shooting at you.  Price will kill the one or
two guys on your side of the chasm and tell you to flank.  Stay back near the
entrance moving forward only to hit nearby enemies with your shield, but be sure
to keep the shield between you and everyone shooting at you.  When guys with
riot shields come across, do your best to distract them and get them to turn
their back on Price so that he can kill them easily.  If they move in too close,
hit them with your shield to knock them back a bit and buy Price a little more
time to shoot them.  You can also stay back in the entrance tunnel and switch to
your gun to take out enemies flanking Price without exposing yourself to the
rest of the room.  Unfortunately, Price eventually becomes virtually useless
because he has a tendency to stop shooting and just sit behind cover.  So when
that happens, it will be up to you to cross the room and go through the tunnel
against the far wall to flank the enemy.  Before doing that, make sure there is
nobody hiding behind the brick wall you'll have to pass to get into that side
tunnel.  You can not simply go around that wall to hit anyone there with your
shield because your back will be exposed to everyone else.  So just watch that
area, and when you are certain the way is clear, strafe across the room into
that tunnel.  There may be guys in the tunnel, so beat them down if there are.
Then peek out to see where your closest enemies are.  This may take a little
while, and it depends on AI behavior, so be patient.  Watch for an enemy to hide
in the smoke a little to your right as you come out of the tunnel.  If nobody is
firing at you from there, you can ease up to the boxes or the pillar that the
nearest enemies are likely to be near if they are shooting at you.  Kill them
with your shield and back up to allow more enemies to come closer.  Repeat this
until enemies stop coming at you, and then back up into the tunnel.  Feel free
to use all of your grenades here to help clear out the rest.  You will be able
to completely restock on grenades before you need them again.  You can also use
the RPG in this tunnel to help clear them out.  Just be careful not to expose
yourself too much if enemies are still shooting in your direction.

When that tedious room is cleared, move up to the tarp of guns near the door
that you are going to breach and select the one that you are most comfortable
with using in the slow motion breach.  Breach the door and take out the man
running at you a little to the right.  Try for a head shot to avoid needing
multiple shots for him simply because each extra shot runs the risk of hitting
the explosives behind him.  Then clear the rest of the room as you would any
other breach.  Wait for Price to tell you something about overriding the door,
activate the computer, and run outside.

Outside, you'll get up and see enemies crawling around below you.  Ignore them.
As soon as you can stand up, sprint forward to the first set of crates with a
rocket launcher (I think this one is an AT4) next to it and pick that up.  Shoot
down the chopper dropping off troops, and switch back to whatever you dropped
for the rocket.  Equip the riot shield to wait out this attack.  If Price is not
engaging the enemy, bump into him to move him out into the open.  Stay away from
cars that have not yet exploded.  Ease forward as the enemies start to thin out,
and bash anyone you get close to.  Right after the first wave of enemies is
cleared, another group will run out of the cave to your left.  Toss a grenade
down there for some easy kills, and then backtrack to make sure Price moves up.
Flank to the right to try to come up beside enemy troops while they are taking
cover from Price, and hit them with the shield.  When they are clear, run into
the cave.

******************************
[A3G] - "Endgame"
******************************
Run down the stairs and jump in the boat.  Don't wait for Price.  Unless you
figure out a way to get to the boat faster than I can, Price will be able to
jump in as you accelerate.  Just like in the snow mobile chase, you have
infinite ammo, so use your gun liberally and empty the magazine each time you
start firing.  There is no reason to keep a partially empty magazine.  Any time
you see a raft other than Shepherd's ahead of you or people one bridges or
people along the banks of the river, shoot your gun even if they are not
directly in front of you.  The game is very lenient on aiming and the amount of
damage the gun does in this segment.  Also, you are not required to do much
shooting once you make it out of the narrow section at the beginning.

Once you exit the cave into the open water with the helicopter overhead,
shooting will only be a secondary objective, and it is only needed when another
boat gets near you.  Your main objective will be steering the boat and keeping
it near rocks without hitting the rocks.  Unlike in lower difficulties, the
helicopter will kill you quickly if you stay in the open water, so do your best
to go behind and near rocks without slowing down too much.

When Price is trying to take down the chopper, you can do whatever you want.  He
fires fast enough if you just don't touch the controls, but even if you keep
trying to accelerate to go over the waterfall, he'll make the shot.  This game
is really too lenient with the vehicles.

From there, you'll know the rest, assuming you've played through the campaign
before on another difficulty.

******************************
Contact
******************************
Email me with tips, suggestions, or strategies for veteran difficulty at
[email protected].  I have no plans of including intel locations
since every other guide I've seen contains that information, so do not bother
telling me where to find it.

If you do email me, use "MW2 Guide" as the subject line.  All other emails will
be filtered out as spam, so take just a moment to use the copy/paste function
when preparing an email.

******************************
Copyright
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This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
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Copyright 2009 Nate Stone