With the United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdrawal from Kuwait expired, it is time to act. The first phase of the war will be an unprecedented bombing campaign by coalition forces. In order to open a gap in the Iraqi air defense network our S.A.S. team has been tasked with the destruction of an enemy radar and SAM site.







The radar station and SAM sites are collocated with an enemy airfield. Our secondary mission is to disrupt activity at the enemy airfield.







Once the SAM site is disabled Allied AH-64 Apache helicopters will come in to complete the eradication of the site.



Cont…

As usual we arrive in the area on a CH-47 Chinook.



For the first time we have our complete squad together for the duration of the mission. The newest addition is our demolitions expert Jones. He brings expertise with mines, satchel charges, and quiet, close-in fighting with a suppressed H&K MP5.



After insertion we start working our way up a constricted slot canyon and we come across our first targets: goats! The view through Foley’s sniper scope shows the goats working down the canyon toward us, being herded along by a desert native. Foley lays his sights on the Shepard, but we can’t bring ourselves to take down an unarmed nomad.





The herder soon spots our group and turns and flees down the slot canyon. I debate taking the shot but can’t shoot someone in the back. He disappears around a corner and we wait a few minutes to see if he brings the enemy back to our position.





We start working our way up the canyon and we run into a patrol that is coming the opposite way. We are elevated above the floor of the canyon and we let them pass and we give Jones the opportunity to test his mettle by taking them out silently with his MP5. The machine gun fires with a quiet metallic ratcheting sound and the two scouts go down quickly and silently. The canyon widens out slightly before constricting once again and we take up positions on both sides preparing to move into the slot.



Foley has the best optics in the squad and he uses his high magnification scope to spot the primary threat at the other end of the short canyon: a bunker with a machine gun mounted on sandbags.



Cont…

The action starts out with Foley sniping the soldier manning the machine gun in the bunker. Enemy troops descend into the swash and are mowed down instantly by our heavy weapons specialist, Connors, and his SAW. Bradley surveys the destruction through his field glasses:



Jones advances up to the camp adjacent to the enemy bunker after we assure the area is clear of threats. Predictably, he finds the goat herder holed up in the middle of the camp. Still unarmed we allow him to live since we figure he is merely trying to scrape out an existence in the desert. Maybe he can use some of the equipment left behind by the dead Iraqis.



I put Connors and Bradley into position in the bunker manning the machine guns while I search the compound and pick up some ammunition, an AK-47, and some med-kits which will come in handy later. Bradley has been grazed by a round in the head apparently as his head is stained red with blood. If you are going to hit an S.A.S. trooper in the head, better make it a flush shot or you’ll just piss him off!



Shortly after cleaning out the bunker a truck rolls around the corner from the canyon leading toward the airbase. A sustained burst from the bunker mounted machine gun destroys the truck and sends bodies flying without us having to waste our own ammunition.



Abandoning the small camp and bunker we move out toward the airbase through a constricted maze of narrow canyons. Using advance and cover techniques we hopscotch past each other.



The light is gradually fading as the sun sets and in a nice touch we are soon able to see our exhaled breath as the desert rapidly cools.



We soon reach a bend in the canyon and I can just barely make out an enemy emplacement in the distance. Fortunately we are equipped with night vision goggles and I order the squad to don them. The result is a major improvement to our sight picture as we look at Foley’s sniper view without and with his NVGs activated.





Cont…

Foley takes out the two bunkers guarding the main entrance to the airfield while Bradley and Jones clean up a roving patrol that tries to flank us on the right. Foley with his sniper rifle and NVGs:



We advance up to the main door but find we cannot open it. The pre-mission briefing told us to expect that and we knew we would have to continue around to the side of the airfield in order to penetrate it. We take another canyon branching off to the right and soon we come to a fence surrounding the airfield. I can see two sentries standing guard near the fence and I send Jones forward in a low crawl to attempt stealth kills on them so we can advance the entire team closer prior to the enemy raising the alarm. Jones gets a silent kill on one of the guards but as he moves into position to take out the second sentry a shot rings out and Jones is slammed to the ground.



An alarm siren starts sounding across the compound and we know we have been compromised. Soldiers rush out of the buildings in the compound and I hastily send Connors forward to cover our advance with his SAW. The sky lights up as he starts laying down the lead and the flash of his muzzle temporarily causes blooms in our NVGs as they struggle to adjust to the bright flashes.



With Connors laying down fire I advance Bradley up to the downed Jones and I revive him with a med-kit. As I’m tending to him I hear an earth rattling roar as a MiG-29 scream overhead with afterburners aglow.



Meanwhile Foley has come up on the line with Connors and he starts selecting targets and knocking out Iraqis with deadly precision. He is a master at his craft. Foley also spots the reason that Jones was cut down earlier, a sniper in a guard tower that we weren’t able to see from our vantage point. Foley lays his scope on him and soon the Iraqi sniper is tumbling out of the tower with a lump of lead in his forehead.





Once we break out onto the flat of the airfield chaos reins. I put Connors in a strategic location behind some sandbags that gives him a wide arcing field of fire so he can take out enemy soldiers that continue to come out of their barracks. I use Foley to take out three more guards that occupy guard towers on the other corners of the compound then position him on a roof overlooking the main runway. Every so often Connors or Foley shouts out “enemy spotted” before letting loose with a string of bullets or a single shot respectively.

While Connors and Foley keep the enemy troops occupied Bradley goes with the Jones to set the demolition charge on the power station that provides power to the airfield and the SAM radar and launchers. Jones enters the vacant generator room, plants a C4 charge then retreats to a safe distance before squeezing the detonator and blowing the building.





Cont…

With the power out the waiting Apache comes in low over the compound and destroys the radar antenna with a missile shot.



I bring Foley back down off the roof as the enemy activity has died off. I use Bradley to clear the barracks of soldiers and he picks up more enemy weapons and ammunition. We now move to the other side of the compound to clear the control tower complex. I put Connors, Foley and Bradley in a defensive position while I send Jones with his shotgun through the door into the building.





Rounding corners carefully, with the shotgun at the ready, Jones starts clearing each room. Jones takes a round here and there, but I’m able to self medicate myself since the shots aren’t completely incapacitating, but I’m running through med-kits rapidly.



On the second floor I find a security card which will grant me access to other buildings in the compound that are currently secured.



Continuing up the stairs I hear voices in the control tower above and to save time I just lob a grenade up the stairwell into the cab and the explosion rocks the room and throws bodies against the wall.



Descending back down the stairs I find some rooms that I had missed on the way up and as I enter one of them I look one way and miss the Iraqi that is crouched on the other side of the room. He stitches me (Jones) with AK-47 fire and I go down in a heap. I next take Bradley in to both rescue Jones and continue clearing the rooms. At the room where Jones took the fire I hurl a grenade in killing the enemy within. As I prepare to enter the room however, another Iraqi pops out of another room and blasts me in the back and another team member is down.

Outside Foley looks through the door with some concern as he sees two of his teammates are now down inside the building. I move Connors over to Foley and give him some extra med-kits to take in with him then I take Foley inside the building, switching from his sniper rifle to an AK-47 he has picked up from the enemy barracks.



Reaching the hallway where the carnage has occurred I use up all of Foley’s grenades clearing the rooms nearby, making sure that all of the enemy are dead before turning my back to help the wounded men, both of whom are writhing in pain on the ground.



Cont…

With the control tower complex finally cleared and the entire team back outside and healing we turn our attention to the final tasks, destroying the fuel dump and enemy aircraft within the hangars. Jones is tasked with all of the demolitions work and he sets about placing a charge on the fuel dump first.



Next he takes the security card to the hardened aircraft shelters and swipes it to gain entry. As the door opens to the first shelter a blast of AK-47 fire erupts from within and Jones once again takes it full in the chest, dropping like a sack of potatoes.





When the Iraqi peeks out to inspect his handiwork Bradley gets a clean look at him and takes him out with a head shot.



With the hangar now cleared of threats I revive Jones and send him back to work setting charges while I take Bradley into the hangar to check out the contents, another MiG-29.



After getting Bradley out of the hangar Jones hits the button on his detonator and the MiG explodes and burns inside the hangar.



After repeating the demolition job on another hangar it is time to make our way to the extraction point. Bradley keys in the code to open the main airbase blast door (the one we couldn’t get enter at the beginning of the mission) and we run for the extraction point where our helicopter is waiting.





Cont…

The mission is completed and Jones earns a medal for all his hard work. The other three team members who have been working their way through the campaign continue to gain experience toward more skill levels, increasing their effectiveness when not being directly controlled by me. In fact, most of them are more competent when left on their own than when I am controlling them.



This mission took a LONG time to accomplish. According to the stats, 1 hour and 15 minutes! With only 2 opportunities to save the game during the mission you have to be very careful picking and choosing your save points. If you save too early and too frequently you will end up risking a lot of invested time later in the mission if your entire team gets killed. Carefully managing med-kits to ensure all team members have the ability to revive each other is very important. This was a great mission setup with multiple objectives and again a real emphasis on covering fire and division of labor.

BeachAV8R