Shock and Awe

"It looks like we're rolling in with everything we got. We get Al-Asad, we end this war right here, right now. Lock and load, Marines."

- Lt. Vasquez

"Shock and Awe" is the tenth campaign mission of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It is the penultimate mission of Act I in which the player controls Sgt. Paul Jackson and sees the player attempting to capture Al-Asad in his capital city.

The event is mentioned in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by General Shepherd. It also appears in a flashback scene during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, when player-character Yuri witnesses Makarov's order to detonate the nuke.

Characters

 * Paul Jackson (playable, W.I.A.)
 * Vasquez (K.I.A.)
 * Volker (K.I.A.)
 * Pelayo (K.I.A.)
 * Vladimir Makarov (flashback)
 * Yuri (flashback, playable)

Plot
Sgt. Paul Jackson and the rest of Lt. Vasquez's squad attack what they believe to be Khaled Al-Asad's position. Jackson provides firing support with the Mk 19 grenade launcher on a CH-46 Sea Knight whilst 1st Force Recon attacks Al-Asad's capital city. Vasquez and his team relieve a squad that is being attacked. After clearing the area, the Marines start extracting from the city due to a nuclear threat (discovered by SEAL Team 6) in the city. As they are leaving, Keating and Deadly's Cobra helicopter is shot down and Vasquez's squad stops to rescue the pilot. Whilst they are leaving the city, the nuclear bomb is detonated (on Vladimir Makarov's orders, revealed in Modern Warfare 3); the blast wave causes the helicopters to crash, eventually killing the player, about 30,000 other U.S. troops, and the remaining OpFor soldiers.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
"Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye, and the world just fuckin' watched. Tomorrow there will be no shortage of volunteers, no shortage of patriots. I know you understand."

- General Shepherd

It was the killing of these men and women that prompted Shepherd to start the Russo-American War. Contrary to popular belief, Shepherd was in command of the Marines, SEALs, and Air Force operators involved in the fight against Al-Asad. The Callsign "Overlord" can be heard before the nuclear explosion from which Shepherd uses frequently in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
"Thousands of souls extinguished by the push of a button. This wasn't war... it was madness."

- Yuri During the flashback of "Shock and Awe" seen in the mission, Blood Brothers, the explosion that kills the 30,000 marines is viewed from Yuri's perspective at a distant safehouse, out of harm's way. It is also revealed that Vladimir Makarov was the one who ordered the detonation of the nuclear bomb.

Video Walkthrough




Arcade Mode Walkthrough

Intel Items

 * Laptop 15 is on the second story of the building with green smoke lying on the ground to the right of the pinned squad.
 * Laptop 16 is in a closet on the second floor in the building to the southeast of where the friendly squad is pinned down, a machine gunner is firing at the player from this room.

Achievements
Look Sharp (20 ) can be obtained from collecting the 15th laptop, requiring the player to already have the earlier ones.

The First Horseman (40 ) is obtained by completing "Shock and Awe" on Veteran difficulty.