The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday/Trivia

Trivia

 * The level's title is derived from the motto of the U.S. Navy SEALs, "The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday".
 * In the art book, it is stated that originally there were plans for a campaign level that had the player controlling a U.S. Navy SEAL team member, leading to the inspiration of this level, and oil rig takedowns are something real SEALs train for. Also, the infiltration method was via SDVs. It is very possible that some of the TF 141 members are (former) SEALs themselves.
 * This is one of the two levels where you go underwater, this one by design. The other one is "Endgame" when your boat goes through the rapids and down the waterfall.
 * As a possible nod to the SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs series, one of the TF141 members that assists in this section has the callsign "Boomer," the same name as a SEAL team member from the series, along with "Jester," another reference as well.
 * At the start of the level when the screen is fully black, going into the menu and then into the options screen will allow you to see that you're inside a sub. This also works for all other missions with a black screen at the start. Note: Will not work with hacks active.
 * After getting onto the oilrig, you can float on some parts of the water.

Underwater and Lower Levels

 * The guard by the railing near the beginning has only 1 HP. It is possible to kill him by hitting him anywhere (such as shooting his toes) with any weapon, or even directly with a grenade, though this will result in the mission failing. If the player gets close enough by sneaking up behind him, one of the player's team members will take him out.
 * Whilst under the oil rig, the player can see many fish swimming past. If they look closely, the fish will actually swim through the pipes as well as occasionally through the player's face as they move towards the platform whilst still under the ice.
 * When the player reaches the guard, Soap says "In position. On your go." or "We'll take them out at the same time...on your go.". However, it is not Soap and instead Zach or Robot who eliminates the guard, as shown when the player is helped up. Instead, Soap spawns on the second platform when the player is helped up by the two other TF141 members.
 * Once the two first guards are killed/drowned and the player swims back up to the shore, two TF-141 allies are ready to help up Roach and give him his M4A1 SOPMOD. There is no logical explanation as to how these soldiers get on Deck One so quickly. They could have climbed the railing however Roach is only underwater for about three seconds to kill the guards leaving minimal time for Soap, Ghost and a few other randomly generated soldiers to get on Deck One.
 * The two SDV "drivers" show different signs to each other. While one shows the "Ok / Is everything OK?" sign, the other shows thumb up which means "Dive out".
 * Ghost is never underwater on this map and only spawns once the first guard is killed.
 * When fellow Task Force 141 members help the player out of the water after removing the guard, it is unknown how the player removes his scuba gear, or if it is removed at all, despite the fact that it would be a significant impediment in combat.
 * When the player has killed the guard, the water level suddenly rises. They can no longer dive under the floor afterwards.
 * The soldier that the player drags underwater and kills always has the same model, while the one opposite him will always be different. Likewise, the soldier having a smoke while leaning over the rails will always be the same.
 * The two TF 141 members who pull Roach from the water are always the same models.
 * After killing the guard who is leaning over the balcony, if the player goes to the opposite side from where he was standing and looks down at the water, the player will see him laying dead on top of the water as if he hit solid ground. However, after a short while he will sink below the water and disappear.
 * On the first door you breach with Captain MacTavish, if you turn around quickly you will see that Robot spawns out of nowhere and is frozen while running.
 * When starting the level, there will be two randomly generated Task Force 141 soldiers. They will stay at the bottom, but when the player breaches the first room and then goes back down, they will have disappeared.
 * Sometimes, if the player sprints ahead of MacTavish, they can run straight up to the Russian leaning over the balcony and he will run off. He will do this even if the player sneaks up on him before Soap and the team get there, otherwise they will shoot him.
 * If the player, after watching the helicopter, goes to the breached room and knifes the television, the player will fail the mission, with the statement, "You alerted the enemy."
 * It is unknown how the guard smoking on the balcony does not see the team and alert the oil platform, as the guard can be killed from the very bottom of the oil rig with one of the two assault rifles, and if the player stands where the guard stood, the platforms where the two initial guards were killed is easily visible.
 * If you knife the smoking guard he will yell and alert the enemy.
 * After being pulled out of the water by your team-mates, to your left there is a Zodiac boat and another one behind you. This would explain how the members of Team Two and the hostages were evacuated.


 * Sometimes if the player stays in one spot after clearing the first room Zach will fly through the ceiling when he walks through the door in front of you.
 * The lone guard before you breach cannot be flashbanged.

Middle Levels

 * When the player gets to the room on this level with hostages inside, after putting a breaching charge on the first door and before it is detonated, Soap (who always runs to the same door) will have an ID tag that changes from "Captain MacTavish" to "Zach" for about half a second.
 * If the player alerts the helicopter that is seen patrolling the perimeter, it will spin up its guns, and they will fail the mission and receive the message "You have alerted the enemy - the hostages have been executed." Oddly enough, if the player manages to hit the chopper with the M203 Grenade Launcher, it will burst into flames and crash into the sea, though the player will still be able to continue the mission without penalty.
 * The body on which the player plants the C4 explosive is scripted to lie in that location and is dead as soon as the player breaches the room.
 * When the player detonates the C4, the other soldiers in the room are still in one piece, which is odd because in real life they would be blown to pieces.
 * After the player has planted the C4 following the second breach, the hostages can be seen being escorted downstairs. The hostages then go downstairs where the player can't follow them. If the player tries to keep the hostages on screen while planting the C4 and then waits inside the room, they would see the hostages magically disappear when the enemies approach the room. In the PS3 version, if they are in your line of sight the entire time, the mission will fail when the C4 is detonated.
 * During certain breaches, it is possible to shoot the knife-wielding Russian so that the knife will float above the dead soldier.
 * When the player climbs up the platform after planting the C4 before Soap does and goes prone, he'll be stuck behind the player and stay standing.
 * It is also possible to breach wielding an AT4 although you will be restarted at the last checkpoint for killing a hostage.

Compromised

 * Soap always starts the mission with an MP5K silenced Red Dot Sight, but as soon as he goes prone on the scaffolding after breaching the second room, his MP5K automatically changes to an M4A1 Grenade Launcher and Red Dot Sight.
 * When the Little Bird comes to attack the player and their comrades after troops rope in, it is possible to shoot down the Little Bird with an RPG-7, M203, AT4 or Stinger.
 * If the player manages to destroy the Little Bird, Ghost remarks with "Nice shot, Roach." Sometimes he'll say, "Enemy helicopter has been neutralized."
 * If the player ignores the enemy helicopter when it attacks, it will continue to pursue all the way to the top deck, providing the player stays in its spotlight. If the player evades its light, it will stay on lower decks searching. It will instantly disappear when the player breaches the final room.
 * The seagulls flying around the area cannot be killed.
 * This is the only MW2 level in which the player uses or has access to the M4A1 SOPMOD. This variation of the M4A1 is available several times in Call of Duty 4, though.
 * Before detonating the C4, if the player still has their default weapons (M4A1 and SCAR), the M4A1 SOPMOD and SCAR-H Thermal w/Silencer will still be silenced. However, when the C4 on the bodies are detonated, the M4A1 SOPMOD changes to an M4A1 Red Dot Sight w/Grenade Launcher (un-silenced) and the SCAR-H Thermal loses its Silencer and is now just called SCAR-H Thermal. However, it is possible to keep the silencer on the M4A1 if the player trades weapons before placing the C4, then after detonation picks it back up from the ground, it will still have it on.

Top Deck

 * The smokescreen will not disappear until the enemies are all dead. The enemies will throw smoke grenades until they are killed. On Veteran difficulty however the smoke screen would not dissipate even after all the enemies are killed. It only disappears after the player has breached the room.
 * In the firefight with the smokescreens, the player is not allowed to breach the doors until all outside hostiles have been killed.
 * The player can sprint through the smokescreen to the left door, and just by killing some enemies with a shotgun or M203 (about 4 or 5) they can breach that door without having to kill all the enemies, but they must rush to that door.
 * After you breach the last room, if the player shoots the barrels and make them explode it will say "Mission Failed: You detonated the rigged explosives" and behind the words the player can see a huge explosion going off.
 * Most of the enemies actually do not use thermal optics but they somehow can still shoot the player through the smoke.
 * The enemies on the second floor that use explosives and other weapons to try and neutralize the player will respawn once killed. (It may take a few seconds for the new enemy to come in.)
 * It is possible to get out of the map in this area. After killing all of the enemies, head to the right side of the deck. There is a ladder leaning against a storage container. While it is difficult to get to the top of the container, it is still possible. Once the player has reached the top, jump over the fence and the player is out of map.
 * Following above, if the player jumps out of the map it is possible to jump to the middle (but not top) floor of one of the towers.
 * Following above, if the player goes to the room where the hostages are located, they can see the room is actually empty. If they go to the door and breach, the camera will switch to normal breaching (from outside).
 * After the (right) door is breached, when a Spetsnaz is trying to stab you with a knife, later the knife can be seen floating.

Extraction

 * The player boards the right side of the Little Bird. By the start of the next mission, the player has switched sides.
 * The player can't switch weapons once they are on the Little Bird, and it is unknown where the M14 EBR that the player wields on the Little Bird comes from. It could be just given to Roach off screen.
 * Ghost will not get on the Little Bird with Roach and MacTavish, but after reaching The Gulag he gets off another Little Bird.
 * This is the only mission in which the Marines are actually seen, as they rope down a helicopter to disarm the SAM sites and rescue the hostages. They all wear the Army Combat Uniform, marked with the 75th Ranger Regiment insignias, however, as opposed to the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform. This was likely done as a memory reduction, as they use exactly the same models as the Rangers.
 * All of the Marines use M16A4s.
 * When you are on the Little Bird, you can use your M14 EBR to shoot Marines climbing up the Oil Rig.
 * Of the two pilots in the player's helicopter at the end of the level, the pilot on the player's side of the Little Bird has the model of Lt. Volker from the level "Shock and Awe" in Call of Duty 4, whereas the other has the model of Captain Pelayo, the female pilot rescued in "Shock and Awe".
 * If the player looks at the soldiers riding on the Little Birds as the mission ends, the player can see they are character models of the Army Rangers instead of the TF141 operators.
 * All bullets can go through the pilots of the helicopters. This is because the pilots are part of the helicopter model, thus they cannot be killed to get a friendly fire message.
 * If the player looks at the pilots of the Little Birds, they have no heat signature on the thermal sight.
 * It is possible for one of the pilots to be named Pvt. Roycewicz, but if this is the case, "Pvt. Roycewicz" will be female.
 * When flying away from the oil rig at the end of the mission, the player may fire on the passengers and pilots of the other Little Bird helicopters without penalty. They will not, however, be injured or killed by the shots.
 * When Soap is on the Little Bird, he is holding an M4A1, while in the next level, he is holding an M14 EBR.
 * A rare glitch can happen that the Lt. Volker model will be Sgt. Volker.
 * In this mission Soap can be seen with Camo but in the second part The Gulag he is wearing a wet suit.

Miscellaneous

 * It is strange that the Russian soldiers on the oil rigs would take their own citizens hostage.
 * The submarines USS Chicago and USS Dallas were featured in Tom Clancy novels Red Storm Rising and The Hunt for Red October, respectively.
 * The Russian helicopter actually is a Little Bird, which are used only by U.S. Special Ops forces, although the helicopter also sometimes is used by other Special Operation Forces. The British "SAS" and the Danish "Jægerkorpset" use them, as an example.
 * Team One is comprised of Soap, Ghost, Roach, and Peasant.
 * Peasant always carries a MP5K with Red Dot Sight and silencer, but sometimes it has red camouflage.
 * If Peasant dies when the player sees an enemy helicopter the second time and you are on a lower deck, a soldier will replace him. He carries an M14 EBR.
 * Although difficult it is possible to keep Peasant alive the entire level, if done at extraction Peasant will stay with Ghost on the heli-pad while you and Soap will fly off.
 * Team Two, which comprises Robot, Zach, and two other soldiers, disappear after rescuing the second group of hostages directly after you plant the C4. However, two Zodiac boats carrying the freed hostages can be seen leaving the oil rig to the player's left immediately after ascending to Level 2 (the level where you have to take out the Little Bird) from the stairs. By pointing a weapon in the Zodiac's direction, it is possible to see the tags of the men on the boat, however, neither Robot nor Zach will be there. They have been replaced by an additional two randomly generated TF141 soldiers.
 * The soldiers' names will be different from this level to "The Gulag".
 * The ocean colors and design are the same as the blue tiger camouflage.
 * The M4 SOPMOD and the SCAR-H Silenced w/ Thermal Sight both lose their respective silencer after detonating the C4. However, if the player exchanges one of these weapons for another, and picks it up again after detonating the C4, they will retain their silencers.
 * A PP2000 with a Thermal Scope can be found in this level, though it's not an attachment in multiplayer.
 * It is possible to find an Intervention with a Thermal Scope. However, it is not advisable to use it during the smokescreen firefight due to its large zoom. It can still be useful to take out the enemies in the windows, however.
 * If the Intervention is equipped during the final breach, the breaching animation will be different, spending less time planting the charge and a longer slow-motion time.
 * In this mission, White Tape Camouflage can be found.
 * In Multiplayer, the Navy SEALs' faction borrows Task Force 141's character models from this mission.
 * At the very end on the heli-pad, the Little Bird has the words "No Fear" written on its nose.
 * SPAS-12s with Arctic Camouflage can be found in the map.
 * Before breaching the second room, if you aim at the green window and strafe, auto-aim will be in effect for an enemy directly behind the window that you can vaguely see through the window. However, after breaching, there is no enemy in that corner.
 * Originally, there was a multiplayer map called Oil Rig based on this level but it was taken out.
 * The fishes and seagulls in this level are the only wild animals in Modern Warfare 2.
 * If the player were to exit, and resume the game from the last checkpoint, The M4A1 SOPMOD would not say that, Instead the text will say, M4A1 grenadier w/ red dot sight.