User blog comment:KATANAGOD/Call of Duty: Black Ops II In-Depth Preview/@comment-4390816-20120509020227/@comment-3123696-20120509020431

No, the playable characters ain Strike Force are random squads. Like the random soldiers that appear in every installment. If your squad dies in one of the missions, the mission is classified as a fail and the story will follow it's course but change accordingly.