Charlie Don't Surf

"We're gonna secure the perimeter and grab Al-Asad. Oorah? Lock and load!"

- Lt.Vasquez

Charlie Don't Surf is the fifth level in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Giving the player control of USMC Sergeant Paul Jackson for the first time in the game, the level sees Jackson and the 1st. Force Recon Marines involved in a hard-hitting raid against an Arabian coastal town in order to capture Khaled Al-Asad.

Plot Summary
Reacting swiftly to the death of President Al-Fulani at the hands of Al-Asad, the United States deploys Marines from 1st Force Reconnaissance Company to the area in hopes that a swift capture of the revolutionary leader would end his rebellion and ensure regional stability without the need for extended conflict. Using intelligence provided by Marine spotters and US military intelligence, the Marines launch an attack by helicopter on a coastal town in hopes of capturing Al-Asad there. Flying through anti-aircraft and RPG-7 fire, the Marines are able to quickly surround and assault the target building, with Lieutenant Vasquez leading the squad in alongside Staff Sergeant Griggs and Sergeant Jackson. The raid is quick and decisive, but Al-Asad's body is not amongst the Tangos.

Receiving a report that Al-Asad has taken over a local television station and is broadcasting from there, the Marines move to secure the new objective. After securing the main broadcast studio, the Marines find the broadcast is on a recorded loop, not recorded live by Al-Asad himself. Despite the considerable losses inflicted upon Al-Asad's forces and the capture of the town itself, the battle remains a strategic loss for the Americans, as their primary target has slipped away, presumably to the Presidential Palace.

Getting Started
You'll spawn in a Blackhawk helicopter. You can get involved, but you don't have to. Eventually, you'll automatically rappel down.

After rappelling down, take a left and go through an alley. At the end, you'll see a square building with allies in its side. Get near the door your allies are against. One of them will place a bomb on the door. After the door is blown open, go in first and eliminate the two hostiles however you please. After the dust settles, Lt. Vasquez will order you to take point. Move down the stairs, but DON'T charge into the next room. Doing so will get you a nice charge of lead in your stomach and a restart screen to scream at. Instead, position yourself so you can toss a flashbang against the far wall, into the room. Only after it goes off should you move in. Take down the hostile (or Tango) directly in front of you, polish off the two on the right, then move slightly farther into the room and kill the Tango standing behind the box. A Tango armed with a W1200 will spawn in the small room direcly on your six (behind you), but nine out of ten times Vasquez and Massey will ice him before he can do any damage. (Flashbang and clear that small room to pick up an Intel). Move to the doorway on closest to you, bounce a flashbang off the wall into the room, then move in and clear the area. Move to the right of the green ammo boxes to take down two Tango's on the right, then move to that corner to eliminate another two or three that come from a door on the left. After that the entire building is clear, leaving you free to pick from the munitions on the table in the main room. Taking a shotgun is tempting, but keep in mind that most of this level's combat will take place at ranges exceeding the shotguns effective range, and reloading your trusty M4A1 or AK takes half a second longer than it does for one lucky Tango to empty a magazine into your very exposed melon. In all cases, keeping your M9 pistol or picking up the USP .45 is probably the best way to go. You can also grab an AK for extra firepower, although it takes longer to switch to it than it does a pistol. There is also the choice of taking a Dragunov, which helps when street sweeping and taking enemies out on rooftops. Once you're armed with what you want, feel free to move on.

Street Cleaning
Now that you're back on the street, you can either go forward or go right. Going forward means you'll be flooded with troops firing at you from the roof. If you go right, you'll have to fight troops in a relatively tight area with thin walls. The right area is easier because you can catch the troops while they're coming in.

From where you are, turn right, and you'll see some troops firing at you from near a car. You can do the usual flashbang, or toss a primed grenade at the car, causing it to explode and take out all the nearby troops. Either way, when they're dead, go right, then when you get near the car, go left.

You'll be in a yard with a structure made out of tin in the center. Go to the right, then up. You'll see troops pouring in. Flashbang them, then finish them off. You might have to go back and pick them off because some might not get hit by the flashbang. When the area is cleared out, go forward and you'll see a building on your right. Go in it and climb up the stairs. You'll find a W1200, AK-47, AKS-74U, AK-47 Grenadier, M9 and Dragunov, along with a troop and an intel piece. Grab whatever you need, then go out and go forward.

Get back on the street and keep going until you get to an area with tires on the sides. When you get near the area, a troop with a .50 machine gun will perform a drive-by on you. When you see him, run back and wait for him to drive away to the road on the opposite side. When you see him going away, take him out. To the right of the opposite street are troops equipped with RPG-7s, so fire though the walls to take them out before they fire. They'll keep on respawning, so when there's a break, run across to the opposite street.

Here, look at the right and keep your eyes peeled for a staircase. When you see it, go up and you'll find a room filled with weapons. There's a AK-47, Dragunov, RPG-7, W1200, AK-74U, AK-47 Grenadier, and intel. Grab whatever you need, then get to the top of the stairs and pick off the troops in front of you.

Now you have a choice. You can either go left into an alley, go straight, then take a left to skip a fight and go straight into the TV Station, or go forward, then left to take out some troops, then go to the station.

If you're going forward, go forward, then take a left at the end. You'll see some troops on the second floor of a building to the right and some hiding behind a cement wall. Take out the troops on the second floor (you might have to shoot through the wall in order to get them), then focus on the wall guys. After taking out both sets of troops, get rid of the troops in the ruined building, then head to the station by going forward, taking a left, then going right.

Raiding the TV Station
Either way, you'll get to the station. When you get there, take a right and you'll see a door with allies near it. Get near the door and they'll blow up it up.

Inside are some troops to the left. Take them out, then look through the doorway in the middle of the room to see more troops. Take them out, then go forward, then take a right when you see a path.

You'll be in a control room. On the other side is a server room filled with troops, so break the glass and begin firing at the troops. Some may enter the control room from the right, so keep an eye out there for any troops. Troops tend to hide behind the windows, so fire at the walls under them to flush out hiding troops. When you think you've take out enough troops, run through the control room into the server room and take out anybody that's left. Your bullets won't go through the servers, so you'll have to be pretty careful not to run into any troops as you're going through the room.

At the end, you'll see the main room. This area can be pretty daunting if you don't know what to do because of its size and that troops are pouring in from the upper-right corner. First off, do not run forward and enter the office area. It's a deathtrap. Instead, turn right and begin walking past the uninhabited rooms. These rooms have respawners in them, and running by them disables them. Eventually, you'll see a room in front of you. Go through it and begin taking out the troops in front of you. Make sure to take out the troops on the second floor as well, because at least one of them has an RPG-7, and he will fire it. The troops are being churned out by a respawner in a room on the right, so you'll have to get close to shut it down. Wait until you think there are few troops, then run to the room and enter it. Even if there are a few troops, toss a flashbang just in case.

When you get near the room, run into it and wait for you allies to catch up. When the come up, they'll destroy a door on the left, revealing the main lobby that you saw earlier. Go straight, then take a left. You'll see some allies, including Griggs, come in through a door to the right of a stairway. After they introduce themselves, go up the staircase and follow the path to a dead end. You'll see a RPG-7 and a Dragunov to the right as you're going but you won't need them.

At the dead-end, wait for your allies to come up. When they get there, they'll open up a door on the left. Inside is the exit.

Tips

 * When entering the Broadcast room, if you don't step far enough in the room then the enemies won't pour out. This is a great advantage for you. Firstly, chuck grenades at the doorways where the enemies come out. Then run forward as close to the room in front of you as you can but remain behind cover, shoot everyone in the room and keep to rooms. The enemies in the Broadcast main room are on unlimited, but they stop if you keep to the rooms.


 * When you reach the upper floor, if you look out the windows you can see troops needing supporting fire. If you want a bit of fun, then make your way back through the whole of the building and you can kill all of the enemies non-stop. They appear out of nowhere down the passageway entering the car park, so if you remain looking at that area the no more enemies will appear. But if you look away for a second and look back then they will reappear.

Enemy Intelligence



 * Laptop 5 is located in the first building that you check in for Al-Asad. When you go down the stairs into the basement, toss a flashbang into the corner room then enter it and knife the two enemies inside. Beware, if you don't throw a flashbang and go in the room your most likely to be killed.


 * Laptop 6 is hard to find as it is in one of the random buildings you walk past. Place the TV station marker on you map north and with the main boulvard on your left, head south. There is a building which has blue insides.


 * Laptop 7 is also in a random house. It is a house next to a pile of wrecked cars. Locate the stairs on the building (the stairs are on the outside of the building, not the inside) and head upstairs. The laptop is on the rooftop.

Xbox 360 Achievements

 * The Search is obtained by completing the level on Veteran difficulty (40 points).


 * Your Show Sucks is obtained by destroying all the TV's in this level broadcasting Al-Asad's speech (20 points). Video Guide


 * Roadkill can be gotten by grabbing the RPG in the HQ building and blowing up the car on the right when the enemies come.

Trivia

 * After roping down, look left a bit and you will see an Infinity Ward logo on a wall.


 * The mission's title is a reference to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.


 * The player can gain access to a Browning M2HB heavy machine gun if they manage to glitch outside of map. It has been taken out of the newer patches of the game.


 * The mission is set in a coastal city of the province of Makkah.


 * When you rope down the helicopter, the Marine that ropes down first isn't wearing gloves. In real life he would wear gloves or else it would burn away his skin on his palms.


 * When you are storming the first building, there is a group of marines standing at the other entrance to the same building. When you have cleared out the building and exit it you will notice that they have all been killed. It's unclear as to who or what killed them since it's triggered when you are fighting inside.
 * All Marines save for Lt. Vasquez are carrying standard M4s with dot sights and hand guard in this mission.


 * After going on the second floor of the television station, shooting enemies in the car park, Griggs will say "Watch Your Six, Devil Dog". Devil Dog is a nickname for the Marines given by the Germans in World War I.


 * Many players have compared the beginning of this mission to that of the landing of U.S military forces during the Battle of Mogadishu, which has been portrayed in the book and film, Black Hawk Down.


 * Also, after you fast rope down from the Black Hawk, there will be a dead Marine by the rope. This is another reference to Black Hawk Down where a young Pvt. Blackburn slipped and fell from his Black Hawk while trying to fast rope down and was critically wounded.


 * In the intro cutscene when you are riding in the helicopter, the NPC holding the rope to your left can sometimes be seen without any gloves on (he usually does wear gloves). It is impossible to fast-rope without wearing any gloves because you will get rope burns.


 * Sometimes an RPG will hit a friendly chopper as you're flying to the fast-rope point but nothing will happen, and oddly enough, the Black Hawk helicopters have United States Army written on the side, if you look closely.


 * This might be the level with the highest amount of weapons considering the "weapons table" and the hidden Browning.


 * Cpt. Price said in the previous mission that the American invasion was to begin in a few hours. However, Blackout takes place at night, meaning that a few hours would probably be early morning. This is not the case since the time of the invasion is around 13:45. The Komi Republic and Mekkah are only one timezone apart, so this is continuity error on the writers part or Cpt. Price just said "a couple of hours" to keep Nikolai quiet.


 * If you listen closely to the TV with Al-Asad speaking, he says a line that was not heard during the Coup level. He may have spoken the line after he executed Al-Fulani.


 * Occasionally, Blackhawks passing by will shoot at hostiles. Sometimes while inside the Broadcast station tracers will pass through the roof and into the ground.
 * While breaching the last room in the TV Station (and in the entire level as well), a Marine shoots out the hinges of the door with a shotgun and then kicks the door out. This is different than two previous door-breaching events of this level, during both of which a Marine plants a demolition charge near the lock to blow the door open. However, the last door still explode while being kicked out, though no demolition charge was planted, as a completely different way to breach the door had been chosen.
 * Right before the part where the pick up truck with the Browning 50. cal is a building on the right where there are a few OpFor. Sometimes, one of them will have an M249 SAW that you can take if you kill him.
 * The sound of the Browning 50. cal that is outside of the map is also used in the DS version of Modern Warfare.
 * One of the marines in the level has a name of Miller which is the most used character in the World at War series but this Miller is a Sgt. while the one stated is a Private.
 * In this level, you can also see the spray paint image of what may be President Al-Fulani at the start of the level.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1NxG3-pDWM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhvyf3z1IjI