John Taylor's Journal

The following texts were taken from the information that appears at the start of every mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Black Ops
AAR INCOMING. WA FOB SAFHOUSE-CHE. REPORT DESIGNATION: CO Juliet-Tango. Secondary: Sierra-Delta. LNO WASF: Juliet-Hotel WASF. AFTER ACTION MISSION REPORT: Classified WACF. SOCWA-C Eyes Only. Encryption: #1-8-9-2-TANGO-1-0-2. OPERATIONAL PROTOCOL: Search & Rescue. Target Secured. Mission Status: CLOSED. Oct 27th ’65. At approx. 14:00hrs we received confirmation that HVI Egyptian Prime Minister Said had been located at an NRC airfield in the Ethiopian Semien Mountain Range. Following the NRC’s recent defeats in Cairo, SOCWA had reason to believe the Minister was to be made “an example of”, in retaliation. Mission Priority was to extract the Minister via EXFIL Drone located outside the principal AO. Airspace window was limited, mission success relied on the hacking of the Site’s DEAD systems – we moved in at 21:00Hrs. The Operation was coordinated between two teams. Primary was my team – WA Black Cyber Ops Division comprised of Specialists Sebastian Diaz, Sarah Hall and Peter Maretti. Secondary was WASF, led by CO Jacob Hendricks and a bunch of new faces. Plan was that my team would keep the NRC occupied while the WASF moved to secure the HVI for extraction. Personal disclosure – This operation was my first time working with Hendricks since #61-63-6B-75. He noticed the Scarf on my arm and asked and asked about Rachel, I guess he hadn’t heard about our separation. As you no doubt already know, the operation did not go as planned. WASF discovered additional hostages on site, among them t. Khalil – captured by the NRC at Lotus Towers and previously assumed KIA. Initially I stuck to protocol and denied Hendricks’ request to extract – With our limited window for extraction, I did not believe we had sufficient time to secure both the Minister and the additional hostages. However – after some deliberation, I changed my mind. I made the call to return for the other captives – while Hendricks’ team moved to EXFIL. Though the Drone was able to secure the Minister and Khalil – the others were not so lucky. Hendricks’ VTOL was forced out of the airspace with his team still on the ground. Though they tried to fight back, they were quickly surrounded and brutally overwhelmed by NRC Bipedal Robots. Most did not survive. I’d like to state for the record – the responsibility of this outcome lies solely on myself. No blame should be apportioned to Hendricks – even though he directly challenged my orders. I was the one who decided to break protocol and return for the other hostages. Even in light of the tragic consequences of my decision, I do believe that trying to save the lives of our allies was indeed the right thing to do. The sole survivor of Hendricks’ team was taken to the Zurich facility to undergo emergency lifesaving procedures. After being stabilized, they were quickly identified as a potential candidate for the Cyber Ops program, and were fitted with a DNI. Prior to limb replacement surgery and full body augmentation, I personally interfaced to assist with their integration, acclimation and training. They had potential. Unfortunately, complications arose during the procedure – They were pronounced dead shortly hereafter.

- Written by John Taylor in reference to the events in Black Ops and New World.