Return To Sender

"Storm the Somali compound and pick up Makarov's trail."

- Level description

"Return To Sender" is the tenth mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The player controls Yuri as he, Soap, and Price search for Waraabe, a man involved in distributing the chemical that caused the chemical attacks on Europe. The mission takes place in Somalia.

Characters

 * Yuri (playable)
 * John "Soap" Mactavish
 * John Price
 * Nikolai (W.I.A.)
 * Waraabe (K.I.A.)
 * Echo One Leader
 * Baseplate (cutscene only)

Plot
Price contacts Baseplate, who is now revealed to be MacMillan, trying to find intel on Makarov. MacMillan sighs and warns Price that he's on "everyone's shit-list" and is reluctant to share intel unofficially with him. When reminded of their mission in Pripyat, he tells Price that Waraabe, an African warlord in Somalia, should have intel on Makarov. Price discusses their plan to enter the compound with Soap, deciding that a stealthy approach is out of the question and asks Soap to tell Nikolai to ready his men.

Yuri is in the backseat of a jeep heading to the enemy compound, with Price and Soap in the driver's and passenger's seats respectively. As soon as they ram through the gates, they come out of their vehicles and cut their way in through the heavy enemy resistance as they are bombarded by mortars and attacked by Technicals. Yuri is given control of Nikolai's chopper's remote turret to soften up the resistance.

After a lot of fighting through the compound, they head into Waraabe's office building and meet fierce resistance inside. After the militia are eliminated, they breach inside an office and kill everyone inside except Waraabe. The three intruders put on gas masks and the interrogation begins. Price releases gas the from the chemical attacks in Europe in the corner of the room and demands an already-frightened Waraabe to tell them Makarov's location in exchange for a gas mask to save his life.

Panicking, Waraabe hastily tells them that his contact was a man named Volk and that he never personally met Makarov. Soap steps on Waraabe's thigh, asking for Volk's location. In pain, Waraabe finally breaks and reveals that Volk can be found in Paris. Price gives Waraabe a gas mask, but promptly executes him as the African fumbles with the gas mask for "the boys at Hereford," referring to the SAS members who were killed in the event of the chemical attacks.

The remaining members of Nikolai's men leave the building and head to their primary exfil point, but Nikolai radios them and alerts them of a rapidly approaching sandstorm. They regroup with the other members and hurry on to the exfil point, but before they can board the chopper, they are ambushed by the militia and are forced to cut their way through to the second LZ. Again, the second exfil is on the roof of a building full of militia, but the 141 and Nikolai's men deal with them. The LZ still being too hot, Yuri uses the remote turret to neutralize any hostile militia. Unfortunately, a rocket shoots down Nikolai's helicopter, sending it hurtling out of control towards Price's group. The trio rappels down the building to avoid getting hit by the out of control helicopter.

Price tells Echo Team to find Nikolai, and to execute an emergency exfil. They make their way through the heavy sandstorm, dealing with Waraabe's men along the way. The group makes it to the crash site, and Yuri carries an injured Nikolai with the others to the emergency exfil, where they finally get out of the village. Soap then asks how they plan to capture Volk while the war rages in Europe. Price replies that while they can't, he knows someone who can.

Video Walkthrough
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Intel
23. Just past the docks area, in the blue and white "L" shaped building up the stairs. The intel is sitting on a desk.

24. The intel is sitting on a table in the west side of Waraabe's office.

25. The third intel is in a small, "guard post"-like building next to a burning car.

Video:MW3 - Intel Locations - Return To Sender - Mission 8 - Scout Leader Achievement Trophy guide

Intel locations

Achievements/Trophies
Sandstorm! (10 / Bronze Trophy ) - Complete "Return to Sender" on any difficulty.

Payback (25 / Silver Trophy ) - Complete "Mind the Gap", "Goalpost" and "Return to Sender" on Veteran difficulty.

Kill Box (20 / Bronze Trophy ) - Kill 20 enemies with the Chopper Gunner in a single run in "Return to Sender".

Trivia
*After executing Waraabe and taking off the gas masks, the player will die if they enter the room where Waraabe was and a message will appear: "You were killed by gas".
 * This is the first time in Modern Warfare 3 where the introduction video links immediately to the start of the mission itself. After the introduction is complete, the map of Africa will zoom in, followed by the actual game itself.
 * In the mission's intro, some of the SAS soldiers that are K.I.A. seen are character models of the Navy SEALs from Modern Warfare 2.
 * This is the first mission where the player can hear Captain MacMillan in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as "Baseplate". His voice has changed, considering the fact that it has been 20 years since the attempted assassination of Imran Zakhaev.
 * "Return To Sender" is a name of a multiplayer callsign from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * Price's Desert Eagle that he uses to execute Waraabe after interrogating him is the model used in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * Right before breaching the room with Waraabe inside, one of the militia will try to melee Soap who reacts quick enough to dodge the blow and retaliates by kicking his attacker off the landing to the ground floor, killing the attacker.
 * After rescuing Nikolai from the helicopter wreckage and escaping by jeep, the Spetsnaz Victory theme from the multiplayer is heard at the end of the level.
 * The GIGN spawn theme can be heard during the searching for Waraabe and when entering his compound.
 * Also, the Spetsnaz victory theme is played at the end of the mission, when the player evac's.
 * Like in "Persona Non Grata", the player can shoot themselves when gaining control of Nikolai's chopper's remote turret. If the player does, they receive the friendly fire penalty instead of the message "You Killed Yourself" seen in "Persona Non Grata".
 * In the second floor in Waraabe's palace to the player's left, there is a knife with the same model as the knife that John "Soap" Mactavish used to kill Shepherd in "Endgame" in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * The crates Waraabe falls back on are marked with the Shadow Company insignia.
 * The two enemies that close the gate at the beginning will not die until they have closed it.
 * This mission shares similarities to the Call of Duty 4 mission "Safehouse", Price first orders keep alive the enemy (Waraabe in this mission and Khaled Al-Asad in Safehouse) but later both enemies are killed by Price with a pistol despite what he said before. They then battle a heated firefight against the enemy to escape the towns, and are soon backed up by reinforcements (the USMC in Safehouse and the PMC in this mission) and escape with their lives.
 * At the start of the mission, the text at the bottom-left corner of the screen misspells Bosaso as "Boosaaso".
 * Soap has a Ranger on his back best seen in the car in the beginning of the level. One can also spot the Ranger in the same place on other various levels.
 * This is the second time the Mi-24 Hind is used by a friendly and the first that isn't hijacked by anyone.
 * This is also the second level out of three to feature a Hind being used to support the player's side. The first is in Payback when Alex Mason (the player) and Woods hijack one in Vietnam. The third is in Pyrrhic Victory when Jonas Savimbi hijacks one to rescue Mason, Woods, and Hudson
 * Furthermore, this is the fourth time out of five a Russian-made helicopter supports the player at all. The first two are in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in Safehouse (where a Loyalist Mi-28 provides fire support) and Game Over (where numerous Loyalist Mi-28s and Mi-17s come to Soap's rescue), the third is Payback, and the fifth is Pyrrhic Victory.
 * This is the only level where the Dragunov can be picked up and used.
 * When the player gets close enough to Waraabe's compound, Price will say that they're all clear, and the enemies seen at the compound will disappear a few seconds after Price says they're clear.
 * Even after Waraabe gives away the information of Volk, player will get the warning about watching the fire if he/she kills Waraabe before Price does.
 * If using noclip, it is possible to see that the pick up icon for the mounted PKP Pecheneg are the same as the M249 SAW as well as the firing sound.
 * At the end of the level, before jumping down the building, one of the soldiers that is crushed by the falling wall will have AK-47 with every attachment, but it is unobtainable.
 * When the snipers and RPGs attack Nikolai, a dead soldier will drop a weapon with every attachment, but it is unobtainable.
 * At the docks, the player can see a ship marked "Fregata Industries".
 * If the player uses the rope late enough, the Mi-24 will kill Soap.
 * Linked to the bug above, the gate will not be opened if that happens. Price will then clip through the gate, but player can't without using cheats, leading to a necessary restart of the level.(Confirmed on Xbox 360)
 * In very rare cases, the breaching charge used to breach the room that Waraabe is in will be a normal one rather than the unique black one (Confirmed on Playstation 3)
 * When in the air, the Hind appears to be a unique one with unique armament. However, when it crashes, it takes the appearance more akin to the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare desert variant.AK-47 with all attachments Return to Sender MW3.jpg
 * At the end of the mission both Captain Price and soap will have M4A1 with all attachments.(Confirmed on PS3)
 * When the construction building's wall crushes the two militia soldiers, an AK-47 can be found with all attachments.