Shock and Awe

"It looks like we're rolling in with everything we got. We get Al-Asad, we end this war right here, right now. Oorah? Lock and load, Marines."

- Lt. Vasquez

Shock and Awe is the tenth campaign level of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It is the last level where you fight as Sgt. Paul Jackson.

Plot
Sgt. Paul Jackson and the rest of Lt. Vasquez's squad attack what they believe to be Khaled Al-Asad's position. Jackson provides firing support with the Mk 19 grenade launcher as 1st Force Recon attacks Al-Asad's capital city. Vasquez and his team relieve a squad that is being attacked. Once clearing the area, the Marines start extracting from the city due to a nuclear threat to the area. As they are leaving, a Cobra helicopter is shot down and Vasquez's squad stops to rescue the pilot. As they are leaving the city, the nuclear bomb detonates and the blast wave causes the helicopters to crash, eventually killing you and hundreds, possibly thousands, of other Marines.

Tips

 * The most dangerous enemies while manning the MK19 are AA emplacements, infantry with RPG-7s, and tanks. It is possible to die while manning the grenade launcher.


 * After you rescue the squad being pinned down, two enemy helicopters will come and unload troops. Before they unload troops, switch to your M203 and shoot the one on the right. Deadly will come and destroy the other one. Both helicopters only take 1 grenade to destroy.


 * When rescuing the pilot, it is not necessary to attack any enemies. The quickest way to complete this section is to just sprint to her and carry her back.

Enemy Intelligence

 * Laptop 15 is on the second story of the building with green smoke lying on the ground to the right of the pinned squad.


 * Laptop 16 is in a closet on the second floor in the building to the southeast of where the friendly squad is pinned down, a machine gunner is firing at you from this room.

Xbox 360 Achievements

 * The First Horseman (40 points) is obtained by completing Shock and Awe on Veteran difficulty. The First Horsemen likely being the fourth, unknown, person in the photo of the main enemies, as the deaths of Al-Asad, Zakhaev and his son trigger similar achievements ('The Second Horseman' etc...).

Trivia

 * The first time you get off the Helicopter, there is a wooden fence in front of you, if you look through you will see some OpFor soldiers running. Shooting them will result in an odd death animation for them, and in arcade mode they don't provide you with any points.
 * Griggs is not physically present in this mission because he was among the first wave of dismounted Marines on-board Jackson's SeaKnight.


 * It is possible to explore the city you bombed by rocket jumping onto the broken tank near where you gain control of your player. It is one of the largest and most detailed out-of-level areas in the game. Additionally, if you let any BMPs survive, they will still be alive when you explore and can occasionally shoot you.


 * It is possible to obtain an AT4, which is a US rocket launcher only found in this mission by using the "give all" command (only on PC).


 * After finding the Recon team on the second floor, the logical move would be to return to the LZ along the same way you just came. Instead, you must fight your way directly through the enemy position.


 * This mission is set around a fictional city in the Iraqi province eastern border of Al Basrah, but it is never stated.


 * Pelayo is one of the few females in the game, along with the newscaster and those in The Coup.


 * When the helicopter is dropping off teammates, it is possible to shoot down the statue of the man with an AK-47 in the center of the square, but you have to use the Mk 19.


 * If you're fast enough to take down the enemy choppers with one shot of your grenade launcher, you'll see that Deadly just pass by instead of killing the choppers.


 * It seems strange that it takes only one grenade fired from the Grenade Launcher to takedown the enemy choppers in this mission, but in the other missions it takes 3 grenades from the Grenade Launcher to take down a single chopper.


 * The level is named after the military doctrine of the same name. A doctrine of overwhelming firepower and total domination, it was used to describe the primary U.S. Military strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq.


 * The level somewhat resembles part of the movie Black Hawk Down.


 * By using the noclip cheat using the in-game console, when leaving the helicopter, you will notice that the two pilots in the chopper are two clones of Lt. Volker.


 * If you put the slow motion cheat on when the helicopter is crashing, you can see you crash next to a tanker (where you destroy a BMP and a ZPU), yet you are in a different location in the mission Aftermath.


 * At the part where you rescue the marines in the building, a soldier says to Vasquez "So you're our ride out of here?", then Vasquez replies, "We're it Captain." The Marine is always a Sergeant or under.


 * Occasionally, after the Cobra helicopter shoots down the enemy helicopters, Pelayo will say, "Outlaw, this is Deadly. Refueled and fully loaded. You guys miss me?" Then one of the Marines will say, "Hell yeah!"


 * The CH-46 Seaknight you are in seems to take many hits from the ZPUs and small arms but no damage can be visible or the chopper crashing.


 * The door mounted gun on the Seaknight (either a heavy or medium machine gun or in this case a Mk19) should be manned by members of the helicopter crew instead of a passenger, but the normal gunner could have been killed earlier without a replacement.


 * A stinger shot the Cobra down because you can see it for about 3 seconds and at the last second the missile corrects itself proving its a Stinger and not an RPG.


 * The operation may have been a trap for US forces.


 * At the part with the Marines in the building, you can use the M4A1's M203 Grenade Launcher to destroy the helicopter Deadly didn't take down.


 * The nuclear explosion in this level was voted #2 on IGN's "Wednesday 10: Best Nuclear Explosions in Games."




 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in the final level Endgame the primary antagonist Shepherd, references the nuclear explosion saying that, "Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye." Apparently, 30,000 Marines didn't get to minimum safe distance. Or this could mean that 30,000 Marines were killed, wounded, and no longer combat effective.
 * Just after you saved Pelayo, you can see that the Seaknight doesn't go in the same direction. You just make a U-Turn.
 * It is ironic to note that, if you didnt save Pelayo, you would have survived the nuke.


 * The conversation between the Seaknight pilot and Command concerning going into a dangerouse situation and possibly not coming out is similar to the conversation between Gen. Garison and the Delta snipers in the movie Black Hawk Down.
 * The commander of Shock and Awe is probably Shepherd from Modern Warfare 2. This is evidenced when Shepherd is about to kill Soap and says, "Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye. And the world just f^$%in' watched."