Shadow Company

"Shadow Company is a different breed. No more vodka-drunk Ultranationalists. They're trained like we are."

- John "Soap" MacTavish

Shadow Company is an enemy faction encountered at the end of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's campaign, and in one Special Ops mission, "Snatch & Grab".

Campaign
Shadow Company makes its first appearance in "Loose Ends", in the Caucasus Mountains on the Georgian-Russian Border, securing the LZ that Roach and Ghost must get to, who have downloaded a DSM containing vital intel on Makarov. They are briefly shown as allies, until Shepherd, their leader, betrays Roach and Ghost and kills them. A few soldiers help Shepherd get rid of the bodies by pouring gasoline on them and lighting it on fire with Shepherd's cigar.

They next appear in "The Enemy of My Enemy", at an airplane boneyard in Afghanistan, fighting Makarov's Inner Circle. They attempt to kill Soap and Price, but fail. The outcome of this battle is not shown.

They appear last in "Just Like Old Times" and "Endgame", when Soap and Price infiltrate Site Hotel Bravo, their command base, coming for Shepherd's life. They are at first unaware of Soap and Price's presence, but they find out when many of their men go missing and they breach a door.

They fail to stop Soap and Price, and Shepherd attempts to escape on a Zodiac. Price manage to shoot down Shepherd's helicopter, but he and Soap plummet down a waterfall. After a long fight between a weary Captain Price and General Shepherd, Soap intervenes by throwing a knife at Shepherd's eye, killing him. What happens to the Shadow Company after this is unknown.

Shepherd, however, holds no regard for their lives and considers them all expendable, an example of which was an artillery strike he called in directly upon their location, destroyed his own base with soldiers still inside it in a failed attempt to kill Soap and Price during "Just Like Old Times".

Command and Control Units:

 * Gold Eagle - General Shepherd, Commanding Officer.
 * Oxide - Communications officer.
 * Excalibur - Artillery commander for Site Hotel Bravo.

Ground Units:
Disciple - Patrol for Site Hotel Bravo.

Butcher - Patrol for Site Hotel Bravo.
 * Disciple 1 - Unit in Site Hotel Bravo
 * Alpha Element - Part of Disciple 1 that is patrolling the riverbed
 * Disciple 2 - Unit in Site Hotel Bravo
 * Bravo Element - Part of Disciple 2 that stopped their patrol because of the sandstorm.
 * Disicple 3
 * Disciple 4
 * Zulu Element - 6 man patrol east along the Canyon, North side access road with 2 German Shepherds. (First group to be eliminated by Price and Soap)
 * Disciple 5 - 2 men guarding the cave entrance overlooking the river.
 * Disciple 6 - Unit in Site Hotel Bravo
 * Foxtrot Element - Section of Disciple 6 that breaches the steam room
 * Disciple 9 - Unit on the catwalks outside the caves.

Carnival - Patrol for Site Hotel Bravo.
 * Butcher 1 - Unit in the open area of Site Hotel Bravo (where Excalibur fires upon with target package Romeo)
 * Butcher 1-5 - element of Butcher 1 that rendezvous with Shepherd and escorts him to the Zodiacs
 * Butcher 2 - Fast ropes from Blackhawks into sector Papa Quebec.
 * Butcher 3
 * Butcher 5 - Unit within the command room, prepares the demolition charges.
 * Butcher 5 Actual - Commander of Butcher 5, heard over radio talking to Oxide about a severed detonator cord
 * Butcher 7 - Searches for Disciple 5.
 * Vinson - Element of Butcher Seven.
 * Lambert - Element of Butcher Seven.


 * Carnival 1
 * Carnival 3

Aviation Units:

 * Avatar - MQ-1 Predator UAV operators
 * Avatar 1 - UAV operator.
 * Avatar 2 - UAV Predator Drone
 * Warhorse 5-1 - MH-53 Pave Low helicopter.
 * Thunder Two-One - MH-6 Little Bird helicopter that protected Ghost and Roach from Ultranationalists in "Loose Ends".
 * Scaler 3 - Unknown type of helicopter on patrol. (Probably an AH-6 Littlebird, due to them being the most common helicopter and the type of mission it is given)

Unknown Unit type / Possible Units:

 * Mongoose 2 - Possible helicopter or ground unit, cannot be determined.
 * Mongoose 1, 3, 4 etc.
 * Disciple 7 and 8, probably not anymore as double digit numbers 10, 11 etc. would clash with 1-0, 1-1.
 * Butcher 4, 6 and 9, probably not anymore as double digit numbers 10, 11 etc. would clash with 1-0, 1-1.
 * Carnival 2, 4 to 9, probably not anymore as double digit numbers 10, 11 etc. would clash with 1-0, 1-1.
 * Warhorse 5-2 and 5-3, as 2 MH-53s can be seen at the end of Loose Ends. Although it is likely one of these is 5-1.
 * Scaler 1, 2, 4 etc., most likely helicopter units judging from radio chatter.
 * Thunder 2-2 etc.

Arsenal


Shadow Company soldiers are heavily armed, highly trained and extremely dangerous. Their choice of weapons consists of modern weapons. Their weapons of choice are similar to Task Force 141 and the Rangers. Their arsenal includes:

Assault Rifles

 * ACR
 * SCAR-H

Machine Guns

 * M240
 * MG4
 * RPD (Not dropped and replaced as MG4s)

Submachine Guns & Machine Pistols

 * MP5K
 * UMP45
 * TMP
 * Vector
 * G18
 * P90

Shotguns

 * M1014
 * AA-12
 * SPAS-12
 * Underbarrel Shotgun

Handguns

 * M9
 * .44 Magnum (used by Shepherd)
 * M1911 (Seen only in Loose Ends)
 * Desert Eagle
 * USP .45

Launchers

 * AT4
 * RPG-7
 * M203

Others

 * Riot Shield
 * Combat Knife
 * Dogs
 * WA2000

Vehicles
Shadow Company has a variety of vehicles, most of them used by the U.S. military. These include:
 * Technical / Pick up truck (X10)
 * UAZ-469 (X3)
 * Up-armored SUV (X9)
 * M1026 HMMWV (X3, Unlimited on cliff road)
 * M1A2 Abrams (Unlimited on cliff road)
 * M2A2 Bradley (Unlimited on cliff road)
 * UH-60 Black Hawk (X4)
 * MH-53 Pave Low (X3)
 * AH-6 Little Bird (X17)
 * MH-6 Little Bird (X5)
 * Zodiac (X15)
 * MQ-1 Predator (X2)
 * F-15 Eagle (X2)
 * CH-46 Sea Knight (X2)

Equipment
Soldiers of this unit are distinguished by their black uniforms and tan CIRAS type tactical vest, with both US Flag and a spade patch symbol, black balaclavas, as well as tactical goggles or night vision goggles attached to their helmets, (the only difference is the color); they also appear to have other various equipment such as extra mags, NVGs, flares, grenades, etc. The Shadow Company soldiers wear Pro Tec Classic helmets.

Character Models
If the soldier is holding a rifle, the character model has two rifle ammo pouches and three extra pistol magazines.

If the soldier is using a shotgun, the character model has many extra shotgun shells.

If the soldier is using an LMG or Launcher, the character model has three large ammo packs, and two extra fragmentation grenades.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Shadow Company does not appear in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but their logo can be seen throughout the campaign on various crates and containers. Also, their logo can be seen on a crate in Spec Ops mission "Stay Sharp".

Trivia

 * The Shadow Company "chess piece" emblem can be obtained in Multiplayer by completing the "Tango Down" challenge.
 * The spade symbol Shadow Company wears is very similar to the spear like symbol of the United States Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) as well as the symbol of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM). This further supports them being a Black Ops unit.
 * The "spade", visible on their arm patches, can also be seen in the Task Force 141 logo.
 * On the license plates of Shadow Company's up-armored SUVs, it is written "G 2009IW4 V". 2009 is the game's year and IW4 is the engine for the game.
 * In "Just Like Old Times", if a player waits and listens to the group of Shadow Company soldiers in the cave, a conversation can be heard where a Shadow Company member and his team killed three "left over" Russians, for being aggressive after breaching Site Hotel Bravo's perimeter.
 * In "Just Like Old Times", the Shadow Company soldiers using Riot Shields use the same character models as the Navy SEALs using riot shields in multiplayer.
 * Most ACRs used by Shadow Company have Digital Camouflage on them. One can also acquire a unique ACR with Heartbeat Sensor, Red Dot Sight and Silencer with a "black" finish at the steam room in "Just Like Old Times".
 * If one were to view the helmets of Shadow Company there will be a name, but it is always "HOLT".
 * In Just Like Old Times, a patrol Shadow Company soldier is smoking while he's still wearing a mask.
 * In Call of Duty: Ghosts, game mode Search & Destroy, it is possible to see Shadow Company emblem on the crate.
 * Shadow Company is a playable enemy faction in Call of Duty Online, fighting against TF141 in all multiplayer maps. Its logo is a slightly modified version of that of Tropas's, which is most likely a placeholder.