The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday

"Board the oilrig, rescue the hostages, and clear the route to the gulag."

- Description

"The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday" is the ninth mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The player controls Gary "Roach" Sanderson. The objective of the mission is to eliminate hostiles and rescue three rooms full of hostages on an oil rig being used as a SAM site in order to allow Task Force 141 to infiltrate The Gulag and extract Prisoner 627. The Special Ops levels for this are "Armor Piercing" and "Wetwork".

Characters

 * Gary "Roach" Sanderson (playable)
 * John "Soap" MacTavish
 * Simon "Ghost" Riley
 * Peasant
 * Robot
 * Zach

Plot
After escaping the favela in "The Hornet's Nest", General Shepherd tells "Soap" MacTavish that he and his group are now heading for "Prisoner six-two-seven (627)" in a joint ops with Navy SEALs to get a step closer to getting to Makarov. However, SAM sites are preventing them from getting to the gulag where he is held, so they have to take out the SAM sites first. The SAM sites are located at oil rigs held down by Russian forces. As the Russians have civilian hostages, they have to neutralize the oil rig carefully. They stealthily assault the least defended oil rig with 6th Fleet. After a small submarine ride, the group will arrive to the bottom of the rig, where Roach and a Navy SEAL take down two guards. After going one floor up, they breach a room with five hostages, saving them. Then they move up and breach another room, again saving a few hostages. However, as a Russian radio voice can be heard, Soap tells others to set up a Plan B by putting C4 on the bodies in the room. Soap and Roach then go to a construction balcony and watch Russian forces to enter the room, only for them to notice their killed men and alert others. At this moment, Roach will detonate the C4. They will then go loud, and everyone have also removed their silencers. They proceed step by step two floors up, until they notice that Russians are using smoke grenades, as well as thermal optics to see through the smoke. Soap will tell others to use thermals as well. After taking down the enemies, the group will breach a final room of enemies, where there is also barrels with C4 around them. After saving the hostages, Soap will report the Overlord that the rig is now clear. They then go to a helipad, where an MH-6 Little Bird is waiting. After leaving on it towards the gulag, Roach sees Marines taking control of the rig. Then the level ends.

Infiltrating the oil rig
The player will begin the level by riding on a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (also known as SDV) from the USS Chicago, a Los Angeles-class submarine, to the oil rig. The player passes by the USS Dallas, in a reference to The Hunt For Red October. Once the SDV reaches the oil rig, the player and MacTavish will perform coordinated execution of two guards. By the time the guard is disposed of, two friendlies will assist the player in getting up onto the platform and the team will move out to the first deck.

Deck One
The second enemy the player comes across, is the guy smoking with his back turned. He has 1 HP and can be killed by a shot anywhere with any weapon. Soap will tell the player to use a suppressed weapon but both the SCAR-H and the M4A1 are suppressed already so it doesn't matter which one the player uses. Take him out, then move past him and breach one of the two doors ahead. There are no explosives in this room and few enemies, so it's hard not to kill everyone. Mind the hostage in the back right corner; dead ahead if one breaches the far door. There's an enemy using him as a human shield. Once the hostages are secure, follow MacTavish to deck two.

Deck Two
A helo goes past; if the player is a good shot, it is possible to destroy it with the M203. Keep in mind that this does not affect the presence of the helicopter later in the mission, although later on the M203 also comes in handy if the player does not want to pick up a rocket launcher. There are no guards in this area until the player breaches; once the player has cleared the room, plant C4 on the bodies and retreat to the scaffolding where MacTavish sets up. The detonator will be in the player's hand, and once the player get their weapons back they will notice that the suppressors have disappeared. If the player really cares, they can swap one of the weapons for the MG4 at the base of the scaffolding before they breach. That way, the silencer will stay on it and they can swap back to it later.

Once the enemies move into the room the player just breached, follow MacTavish's order and detonate the C4. It is advisable to grab the Dragunov next to the player and use it to dispatch everyone else; the SCAR-H also works well because of the Thermal Scope. Once the player has taken out all the guards, he/she must continue through the next area and up the stairs.

Deck Three
Mind the two guys at the top of the stairs; MacTavish and Ghost will drop them if the player waits. Then move up and take a position behind the first piece of cover. A whole pile of enemies will now spawn and fan out. Use the huge tanks to blow up the first wave as they rappel in, then pick the rest off as they come. Mind the fragmentation grenades getting thrown and the enemies carrying shotguns that will flank the player through the warehouse area on the right. Soon, the Little Bird from before shows up. Try to hit it with the M203 before its guns spin up; if the player misses, just grab an AT4 either from outside or from the warehouse and take it out. Once all hostiles have been eliminated, move around the corner and find the first weapon stash—two F2000s and an Intervention, all with Thermal Sights. Then follow Soap up the stairs to another weapon stash. Grab the Claymore mines from here. The player can choose to follow MacTavish down a second set of stairs, essentially flanking all the hostiles. A close-quarters weapon will take them out at this range. The alternative is retreating down the stairs after grabbing the Claymores and helping Ghost take them out at a distance. Either way, clear the area and move up the final set of stairs to the fourth and final deck.

Deck Four
Before reaching this deck there's another set of F2000s and another Intervention. Thermal PP2000s can also be found on the deck itself. Take whichever and move up to the top deck. At this point the enemy will deploy a smokescreen. This part of the mission, if handled incorrectly, can be the hardest firefight of the entire campaign on harder difficulties. There are several approaches. The first is to take out the enemies with machine guns and RPG-7s in the windows, then set up Claymores around the containers and sit back, picking off the incoming hostiles with the Thermal Sight (be it the SCAR-H, F2000, PP2000 or Intervention) before moving in to breach. In this case the player is defending a lot of ground and it's difficult not to be flanked and overcome by rushing enemies, especially on Veteran.

The alternative seems impossible but is actually simple. As the smoke is being deployed, make sure the player has a close-quarters weapon such as the Vector, AA-12 or M1014. Move in behind the container on the extreme right and basically, move blindly through the smoke to the breaching door AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. MacTavish and Ghost will follow suit. Regroup in the room adjacent to the breach and, if needed, arm up from the weapons there before breaching. The player has now bypassed the majority of the enemies in the level. Occasionally the 'Clear All Enemies Before Breaching' text will appear, in which case the player should use the Thermal weapon that he/she should still have and take out any enemies within line of sight of the doorway. Once they're out of the picture, breach the door. Be especially careful on this one. Not only are there many hostages, but also explosive barrels strapped with C4. Try to use a more precise weapon such as the UMP-45 that's leaning against the shelf outside. Take care of the enemy that rushes, then carefully aim at all the other enemies, one by one.

Extraction
Once the hostages are secure, move out onto the helipad, then enter the chopper. The player will now be carrying an M14 EBR, as it is the main weapon of the next mission. The chopper will take off, carrying the player, Soap, Ghost and other Task Force 141 Operators to the Gulag as U.S. forces sweep and clear the oil rig.

Intel Items

 * Intel No. 22: (1/3 Intel) After 1st breach, go up 2 flights of stairs. A room just before outside, a middle shelf facing South.
 * Intel No. 23: (2/3 Intel) When the guards open the gate go into the room on the right and the intel is on some shelves to the right.


 * Intel No. 24: (3/3 Intel) On 2nd level, near and before the long stairs that lead to upper level for 3rd breach. Enter the building facing west, then turn North.

Achievements/Trophies
Knock-knock (10 / Bronze Trophy ) - Obtained after shooting 4 bullets to kill 4 people in a slow-mo breach.

Prisoner 627 (25 / Silver Trophy ) - Obtained after beating "The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday" and "The Gulag" on Veteran difficulty.

Trivia
El único día fácil... fue ayer