The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday

"Boys, I know I'm sending you into the meat grinder on this one..." "They're defending it, so it means we want it. Especially if it gets us to Six-Two-Seven."

- General Shepherd and Captain MacTavish

 is a singleplayer level of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The player controls Gary "Roach" Sanderson. The objective is to take over an oil rig being used as a SAM site by the Russians so Task Force 141, as well as the U.S. Navy and Air Force, can safely assault The Gulag. 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. At various points of the level, the player will have to choose where to breach into a room. After breaking into it, the player will move in slow-motion as they kill the various enemies and save the hostages. As you work your way up the oil rig, you will encounter a Little Bird helicopter (at which point some enemies will rappel down from the upper deck); There is an AT4 in the immediate vicinity, and several rocket launchers behind you. Once you reach the top deck, the enemy will deploy smoke. Your SCAR with Thermal Scope will come in handy, but if you replaced it, there are several F2000 and PP2000 with Thermal Scopes nearby. This is a good place to use your Claymores, as the enemy may try to flank you around the cargo containers. Once the area is clear, there is a final breaching door; be especially careful on this one. Not only are there hostages, but also explosive barrels. Take care of the enemy that rushes you, then carefully aim at all the other enemies. Once all enemies are dead, you will join Soap on the helipad and climb onto a Little Bird, which will take you to a Russian gulag.

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) After 2nd breach and plan B. Inside a small room North of the stairs to 2nd level, on one of the shelf.

Intel No. 24 (3/3 Intel) On 2nd level, near the stairs before 3rd breach. Enter the building facing west, then turn North.

Trivia
To watch a video on "Modern Warfare 2: The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday Mission on Veteran" click on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfSPQjzVuiw


 * The level's title is derived from the motto of the U.S. Navy SEALs "The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday".
 * In the art book, it is stated that originally there were plans for a campaign level that had the player controlling a U.S. Navy SEAL team member, leading to the inspiration of this level, and oil rig takedowns are something real SEALs train for. Also, the infiltration method was via SDVs. It is very possible that some of the TF141 members are SEALs themselves.
 * This is one of the two levels where you go underwater, this one by design. The other one is "End Game" when your boat goes through the rapids and down the waterfall.
 * As a possible nod to the SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs series, one of the TF141 members that assists in this section has the callsign "Boomer," the same name as a SEAL team member from the series, along with "Jester," another reference as well.

Insertion

 * At the beginning, you can see Roach's arms on the SDV.
 * When fellow TF141 members help you out of the water after you take out the guard, it is unknown how you get out of your scuba gear, or if you even remove it before you move out to secure the hostages.
 * The guard by the railing near the beginning has only 1 HP. It is possible to kill him by hitting him anywhere with any weapon, or even directly with a grenade, though this will result in the mission failing. If you get close enough by sneaking up behind him one of your team members would take him out for you.

First level

 * You can swim around all you like before taking out the guards.
 * The soldier that the player drags underwater and kills always has the same model, while the one opposite him will always be different. Likewise, the soldier having a smoke while leaning over the rails will always be the same.
 * When you start the level, there will be two randomly generated TF 141 soldiers. They will stay at the bottom, but when you breach the first room and then go back down, they have disappeared.

Second level

 * If the player alerts the helicopter that is seen patrolling the perimeter, it will spin up its guns, and they will fail the mission and receive the message "You have alerted the enemy - the hostages have been executed." Oddly enough, if you manage to hit the chopper with the M203 Grenade Launcher, it will burst into flames and crash into the sea and you will still be able to continue the mission without penalty. This is strange, considering that the explosion and helicopter crash should have caused the entire oil platform to go on alert.
 * The body on which the player plants the C4 explosive is scripted to lie in that location and is dead as soon as the player breaches the room.
 * When the player detonates the C4, the other soldiers in the room are still in one piece, which is odd because in real life they would be blown to pieces. This was probably done to keep the violence low, and Robert Bowling himself confirmed that there was no dismemberment in the game.
 * If you breach the second door on Soap's side, after you have planted the C4, the hostages can be seen (if you look quickly enough) being escorted downstairs. The hostages then go downstairs where you can't follow them. If however you breach the door on Ghost's side, you would not be able to see the escort. Instead if you try to keep a hostage on screen while planting the C4 (the C4's are positioned in such a way that it is not easy to see any hostage on screen) you would see the hostage magically disappear once the C4 is planted.
 * During certain breaches, it is possible to shoot the knife-wielding Russian so that the knife will float above the dead soldier.

Compromised

 * Soap starts the mission with an MP5K with Red Dot Sight and Silencer like the others, but when setting up the ambush of the Russian patrol he uses an M4A1 SOPMOD with Grenade Launcher and Red Dot Sight.
 * There is an irony to this ambush—in the Call of Duty: World At War level "Hard Landing" almost half a unit of friendly Marines is killed when they investigate a shot-down plane only to find that enemies had booby trapped the corpses, killing the troops who where investigating them. The explosion then prompted a hidden group of enemies to attack. After the ambush one of the surviving marines, Private Polonsky, says, "Can't believe they'd booby trap our dead..."
 * When the Little Bird comes to attack you after troops rope in, it is possible to shoot down the Little Bird with an RPG, M203, or an AT-4, but you have to aim and fire it fast before it blinds you with a searchlight and kills the player.
 * If you manage to destroy the Little Bird with a rocket, Ghost remarks with "Nice shot, Roach"
 * If the player ignores the enemy helicopter when it attacks, it will continue to pursue all the way to the top deck, providing the player stays in its spotlight. If the player evade its light, it will stay on lower decks searching. It will instantly disappear when the player breaches the final room.

Third level

 * The Smokescreen will not disappear until the enemies are all dead. The enemies will throw smoke grenades until they are killed.
 * In the firefight with the smokescreens, you are not allowed to breach the doors until all outside hostiles have been killed.

Extraction

 * At the end of the level, if you fall down to the water, there will be blood on the screen similar to when you fall off the mountain in Cliffhanger.
 * The player boards the right side of the Little Bird. At the start of the next mission, the player has switched sides.
 * Soap is the only one on the Little Bird who does not have an M14 EBR instead an M4.
 * Ghost will not get on the Little Bird with Roach and MacTavish, but after reaching The Gulag he gets off another Little Bird.
 * This is the only mission in which the Marines are actually seen, as they rope down a helicopter to disarm the SAM sites and rescue the hostages. They all wear the Army Combat Uniform, however, as opposed to the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform. This was likely done to conserve memory and disc space resources.
 * Of the two pilots in your helicopter at the end of the level, the pilot on Soap's side, the side on which you are supposed to sit, has the model of Lt. Volker from "Shock and Awe", whereas the other has the model of Cpt. Pelayo, the female pilot you rescue also in "Shock and Awe".
 * The two pilots at the end have enlisted ranks; this is impossible as pilots are either officers or warrant officers.
 * If you look at the soldiers riding on the Little Birds as the mission ends, you can see they are character models of the Army Rangers instead of the TF141 operators.
 * If you look at the pilots of the Little Birds at the end of the mission through the thermal scope, you will find that their body heat can not be detected at all.

Miscellaneous

 * It is strange that Russian soldiers take their own people hostage, although they claim themselves Ultranationalists. The oil rig might belong to a foreign company.
 * The player's team (Team 1) is launched from the dry deck shelter (DDS) of the USS Chicago (SSN-721) while Team 2 is launched from the USS Dallas (SSN-700). Both are Los Angeles-class submarines. In the present day, the Dallas is indeed a DDS-capable submarine but the Chicago is not. Of course, by the year 2016 (when the game takes place), it is possible that the Chicago could be converted into a DDS host ship. Also of note: during the mission briefing, the Chicago's DDS is erroneously shown fitted in front of the sub's sail structure. However, in the actual mission, the DDS modules are correctly configured aft of the sail on both subs.
 * The submarines USS Chicago and USS Dallas were featured in Tom Clancy novels Red Storm Rising and The Hunt for Red October, respectively.
 * The Russian helicopter actually is a Little Bird, which are used only by U.S. Special Ops forces, although the helicopter also sometimes is used by other Special Operation Forces. The British "SAS" and the Danish "Jægerkorpset" use them, as an example.
 * Team One is comprised of Soap, Ghost, Roach, and Peasant, who doesn't get replaced after getting killed.
 * Peasant always carries a MP5K with Red Dot Sight and silencer, but sometimes it has red camouflage.
 * If Peasant dies when you see an enemy helicopter the second time and you are on a lower deck, Avatar will replace him. He carries an M14 EBR.
 * Team Two, which comprises of Robot and Zach, disappears after rescuing the second group of hostages directly after you plant the C4. However, two Zodiac boats carrying what appears to be the freed hostages, can be seen leaving the oil rig after the second group of hostages is rescued. It is most likely this is Team Two.
 * The soldiers' names will be different from this level to "The Gulag"
 * The ocean colours and design are the same as the blue tiger camouflage.
 * The M4 SOPMOD and the SCAR-H Silenced w/ Thermal Sight both lose their respective silencer after detonating the C4. However, if the player exchanges one of these weapons for another, and picks it up again after detonating the C4, they will retain their silencers.
 * A PP2000 with a Thermal Scope can be found in this level, though it's not an attachment in multiplayer.
 * It is possible to find an Intervention with a thermal scope. However, it is not advisable to use it during the smokescreen firefight due to its large zoom.
 * It is strange that the guns you start with would operate correctly, because many waterlogged guns would jam or would not fire at all. FN SCARs, M4s and HK MP5Ks, however, would operate in such circumstances, as they were specifically designed for extreme conditions.
 * In this mission, the rare White Tape Camouflage can be found.
 * The "breaching charge" used is actually a Frame Charge, which is typically used to blast holes in walls or blow out windows. An actual Breaching Charge used by Special Forces is a small pack of plastic explosive on the end of a stick or a frail rod. When used it is leaned against a door with the explosive near the middle to clear the doorway evenly. Strangely, such a tactic was discarded more than a decade ago when breaching rounds were found more favorable. On rare occasions real Breaching Charges were effectively used as door traps.
 * In Multiplayer, the Navy SEALs' faction borrows Task Force 141's character models from this mission.