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. Lock and load, Marines."

Shock and Awe is the tenth campaign level of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It is the penultimate level where the player controls Sgt. Paul Jackson, and the last featuring combat.

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 the player and about 30,000 other troops.

American Death Toll
The following is a list of known U.S. Marines killed by the nuclear device detonated in the singleplayer level Shock and Awe in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Gen. Shepherd later claimed that 30,000 personnel were lost in the event, but most of their identities remain unknown.

Notable Deaths

 * Lt. Volker
 * Sgt. Paul Jackson
 * Lt. Vasquez
 * Cpt. Pelayo
 * Cpl. Baker

Others

 * S/Sgt. Ebgert Blake
 * Cpl. Massen
 * Pvt. Aaron
 * Pvt. Jerry Pettersan
 * Lt. Jose Biaz
 * Pvt. Chuck DiMarco
 * Pvt. Marti Da Siva
 * Pvt. Emily Rodriguez
 * Pvt. Les Elamdo
 * Pvt. Caries Mendra
 * Pvt. Ruls Arbuckle
 * Pvt. Pete Robsen
 * Cpl. Chari Quigley
 * LCpl. Spencer Weekly
 * PFC. Mike Weir
 * Cpt. Johnny Stores
 * Cpl. Dusty Lich
 * Pvt. Junior Gloermeger
 * Pvt. Phil Karl
 * Cpt. Pas Cabrera
 * Pvt. Eric Lavin
 * Sgt. Raphael Higgins
 * Pvt. Bailey Bewers Nuked_Marines.png]]
 * Pvt. Dalton Green
 * Pvt. Dean Schwartszi
 * Pvt. Ronals Ruskin
 * Pvt. Victor Gonzales
 * Pvt. Denis Wilard
 * Pvt. John Fieher
 * Cpt. Jeff Colt
 * Pvt. Hal Michels
 * Pvt. Jon Mcrris
 * Pvt. Henry Buckle
 * Col. Al Leigh
 * Sgt. Miles Cattan
 * Sgt. Jay King
 * Cpt. Alex Cowen
 * M/Sgt. Paul Huksman
 * Cpt. Steve White
 * Pvt. Eil Stevens
 * Pvt. Zach Monroe
 * Cpl. Mike Ziger
 * Pvt. Fraqnklin Maddon
 * Lt. Kenny Bukowski
 * Sgt. Yugen Blake
 * Pvt. Aaron Oberlsar
 * Pvt. Jerry Petterson
 * Lt. Jose Sanchez
 * Pvt. Chuck DiMaron
 * Pvt. Marti Disantes
 * Pvt. Randy Rodriguez
 * Pvt. Danny Arimuckle
 * Pvt. Pete Ivey
 * Pvt. Chari Quigley
 * LCpl. Spencer Weekly
 * PFC. Mike Weir
 * Cpt. Johnny Storm
 * Cpl. Dusty Lelouch
 * Pvt. Junior Ghermeyer
 * Pvt. Phil Karini
 * Cpt. Pat Cabrera
 * Pvt. Eric Levin
 * Pvt. Perry Shole
 * Pvt. Bimera
 * Pvt. Don Davelon
 * Cpl. Jezoh Dutowski
 * Pvt. Peter Daymen
 * Pvt. Vanessa Wimbern
 * Lt. Anthony Weihward
 * Pvt. Henry Buckley
 * Pvt. Jose Lopez
 * Cpt. Dick Johnson
 * Pvt. Tom Perry
 * Col. Scott Jerry
 * Cpt. Steve White
 * Pvt. Vanessa Wimberno
 * Lt. Anthony Williams
 * Col. Al Leitzh
 * Sgt. Miles Christensen
 * Sgt. Jay King
 * M/Sgt. Paul Hwin
 * Cpl. Jared Hutowski
 * Cpt. Steve Deogen
 * Pvt. Eil Stevens
 * Pvt. Zach Monroe
 * Cpl. Parker Raimondo
 * Pvt. Zach Miles
 * Pvt. Yang
 * Pvt. Stan Cooper
 * Pvt. Lance Stenton
 * Pvt. Ramzy
 * Sgt. Sarah Hanon
 * Pvt. Derick McFisher
 * Pvt. Thomas Arthur
 * Cpl. Carl Henry
 * Pvt. Jimmy Cox
 * Pvt. Earl Hughes
 * Cpl. Simon Jacobs
 * Pvt. Gavin Koopman
 * Cpl. Gary Culan
 * Cpl. Nathan Simonet
 * Sgt. Nina Waynes
 * Cpl. Bert Melvins
 * Pvt. Elmo Grey

Influence on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
It was the killing of these men and women that prompted Shepherd to start the Russo-American War. Contrary to popular belief, Shepherd could have been in command of the Marines, SEALs, and Air Force operators involved in the fight against Al-Asad. Army leaders can command joint branch operations.



Tips

 * The most dangerous enemies while manning the Mk. 19 are AA emplacements, infantry with RPG-7s, and BMPs. It is possible to die while manning the grenade launcher, but it is not possible for the chopper to get shot down.
 * After the player rescues the squad being pinned down, two enemy helicopters will come and unload troops. Before they unload troops, switch to the M203 Grenade Launcher and shoot the one on the right. Deadly will come and destroy the other one. Both helicopters only take one 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.
 * Look Sharp (20 points) can be obtained from collecting the 15th laptop, requiring you to already have the earlier ones.

Transcript
See Shock and Awe/Transcript.

Trivia

 * When Vasquez screams "Everyone hang on!", it is heard as if he screamed it over a radio. Realistically, one would have heard it presently and over a radio, considering he was in the SeaKnight with the player's character.
 * Moments before the nuke blows, Command is heard saying "All forces, be advised we have a confirmed nuclear threat in the city. NEST teams are on sight attempting to disarm. I repeat---." After this, the nuke goes off, cutting off the warning. The backblast should have cut off all communication and transmission. Except moments later Lt. Vasquez screams over the radio "Everyone hang on!". It is possible that the actual moment of the explosion had cut off all radio for only that second.
 * There is a small glitch in this level. If the player gets an RPG, goes over where the destroyed tank is blocking the way out of the map, then jump and shoot it at the ground, one should end up on the tank. From here the user can go outside the map and explore. If the player finds the street where they rescue Deadly, a never ending spawn of enemies will appear there. This is good practice for shooting (confirmed for PS3 and XBOX360, or just NoClip in PC).
 * The player can be killed by the helicopter landing on top of the character if arriving at the LZ before the helicopter. This happens after having met up with the Force Recon that were pinned down on the second floor.
 * The first time the player gets off the helicopter, there is a wooden fence in front of them; if they look through they 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 the player with any points.
 * It is possible to obtain an AT4, which is a U.S. 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 the player just came. Instead, the player must fight their 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 News Caster and those seen 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 by using the Mk 19.
 * If the player is fast enough to take down the enemy choppers with one shot from the Mk 19, they'll see that Deadly just passes by instead of destroying 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 three 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 bears many references to the movie Black Hawk Down. For example, when the Cobra falls, the overlord says: "We have a Cobra down, I repeat, we have a Cobra down!", and in the movie the words "We have a black hawk down, I repeat, we have a black hawk down!" can be heard in the radio. In the part of the level in which the player must rescue Pelayo, Command says "Be advised, 2-5, hostiles advancing parallel southwest of your position." In the movie, Command says, "2-5, hostiles advancing parallel southwest of your position. Be advised, women and children among them, over." Also, Cpt. Pelayo uses an MP5 to defend herself until she is rescued, just like in the movie: Michael Durant used an MP5 to kill Somalian insurgents until rescued.
 * By using the noclip cheat using the in-game console on the PC version, when leaving the helicopter, the player will notice that the two pilots in the chopper are two clones of Lt. Volker.
 * If the player activates the slow motion cheat when the helicopter is crashing, they can see the helicopter crash next to a tanker (nearby a destroyed BMP and a ZPU), yet the player is in a different location in the mission "Aftermath".
 * The door-mounted gun on the Sea Knight (either a heavy or medium machine gun) 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.
 * It is a Stinger, not an RPG-7, that takes down the Cobra near the end of the mission. This can be seen when the rocket homes in on the Cobra - a feature which the RPG-7 cannot do.
 * The Stinger missile that downed Cpt. Pelayo's Cobra helicopter hit the helicopter in the tail rotor. This is incorrect, as the Stinger launches an infrared homing missile, which would target the engine and blades.
 * The operation may have been a trap for U.S. forces, set by either Khaled Al-Asad or the First Horseman.
 * The nuclear explosion in this level was voted #2 on IGN's "The Wednesday 10: Best Nuclear Explosions in Games" and was also #2 on ScrewAttack's Top 10 OMGWTF Moments.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in the final level "Endgame", the primary antagonist General Shepherd references the nuclear explosion saying that, "Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye, and the world just fucking watched." Apparently, 30,000 personnel didn't get to minimum safe distance, or this could mean that 30,000 troops were killed, wounded, and no longer combat effective.
 * Just after the player saves Pelayo and returns to the helicopter, they will see that the Sea Knight they're in doesn't go in the same direction they were traveling before landing to save Pelayo.
 * When Deadly shoots down a group of OpFor troops near the destroyable statue, if one shoots the remaining ones with the "Bad Year" cheat on, they will not turn to tires.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the multiplayer map Karachi contains areas of "Shock and Awe" outside its map boundaries.
 * In the beginning cutscene the Marine commander states that Seal Team Six confirmed the nuclear threat in the city. Seal Team Six was disbanded in 1987 and instead became DEVGRU, the Navy's highly classified Tier 1 Counter-terrorism and Special Mission Unit.
 * This is the only mission in which Jackson uses an M1911.
 * It should be noted that Command is actually Overlord as he states so in the beginning of the mission, although the subtitles say only command.
 * While all the OpFor soldiers either use G3s, RPDs, Dragunovs, or RPGs, it is possible to get an AK-47 at the beginning of the mission when disembarking from the Sea Knight. There is a lone RPG soldier who will switch to an AK should the player get close to him. This appears to be the only AK 47 that the player can pick up in this level and should be discarded soon due to lack of ammunition.
 * This is also the first level in the Call of Duty series to show a nuclear warhead exploding.
 * Griggs exited Jackson's Sea Knight early in the mission and was among the Marines who safely evacuated the nuclear detonation.
 * After rescuing the recon team and Deadly says "You guys miss me?" On some occasions a marine can easily be heard shouting "Hell yeah!" This may be military comradary or a joke about the fact that they were having difficulties without Deadly.
 * Sometimes there will be a Marine called Pvt. Pelayo, he could have some relation to Captain Pelayo.
 * The Overlord in this level sounds vaguely familiar with the Ranger's Overlord of Modern Warfare 2.
 * If one activates the slow mo cheat in this level, before the missile that shoots down Deadly appears, a glitch occurs. This glitch makes Deadly's helicopter hovers over its crash site and the sea knight flies to the map edge and lands. The only way to reverse it is to restart the level.
 * Although the soldiers in the level are randomly generated, Marines can be heard yelling to each other by name to take cover. Eg. "Rosemeier! Take cover!" or "Miller! Take cover!".
 * When rescuing the advance team, a Marine asks Vasquez if they're "the ride out of here". Vasquez responds "We're it, Captain!" although, if the player looks around, none of the Marines around are a rank higher than Sergeant.
 * The combined strike team and Vasquez's team will board the helicopter, but when Pelayo and Keating crash, only two rescue soldiers (Vasquez and Jackson) will be the same as those that boarded. In addition, it is easy to see that only Volker and the pilots remain on board, so the soldiers have changed while flying.
 * As soon as the explosion happens, Jackson seems to drop his gun. It is possibly on a swing but it is not present in the next level.
 * If the player does the rocket jump out of the map and heads towards the area with the statue, then make a turn into the construction site where Deadly is seen blowing up OpFor troops before landing to unload more marines into the area, they will see two Opfor soliders just standing in the dark. They will not shoot the player, or even notice the player. If the player decides to kill them, they will disapear and not drop any weapons. If the player also walks to where Outlaw was last seen heading towards, they will notice the Sea Knight is stuck in the ground.