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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
For other uses, see SOG.

"Head to Vietnam and work with old allies to investigate Soviet presence in the region."
— Briefing
"Looks don't count for shit in the jungle. This is 'Nam, baby!"
Frank Woods

S.O.G. is the fifth campaign mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Characters[]

Level briefing[]

Transmission# 4-5-1-4. Designate: NOVEMBER

S.O.G. team to investigate evidence of Soviet involvement in Vietnam.

Khe Sanh will provide support for operation.

Agents Mason and Hudson are already on the ground.

0900 hrs January 21, 1968

Plot[]

At the beginning of this mission, Hudson informs the player that Woods has arrived. The player then steps outside of their tent to see many helicopters, mostly UH-1 "Hueys" and CH-47 "Chinooks", flying overhead. As Woods approaches, they make jokes about their appearances and walk over to a Jeep. While this happens, the song "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival is played, presumably from a radio in the tent. Woods then informs Mason of how and when the MACV-SOG was created. As they finish their conversation, bombs explode and their Jeep is overturned, causing Hudson to become disoriented. The player then carries him to a bunker and the actual game play begins. One section involves the player crawling along trenches with enemy flamethrowers blazing overhead. At one point a NVA soldier jumps on the player and the player must repeatedly press the use button to punch him and pull the pin of a grenade on his webbing's. Use of Fougasse Mines (napalm barrels armed with explosives) to hold back the North Vietnamese Army are demonstrated by Woods. The player is given the option to use them as well; 2 detonators can be picked up along the path and detonated on cue, killing many enemies; if the player fails to execute a well-timed detonation, the NVA will continue their advance. Woods will rush to the mounted M60 in the wood pillbox at the end of the trench. Follow the path up to the defensive position and not long after 3 T-55 tanks move over the hill and advancing towards the line; the player then must pick up a M72 LAW to destroy the tanks. One hit will finish a T-55. Continuous waves of NVA will attack, necessitating the player to repeatedly kill those nearest in order to focus on the tanks. When this part of the mission is done, follow Woods to another line under heavy assault.

The player then fights his way down a hill to a weapons bunker and then to the lower ridge to roll 2 drums of napalm into the trench at the bottom. Many players get stuck at this point, as the objective is not clearly defined. However, the conversation Woods has with a pinned down soldier when first exiting the tunnel to the top of the hill makes everything clear. The USMC troops were unable to get the barrels buried like the earlier Fougasse Mines before the assault. Towards the bottom of the hill are two barrels stood on their ends. The player must walk up behind them and press the action button, prompting a short clip where Mason stabs the barrel, scrapes his knife on the top to ignite the napalm, then rolls the barrel down the hill to prevent the NVA from continuing their attack. Until the player completes this, the enemy on this front will keep coming. On lower difficulty, it is possible to run past the enemy and to the right, which skips the barrel objective and allows the player to move on to the next hill.

Once the player completes this, the player must climb another hill while friendly mortars rain down around the player. Near the top of the hill there are a few opportunities to pick up an AK-47 with a Flamethrower. Just as they've made it to the top of the hill, the player will be knocked down and dazed from an exploding mortar and will only have a few seconds after recovering to save Woods from a NVA soldier with his Python.

The player then runs through a tunnel, to a jeep with a mounted TOW Missile launcher that works similarly to Valkyrie Rockets. The player must fight enemies with an M60 machine gun and a China Lake grenade launcher automatically given to him upon entering the jeep, using the TOW to destroy T-55 tanks when they show up. Destroying the six tanks with only six TOW rockets will reward the player with the achievement/trophy Tough Economy. After destroying the tanks, Bowman arrives via helicopter that also has "Fortunate Son" playing.

Weapon Loadout[]

Starting Loadout
Found in level
Jeep fight

The following are given to the player during the fight in the jeep.

Transcript[]

Main article: S.O.G./Transcript

Achievements/Trophies[]

  • Looks Don't Count (10 Gamerscore/ Bronze Trophy Bronze Trophy PS3 icon) - Obtained by beating "S.O.G." on any difficulty.
  • Tough Economy (15 Gamerscore/ Bronze Trophy Bronze Trophy PS3 icon) - Obtained by using no more than 6 rockets to destroy the tanks.
  • Down and Dirty (25 Gamerscore/ Silver Trophy Silver Trophy PS3 icon) - Obtained by beating "S.O.G." and "The Defector" on Veteran.

Intel[]

Main article: S.O.G./Intel

Gallery[]

Video Walkthrough[]

Trivia[]

  • The Napalm barrel that Woods will try to ignite will not blow up; instead, it will just simply roll on towards the NVA soldiers. It will only ignite once the player has kicked the remaining barrels down the hill.
  • At the beginning of the level when hearing the radio, the announcer identifies himself as Army Specialist Zack Johnson. This is a reference to "Apocalypse Now," where the radio announcer also identifies himself as Army Specialist Zack Johnson.
  • The song played at the start of the level is "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The playing of this song might be a reference to Forrest Gump, as the song is played during the helicopter landing scene in the Vietnam War portion of the movie
    • However, this mission took place in January, 1968, while the song came out in 1969.
  • Once the player descends from the ladder to the tunnel which leads to the top of the first hill, an injured Marine is seen crouching and clutching his weapon. The player can shoot him endlessly without getting a friendly fire citation. Also he will not die nor react, but bullet wounds will appear.
  • Sometimes when an enemy is killed he will drop an AK-47 with a Flamethrower and IR Scope and a Makarov with an Extended Magazine, both unusable.
  • After the player saves Woods with the Python, the player's weapons will have a higher rate of fire until the remainder of the level. This is mostly noticeable on the M60 and on the Flamethrower attachment.
  • The China Lake and M60 acquired by the player upon entering the TOW Jeep are automatically reloaded and restocked with ammo each time the player is using the TOW.
  • There is a usable M1911 on the ground as soon as the player takes full control of Mason.
  • Near the end of the mission, when the player goes to the right of the jeep, the M249 SAW's pick-up icon will appear. Pressing the "use" button will result in the TOW missile launcher being usable to the player.
  • In the beginning of the level when the player runs out to the trenches, a Marine will be knocked down, and stabbed to death by a bayonet wielding soldier. If the player shoots and kills this trooper, his weapon will disappear.
    • If the player kills the trooper before he can stab the Marine, the Marine will make the animation as if he was being stabbed, but he will not die. Instead, he will get up and fight alongside the player as normal.
  • During the opening cutscene of this mission, the following subjects of real conspiracy theories are shown on screen: Water Fluoridation, False-Flag Operations, Chemtrails and Secret Societies (such as the Illuminati, the Bilderberg Group and the Bohemian Grove).
  • When the player is at the top of the hill after dropping down the ladder and waits long enough, an explosion will occur that visibly shakes the screen. If the player looks in the direction of where the North Vietnamese soldiers are appearing shortly before this happens - the player will be able to see an American fighter jet fly past and drop napalm on the horizon, causing the landscape to erupt in a large fiery explosion.
  • During the hill battle part near the end of the level, the player can see a badly wounded Marine stumbling down the hill. Half of his skull is missing and his head is covered with blood. He can be killed in the crossfire. If not, he will slowly walk around then sit down, and eventually die. This is possibly a reference to the 1987 movie "Hamburger Hill", because Sergeant First Class Worcester (portrayed by Steven Weber) ended up walking down the hill with open wounds on his head during the final assault and died shortly after, just like the Marine.
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