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

— John "Soap" MacTavish^[1]

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".

CampaignEdit

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 appearance, 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. Soap and Price manage to shoot down Shepherd's helicopter, but 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.

Shadow Company appears to be either a US black ops unit, or possibly even a private military company (PMC) operating directly under the command of General Shepherd, serving as his personal security detail and operations force that carry out his orders without question, even if these orders involve breaking the law or killing their own men (such as when he betrayed Task Force 141).

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

Named Members/Units Edit

Command and Control Units:Edit

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

Ground Units:Edit

Disciple - Patrol for Site Hotel Bravo.

• Disciple 1
• Disciple 2
• 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 / Foxtrot Element - Breaches the steam room.
• Disciple 9
• Alpha Element - Patroling riverbed. (Unknown if not another name for or unit in Disciple)
• Bravo Element - Stopped patrol because of sandstorm. (Unknown if not another name for or unit in Disciple)

Butcher - Patrol for Site Hotel Bravo.

• Butcher 1-5 - Escorts Gold Eagle to the LZ for extraction.
• Butcher 2 - Fast ropes from Blackhawk, some with riot gear.
• Butcher 3
• Butcher 5 - Prepares demolition charges.
• Butcher 7 - Searches for Disciple 5.
  • Vinson - Element of Butcher Seven.
  • Lambert - Element of Butcher Seven.

Carnival - Patrol for Site Hotel Bravo.

• Carnival 1
• Carnival 3

Aviation Units:Edit

• 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 parol. (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:Edit

• Mongoose 2 - Possible helicopter or ground unit, cannot be determined.
• Mongoose 1, 3, 4 etc
• Disciple 7 and 8, probaly not anymore as double digit numbers 10, 11 etc would clash with 1-0, 1-1.
• Butcher 4, 6 and 9, probaly not anymore as double digit numbers 10, 11 etc would clash with 1-0, 1-1.
• Carnival 2, 4 to 9, probaly 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

ArsenalEdit

Shadow Company soldiers are heavily armed, well 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 RiflesEdit

• ACR
• SCAR-H

Machine GunsEdit

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

Submachine Guns & Machine PistolsEdit

• MP5K
• UMP45
• TMP
• Vector
• G18
• P90

ShotgunsEdit

• M1014
• AA-12
• SPAS-12
• Underbarrel Shotgun

HandgunsEdit

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

LaunchersEdit

• AT4
• RPG-7
• M203 

OthersEdit

• Riot Shield
• Combat Knife
• Dogs
• WA2000

VehiclesEdit

Shadow Company has a variety of vehicles, most of them used by the US Military. These include:

• Technical / Pick up truck (X10)
• UAZ-469 (X3)
• Up-armored SUV (X9)
• HMMWV (X3, Unlimited on cliff road)
• M1A1 Abrams (Unlimited on cliff road)
• M2A2 Bradley (Unlimited on cliff road)
• UH-60L Black Hawk (X4)
• MH-53 Pave Low (X3)
• AH-6 Little Bird (X17)
• MH-6 Little Bird (X5)
• Zodiac (X15)
• Predator UAV (X2)
• F-15 Eagle (X2)
• CH-46 Sea Knight (X2)

EquipmentEdit

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. Note: The Shadow Company soldiers are wearing Advanced Combat Helmets.

Character Models Edit

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 3Edit

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".

Shadow Company Logo in "Stay Sharp"

Shadow Company logo on the crates or container

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GalleryEdit

Shadow Company members deploying from a Little Bird, preparing to engage John Price and John "Soap" MacTavish.

Shadow Company member securing the LZ for Shepherd's Pave Low in Loose Ends.

A Shadow Company Patrol (Disciple Four - Zulu) outside Site Hotel Bravo.

Shadow Company (Disciple Five) sentries guarding Site Hotel Bravo.

Shadow Company deployed in Loose Ends.

Shadow Company member pouring gas on Roach and Ghost

Shadow Company (Disciple Six) after breaching.

Shadow Company soldiers in a Zodiac.

Shadow Company soldiers in a Zodiac.

Shadow Company using RPDs.

Shadow Company in a Black Hawk Helicopter.

Shadow Company member with riot shield rappeling down from Blackhawk

Shadow Company in a Little Bird, in mission "Loose Ends"

Shadow Company's Pave Low

A Shadow Company Pave Low going down

A Shadow Company soldier mans a minigun in an armored SUV.

A Shadow Company member flies a Little Bird.

A wounded Shadow Company member crawls away from the wreckage caused by an artillery strike at Site Hotel Bravo.

Shadow Company member with an AA-12.

Shadow Company member with an AT4.

Shadow company member with a SCAR-H w/ Shotgun.

Shadow Company member with a SPAS-12

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TriviaEdit

• They are the first campaign enemies in the Call of Duty series that are American. The second is the Mercs from Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• On the crates in Hotel Bravo on the level "Just Like Old Times", there is an emblem with a "rook" chess piece, lightning bolts and the words UMBRA CATERVAE written on it, which is Latin for Shadow Company. No symbol like this exists in the US military adding to the possibility that they are mercenaries, or possibly a black operations unit. This is also seen on the bombs in Sabotage, Demolition and Search and Destroy.
• The Shadow Company "chess piece" emblem can be obtained in Multiplayer by completing the "Tango Down" challenge.
• In "Just Like Old Times" they can be heard saying something along the lines of "... so that means we get double pay?" They are likely referring to combat pay, where soldiers get paid more when they are in combat. Although this would more likely make them a PMC as mercenaries care more about money that regular troops, it is more likely that they are a Black Ops unit of some sort due to the fact they, like their Task Force 141 opponents, participate in secretive and illegal actions that Shepherd wouldn't trust a PMC to do.
• However, a PMC would also allow Shepard to take actions that not even the U.S. government knew about, much less sanctioned. This could explain how he was able kill members of his own task force without official retribution.
• 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-game, Shadow Company soldiers usually require 3 bullets to the torso from most pistols, submachine guns, or assault rifles to kill, compared to 2 shots to kill for all other types of enemy soldiers. They are also able to survive a headshot (though not always) They appear to be the only enemy type in the campaign of all 3 Modern Warfare games to have this attribute.
• In Just Like Old Times a patrol Shadow Company soldier smoking while he's still wearing a mask.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Soap's Journal