Army man explains MOH operatives

By Robert Purchese Published 4 December, 2009

Tier 1s do what "no one else can handle".

The army has explained to Eurogamer that Medal of Honor's Tier 1 soldiers really are the best of the best, and "take on missions that no one else can handle".

"The Tier concept originates from Hostage Rescue Ability and has mutated to include all kinds of stuff. Around 1995 it was based on the amount of time a unit spent conducting Hostage Rescue and Direct Action. The Tier 1 teams would only do this sort of operation," relayed a source, unearthed by former British army Major Neil Powell.

"Standard" Tier 2 teams were made up of SEAL, MARSOC (United States Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command), SF (Special Forces) and Ranger forces. Tier 1 was reserved for JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) and FBI HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) soldiers.

"Support personnel such as counter intelligence and intelligence are not Tier anything," the source added, probably hurting their feelings.

Tier 1 soldiers, as we mentioned earlier, answer to the National Command Authority. This is a term used by the US military and government to refer to the ultimate lawful source of military orders - the top of the chain. Up there the President and the Secretary of Defense call the shots and Jack Bauer answers.

Announced this week, EA's new Medal of Honor puts players in the sandpaper-lined boots of a Tier 1 soldier as they operate in Afghanistan.

The soldier on the front of Medal of Honor's box was discovered to bear an uncanny resemblance to real-life soldier "Cowboy". Is he a real Tier 1 fighter? He's got a nice beard.

EA Los Angeles has been tasked with the single-player, while Battlefield creator EA DICE will sculpt multiplayer.

Deployment is pencilled for autumn 2010.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • el_pollo_diablo #1 2 years ago

    Jordan Tate:
    So who are you? Are you, you, like, some special forces guy or something?

    Casey Ryback:
    Nah. I'm just a cook.
    Edited by 1 at 04/12/09 @ 11:28

  • daz_john_smith #2 2 years ago

    I'm tired of playing as a US Soldier all the time. For all it faults, and it has many, as least CoD let you play as other nations from time to time.
    Edited by 1 at 04/12/09 @ 14:06

  • metalangel #3 2 years ago

    I'm tired of being elite special forces all the time. How about a return to what CoD was originally about: the heroism of the rank-and-file troops?

  • MiniAmin #4 2 years ago

    All this Tier 1 talk is beginning to sound like hyperbolic license for EA: an opportunity for MOH to consist of outlandish missions which qualify as "realistic" because of the game's Tier 1 background.

    But despite my cynical post I still have high hopes for this game.

  • linea #5 2 years ago

    I'm tired of playing as any kind of proper soldier. Why anyone hasn't snapped up the license for gritty WWII drama 'Dad's Army' and turned it into an FPS yet is beyond me.

    bagsy be Fraser

  • penhalion #6 2 years ago

    So expect a pretty much carbon copy of modern warfare then. Unless I'm missing something and Afghanistan isn't a modern war that's still being fought. I take it you play one of the 50k extra troops rushing to "Finish the fight" according to good ol' Obama, Brown and their generals.

    Is there oil in Afghanistan? I forget. Is it oil or uranium in that neck of the world?

  • ignatiusjreilly #7 2 years ago

    Why would you line your boots with sandpaper? Seems like it would be a disadvantage in battle.

  • Ornithophobe #8 2 years ago

    drugs

    edit: that answers both questions !
    Edited by 1 at 04/12/09 @ 11:47

  • Felwyn #9 2 years ago

    I'm tired of being shoved a bunch of news articles of the same game in my face every few minutes which have no utility whatsoever other than to raise hype to an unoriginal game which is one year away.

    [to replies...there are active and passive participators, if you want to sit back and take it all in, be my guest - puns intended]
    Edited by 2 at 04/12/09 @ 15:42

  • cianchristopher #10 2 years ago

    So, why did Konami's Six Days In Fallujah provoke such controversy when it was announced? If I recall, wasn't it due to the idea that the conflict was too recent to include in a videogame?

    Then, if so, why are Medal of Honour and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 both allowed to contain missions set in present day Afghanistan?

    Is that not exactly the same thing?

  • MiniAmin #11 2 years ago

    @ felwyn

    You can, erm... you know, choose not to read the article.

  • dither #12 2 years ago

    And yet you still click them, Felwyn!

  • Empedocles #13 2 years ago

    Yawn.....

  • Freek #14 2 years ago

    Because Fallujah was a tragic failure, resulting in many army and civilian deaths. Doing a more general setting of "Afganistan" means you pick and choose the most suitable missions and settings.

  • beastmaster #15 2 years ago

    Please don't have a year of these kind of articles. By the time the game comes out, everyone will be so pissed off they won't giver a damn.

  • Bremenacht #16 2 years ago

    Tier 1, Tier 2?

    Well 'ard.

  • Xerx3s #17 2 years ago

    "Tier 1s do what "no one else can handle"."

    Apart from just about every other special forces unit in the world such as the SAS, etc. Besides, if they are such fucking awesome supersoldiers, why are Iraq and Afghanistan still such a mess?

  • metalangel #18 2 years ago

    @cianchristopher: To be pedantic, MW2 is set in 2016. The original got away with it by being set in "the Middle East", which was a mishmash of Iran and Saudi.

  • tachometer #19 2 years ago

    All these tiers are making me cry!

  • gnrlstuart #20 2 years ago

    its all well and good boasting about the game, but could we have a high res game play video or a few screenshots?

  • feistycheese #21 2 years ago

    'Tier 1s do what no one else can handle.'

    Ah, but you are of course forgetting Tier-ry Henry, who can handle pretty much anything he wants and get away with it.

  • Skurmedel #22 2 years ago

    Makes me think of singleplayer Quake 3: "TIER 1"... battle Klesk and all that stuff. Maybe we get to shoot some Klesk in this, would certainly save it from the (probably) inevitable blandness.

  • bad09 #23 2 years ago

    It's nice they are doing a new one but come EG is there any need for so many news stories? Autumn 2010 A bloody YEAR away FFS.

  • jefranklin18 #24 2 years ago

    So really, Tier 2 = Special Forces and Tier 1 = Extra Special Forces, or would that be Special Forces XL, or GTi?

    Either way, they're extra secret that nobody knows about them, supposedly...

  • NGCes26294BIV #25 2 years ago

    I want to be 'Cowboy'. Dude's beard could kill.

  • penhalion #26 2 years ago

    @jefranklin18

    Er they've been in the news on a few occasions. Even going so far as to ask Bush whether he was sending them in to retrieve some hostages at some point (yea I know it's Obama now but, I remember the Bush incident when they were mentioned).

  • MattyD #27 2 years ago

    @jefranklin18

    Saying they're SF or 'super' SF or whatever os over-simplifying. It's not just quality, but the role and special-to-arm training involved. Units like Rangers or USMC SF are really more elite infantry than anything else and tend to play a role in more conventional warfare type scenarios - gathering battlefield intelligence, recconaisance, sabotage and ambushes, directing artillery fire or designating targets for airstrikes etc.

    Tier 1 units do these things too but are also trained and used for more strategic, rather than tactical, purposes that often have a direct political element. Taskings include training and/or working clandestinly with local forces (i.e. the Kurds in Iraq or the former Northern Alliance in Afghanistan) and activities that are more like espionage than warfighting. Capturing and interrogating enemy VIPs, surveillance, working with members of the intelligence services, stuff like that. They are pretty far from the green army in terms of roles.

    Basically EA are going more for that whole 'Black Ops' angle. More like the SAS bits in CoD4 and less like the marines stuff.

  • anomagnus #28 2 years ago

    @Xerx3s

    Even among Special forces, there are those that would be considered the best of the best.

    As for why Iraq and Afghanistan are such messes, remember that there are a limited amount of these men and possibly women, and they can only go where they are ordered. Bin Ladin would probably be in a US cell by now if soldiers on the ground had been given the free reign to do what was needed back in 2001/2002.

    If you want to know why Iraq and Afghanistan are a mess, blame rumsfield for overriding the generals advice.

  • Skurmedel #29 2 years ago

    So are you saying MattyD that these trained the afghan rebels back in the 80s, who they are now back shooting at? :)

    anomagnus: How do you consider who's the best of the best? I mean, it seems pretty arbitrary. I'm not saying they are not, just saying it's hard to know. Is there some "Special Forces World Cup" I do not know of?
    Edited by 2 at 04/12/09 @ 15:33

  • kwarive #30 2 years ago

    All this macho 'Tier 1 operative' doublespeak is unintentionally hilarious. The best of the best of american and australian armed forces had the sh*t kicked out of them by illiterate peasants (including 13 year old girls) in indochina not that long ago. Go Rangers Go!

  • jefranklin18 #31 2 years ago

    @MattyD

    I was being facetious. I am pretty familiar with US and UK OOB.

  • Daryoon #32 2 years ago

    I bet there's a super secret "Tier Zero" unit. They might be robots.

    I'd love to see a Dad's Army game. Or maybe Allo Allo? The player, as Rene, must balance running a cafe, hiding his adulterous affairs, AND protect the British airmen from both General von Klinkerhoffen and Herr-Flick! There's room for business management and dating sim AND unarmed stealth sections!!

  • Skurmedel #33 2 years ago

    And a Hot Coffee mod involving the Fallen Madonna and a knockwurst! You are a genius Daryoon!
    Edited by 1 at 04/12/09 @ 18:40

  • Drone #34 2 years ago

    @ el_pollo_diablo
    "Jordan Tate:
    So who are you? Are you, you, like, some special forces guy or something?

    Casey Ryback:
    Nah. I'm just a cook. "

    You Sir, win the internets. All of them.

  • Shinetop #35 2 years ago

    That Dad's Army idea is amazing.

    Instead of choosing a class, you can choose to be a character. Godfrey would be a healer, but he'd move slowly and has to be excused every ten minutes. Mainwaring is short and nearsighted but has the ability to get out of a scrap if the situation calls for it, Jones would be an expert with the bayonet and able to drive the van, but commands from other players would reach him two seconds later than everyone else and occasionally he hallucinates about being in the sudan, putting it right up the fuzzywuzzies, Walker would be able to get his hands on rare equipment, and Frazer would just be an all-out badass.

    Private Sponge could be totally useless, as an easter egg.

  • Razorus #36 2 years ago

    This is the first I've heard of Tier 1 soldiers. Don't they say "these guys are the best" for every unit in the American military though?

  • AphoticCosmos #37 2 years ago

    I'm sick of US military porn.

    ORIGINAL GAMES PLEASE.