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Metal Gear Solid 5 - Over The Fence: Captive engineer location

How to make your way to the Wakh Sind Barracks, then locate and extract the Soviet engineer in Metal Gear Solid 5's Over The Fence mission.

Welcome to Metal Gear Solid 5 - Over The Fence, the fifth main story mission of the game, following on from C2W.

Over The Fence Mission checklist:

  • Extracted the captive engineer
  • Fulton extracted the engineer through the hole in the facility's basement ceiling
  • Extracted the prisoner plotting to escape from Wakh Sind Barracks
  • Extracted the four-wheel drive patrolling between outposts
  • Secured the blueprint at the Wakh Sind Barracks

There's no time to waste, so activate your iDroid and summon a chopper to pick you up. Once it arrives, hop onboard and then, when you're back in the air, select Over the Fence from your mission roster. Next, choose the Landing Zone to the south of the Wakh Sind Barracks, set the Drop Time to 0600 and commence your mission.


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Over The Fence - captive engineer location

Your new objective is to rescue the Soviet engineer being held in Wakh Sind Barracks. On landing, mount your steed, then begin journeying toward the yellow objective marker. Your destination is a short trek north, heading through the mountains. Once the barracks are in your sights, break out your binoculars and begin a preliminary scan of the area.

Mark as many hostiles as you can, then point your viewfinder at the red flag flying in front of the compound. Next, shift your viewpoint upward until you spot the rocky ledge directly above the flag. Finally, pan left until you locate the prisoner sat behind a rock. This guy holds valuable intel concerning the whereabouts of your main target, so we'll want to visit him first.


Reach the barracks entrance

Dismount your horse and carefully proceed down the hillside toward the compound. At the bottom, you'll spot a small bridge with a pipe running beneath it. Hide in the nearby tall grass then, once the area is free of patrolling guards, slip on over to the pipe and crawl inside. Grab the Rough Diamonds hidden along the pipe then carefully make your way out the other end.

Back in the open, continue toward the rocks ahead and slowly veer right, making your way up the hill. Soon, you'll spot a row of sandbags and, directly behind them, a small path running close to the rock face that winds all the way up to the top of the hill. Make your way along the path, keeping watch for guards stationed in the nearby lookout point and watchtower as you go.

Thankfully, the main road leading up to the barracks lies just beyond the lookout point, so you've almost reached your destination. Lie prone, then crawl toward the road, keeping close to the rocks on your left. As you near the road, glance up the hill - there's a guard situated here so proceed cautiously. To avoid detection, crawl across the road and duck behind the rocks to your left. Now you can safely climb the hill using the rocks as cover.

Continue up the slope and you'll shortly reach the base of a concrete platform to your left. Move alongside it, then hop up through the gap in the fence. This conveniently places you behind the guard on watch. Follow the main road as it continues up the hill and begins to bend right. As you near the main compound entrance on your left, keep close to the perimeter wall and peer around the corner to check that the coast is clear.


Reach the prisoner and learn the location of your target

Before continuing, bring up your iDroid and consult the map to locate the prisoner that you spotted earlier - he'll be marked on your map as a nearby green triangle. Next, instead of entering the compound through the main entrance, we're going to take a safer, alternative route.

Cross over the road (so that you're on the right-hand side of the main entrance) and locate the path leading up the rocks behind the sandbags. Climb the incline and you'll soon find yourself overlooking the barracks interior. Quickly lie prone and glance left - you'll see that the path continues onward, passing directly over the barracks entrance.


Need help with The Phantom Pain? Our Metal Gear Solid 5 guide and walkthrough explains how to complete every main story mission, and explains their many optional objectives. We also have lists of Blueprint locations, Tape locations, Key Item locations, how to unlock S Ranks and a Metal Gear Solid 5 Achievement and Trophy list.


Extract the engineer

Crawl to the other side of the entrance and begin working up the hill toward the green marker, keeping close to the rocks on your right. Immediately ahead you should see the prisoner, sat on the ground. Quickly scout out the area and deal with any guards nearby. Finally, approach the prisoner and use your Fulton to send him back to HQ.

Shortly after, you'll receive additional intel from Ocelot, pinpointing the exact location of the engineer. This will add a new objective marker to your HUD. Next, continue west and carefully make your way down the slope, keeping a watch for patrolling hostiles.

When you reach the large concrete clearing, make your way behind the red shipping crate situated on the other side of the yard, close to the parked truck. Next, carefully move clockwise around the crate until you spy the enclosed area filled with wooden planks. Rather than entering the enclosure, take a left and travel clockwise around the perimeter fence.

Continue forward until you reach the main building to your right. Keep in close to the wall (to avoid being detected by the guard patrolling the roof above) and look for the open window nearby. Hop on through and, once inside the building, take a left through the doorway. Take another left and, when you reach the stairwell, climb the steps. On the roof, deal with the guard on patrol then return to the stairwell and begin your descent to the building's lowest level.

Move slowly as you near the bottom and watch out for guards in the area. Take a left along the corridor (watching out for hostiles in the room immediately to the left around the corner) and push forward past the small crate on the right. When you reach the junction, take a right, then immediately head through the doorway to the left. Finally, open the red door in the room to gain access to the engineer.

Hoist the engineer onto your shoulder then leave his cell. From here, take a left back into the corridor, then turn left again. A little way along the passage, you'll spot a door to the right leading into a large storage area. Head in, then locate the hole in the ceiling. Drop the engineer beneath it and Fulton him out to safety - this completes one of the mission's secret objectives.

When you're ready to continue, scour the nearby shelves for resources and other goodies, then leave via the door in the south-west wall. Climb the steps on the right and, once you reach ground level, locate the red shipping container to the south-west. Finally, make your way toward it.

As you near the container, bear left and approach the wooden awning. Just behind it, you'll spot a small gap between the rocks. Slip on through then wind your way down the hill, dropping from ledge to ledge until you're safely out of the hot zone.

Once you reach the main road, summon a chopper and direct it to the closest landing zone. To end the mission, board your ride and take to the skies. With the engineer now part of your team, you're able to upgrade your bionic arm using the R&D menu in your iDroid. What's more, you'll also receive the At Mother Base [3] cassette tape as your reward for completing the objective.


- Our walkthrough continues with a step-by-step guide to completing Where Do The Bees Sleep? in MGS 5.

- For the rest of our Metal Gear Solid 5 walkthrough, head back to the index page of this article.