I've decided to put a Moddb page up for this due to the request I've received. This model pack replaces all models for Half-Life, Opfor, and Blue-Shift. But I also intend to replace models for these mods. Azure Sheep, Point of View, Sweet Half-Life, Escape, Case Closed, Decay, and my most favorite, Residual Point. Since Gman's Golden Model pack is somewhat either incomplete, or it taking a while to finish, I think i'll do my Ultimate Pack for Half-Life and it's Mods. Well what are you intending to replace, Luck3y Charms? Well, I intend to replace, yes, of course models. Sounds for Realistic effects like real sounding gunfire, And misc.
Well, As much as I love MARPAT, especially Desert MARPAT in an environment like Black Mesa, I just can't help but feel the want of returning the HECU to its roots.
Hold on now, before you tacticool gear whores flame me on why I'm reverting back to the standards HECU look, hear me out.
The HECU, as stated before is a Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) unit that is primarily consisting of Marine MARSOC Operators. That being said, while the HECU is alleged to have had a presence at Black Mesa for a while now, MARSOC itself wasn't officially established until 2005.
I'm sure you guys have all heard of the term "Special Forces" when discribing an elite military unit. But for the U.S. Military, the Army is the only branch that has Special Forces. Everyone else who fall under SOCOM (I.E. Navy Seals, Rangers, Delta Force, MARSOC, Pararescue, etc), Which the correct term is Special Operations, not Special Forces.
I'm not sure what Gearbox was doing labeling the Marines as a Special Forces unit when the Marine Corps at the time of Opposing Force's release didn't actually have a Special Operation unit. The closest thing at the time in 1999 was Force Reconnaissance. Whether it was a mistake of the DEVs, or the military in the Half-Life universe is on its own program, I personally now believe the Black Mesa incident takes place from 2005-08.
So no with the HECU being a fairly new unit attached to Security detail at Black Mesa, I'm sure the PCVs were surplused gear from the Gulf War era that was still in its experimental phase. The PCV is lacking the molle webbing that is popular in the armour today. But the HECU, using tactical gear such as Condor and Camel, will adapt to the molle issue.
So honestly, the HECU are a mix of Modern tactical gear and Gulf War era gear.
i dont have a problem with this so long as they aren't the only special units showcased .... Valve always did imply them to just be the "military" in general so having multiple special units be deployed as the governments 1st response or 1st wave would be logical. Their initial goal would be establishing an information black out and locking down the situation in general which they do fairly effectively and early in the game with the military checkpoints, roadblocks, and sweeper teams.
But once said special forces start loosing control IE the famous forget about free man were pulling out part of the game it would be logical to assume that by that point the government would start mobilizing its regular military for support like with the N.M. Air National Guard F-16 jets i talked about back in the day.
Basically seeing a transition of enemy types going from Special Operations units to conventional military units as the games story progresses would be not only logical but also cool as **** in my opinion.
Oh yeah. An Operation as big as the Black Mesa incident would definitely have a lot more military involvement than the HECU and (argueably) the Black Operators (who I still believe are some CIA-Paramilitary SOG unit which do exist in real life). But because of the secrecy, the regular Army and National Guardsmen wouldn't be mobilized in the facility itself. They'd, like you said, be tasked with blocking off roads and establishing a comms black out. But like the HECU, wouldn't be told the whole truth of what their mission is.
The reason the HECU were the selected SOCOM element to go in was due to already being conveniently stationed right next to it, and because they were established to fight in that environment. The government wouldn't try to bite the bullet in time trying to assemble other units like DEVGRU or Delta Force who's headquarters are on the otherside of the states. Rangers would be arguable, but the HECU were the primary shock troops.
Another reason for them is because they're already an SOCOM element consisting of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (assuming this takes place after 2003), and are already used to doing classified operations. The government could count on them keeping their mouths closed after the mission was over. But of course the survivors would be strictly monitored.
The closest to conventional military would be the Air Force, Army, and Marine air assets flying around. Kirtland and Canon Air Force Bases do have a Special Operations Air element, which explains the V-22s. USAF JTAC Operators would also likely be embedded with the HECU, but those guys operate behind the scenes, blending into the terrain too far away for Freeman to face off. Then you also have the Army Mech units, giving the Marines a lift. One could argue that those are meant to be LAVs, because the USMC doesn't operate the Bradley. I believe and Army Mech unit is attached to Santego as a means for the HECU Marines to have ground support. I mean, why spend money creating a LAV unit when the Marines could just piggyback from the Army? It's done in real life. Lord knows how many times I myself have road in Army, Navy, and Air Force equipment.
The regular armed forces are just regular people. People like you and I. They would NOT be ok with the order to kill civilians, let alone American Civilians. They would no way keep the word of an alien invasion a secret. By sending them in during the incident is just asking for the incident to be leaked to the public.
But AFTER the incident once the facility is nuked and the portal storms start to come in full force would the rest of the military element be fully mobilized in the area. It's arguable that Barney and Rosenburg were picked up and detained by the National Guard units. Because lets be real here. With the facility under heavy lockdown, WITH troops guarding and manning the roads, WITH air assets such as gunships, UAVs, and live satellite image, there's no way Barney could have gotten far.
TL:DR - Regular military forces, save for the aircraft like the USAF, USMC jets and Army helos, aren't going to make a appearance. However, the Black Operators do appear in this revisioned mod.
Sorry for the rant. I just like discussion military tactics and operations.
Well explained sir, but remember this words " The marines will not killing their own patriot American citizen, if they do so, that mean a same thing killing themselves " -one of a drill sergeant, from camp pendleton-
true but remember the HECU were in all likelihood not the 1st ones on the scene as in HL1 it is established very early on by BM survivors that get wind of rummers of "military" soldiers killing them.
this leads me to believe that the black ops were on the ground 1st possibly there even prior to the incident if they are in any way associated with the G-Man
Now given the rules of engagements and the amount of duress the HECU operators were under since their transports were shot down or scattered fairly quickly by randomly spawning Xen mantas and that they would be learning the actual truth from the black mesa survivors I doubt they would be very well shall we say level headed.
Lets face it facing an enemy you were NEVER trained to deal with phasing "randomly" into our reality from "in their perspective" god only knows were just screams FUBAR to me :/
This would lead the HECU to see BM survivors in the following light
Scientists = harmless for the most part and in general good people to question and ask "what the **** is going on?" for example
BM maintenance pers as scientist above only not really liable to be seen as guilty for anything given their roles.
BM Security = possible threat can be neutralized if they shoot at you as per rules of engagement.
Gordan Freeman and anyone else associated with the lambda project = kill that / those SOBs as this whole FUBAR mess
"as they the HECU would come to learn after considerable casualties mind you all"
is their fault and so would logically have quite a bit of animosity directed at anyone involved in that project.
Also remember people BM survivors and security more or less got wind of the "generic military in their eyes" IE black ops killing people and this would make them rather shall we say trigger happy and once the lead starts flying it inevitably always ends badly for one side or the other.
PS excuse any typos ModDB seems to be buggy again lately :/
The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit are also far from regular Marines. They have powered combat vests, laser tripmines, and sentry guns. You also see some digital maps and a few mounted magazine-feed rocket launchers in one chapter.
As for killing civilians, in Half-Life you hear some Marines who are upset about what they're doing. The first one is annoyed because none of the scientists he shoot fought back. The second one later in the game is more ****** about shooting civilians than whether or not they fight back. He says "I didn't sign on for this sh*t. Monsters, sure. But civilians? Who ordered this operation anyway?"
Also, Opposing Force shows us that after the HECU pulled out, what forces showed up next were anything BUT conventional ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Black ops arrive just in time to deal with some even worse aliens.
Maybe have them wearing 3 color desert or 6 color desert as a more old school camo that also suits the desert setting.
I've thought about something like that. I remember a mod back when HL-Improvement was active that had something exactly like that.
How to download this hecu version?I dont the desert camo.
*i do not like the desert camo