Asshole Victim: All of the ones that feel no remorse or hesitation in killing the staff.Even the drill sergeants, who are supposed to literally drill the corp's internal culture into the new recruits, refer to them as 'soldiers'. Many times, the HECU troopers refer to themselves as 'soldiers', which is a huge Berserk Button for US Marines, who insist to be called 'marines' rather than a 'soldier'.A Maroon beret, used by one of the models, would indicate they are from the Army's airbone troops. That begin said, US Marines don't wear berets. While the US Military never used that kind of uniform note At the time the game was made, they used the M81 Woodland or the Three-colour desert, this gear was a protype developed in the 90s for urban warfare program called Operation Urban Warrior ◊, showing that Valve did a little bit of research. Played with in their individual uniforms, the HECU uses a white-and-grey camouflage with a black vest.

A Watsonian approach might justify this, since - as noted elsewhere on this page - the HECU may actually be a multi-branch effort that pulls equipment on its own terms, while a Doylist explanation is that they are Marines because Marines means they are more elite. Their individual equipment also ranges from heavily outdated (such as using the Mk2 Grenade, which had been replaced by the 1960's) to never fielded by a real-world military force (such as the Desert Eagle). Air Force F-16 fighters (real-world marines use AV-8B Harrier II fighters). Army's M2 Bradley IFVs (real-world marines use LAV-25) and AH-64 Apache helicopters (real-world marines use AH-1W Super Cobras), as well as U.S. Although they're identified as marines, HECU soldiers deploy various types of military hardware that are not used by U.S.They have corpsmen, who are actually from the Navy and have been specially trained to work and fight alongside the Marines. Marines, which make up the HECU's foot soldiers, do not use medics. The HECU medical personnel are referred to, both in-universe and out, as medics.They regularly throw grenades, take cover, and work as a squad to attack from multiple angles. Artificial Brilliance: They were praised as being the first tactically intelligent enemies in video games.Others, however, openly question as to why they're engaging unarmed civilians as opposed to dealing with the aliens, and by the time they pull out of Black Mesa, are more concerned with getting out the facility together. On one hand, many of them remorselessly massacre unsuspecting Black Mesa personnel. While they still treat the scientists and security guards harshly, their more redeeming features are emphasized, namely their determination to fight their way out of Black Mesa, killing any more Xen or Race X Aliens invading the facility, and their loyalty to one another. Anti-Hero: The ones featured in Opposing Force are this.It's not hard to sympathize with some of them. Many of them strongly disagree with killing the staff and only do so because they are afraid of being executed themselves. They are trying to thwart an alien invasion, and they are willing to stay behind and die just to kill as many of them as they can. Anti-Villain: The more noble ones are this.Achilles' Heel: The Marines in the original Half Life and its expansions couldn't move and shoot at the same time, so they were vulnerable when repositioning or coming around corners, though they normally had a squad providing covering fire for them when they advance to compensate for this.They end up having to pull out, leaving behind dozens of their own troops in the process, while the Black Ops took over the operation. 'Government cover-ups were not in my job description.'The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit is a special forces unit who was sent to Black Mesa to clear up the aliens, it is soon discovered that they are also under orders to silence all the Black Mesa personnel.

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