Metal Gear Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Metal Gear Wiki
RAT PT 01

The logo of Rat Patrol Team 01.

"Know the threats. Provide the solutions."
―Rat Patrol Team 01 slogan

Rat Patrol Team 01 was the name of a special forces unit assigned to the United States Army Criminal Investigation Department led by Meryl Silverburgh.

History[]

Background[]

Rat Patrol Team 01 was tasked with investigating private military activity for the CID in the 2010s. Five other CID inspection teams had previously gone undercover inside Liquid Ocelot's PMCs, though they were discovered and killed a few months prior to Solid Snake's infiltration of the Middle East in 2014.[1] Rat Patrol was then ordered to continue monitoring Liquid's activities, ultimately tracking him down to the Middle East.

Guns of the Patriots Incident[]

See also: Liquid Sun, Solid Sun, Third Sun, Twin Suns, Old Sun, and Naked Sin/Naked Son
Ratpatrol

The four members of Rat Patrol Team 01 in 2014, (from left to right) Ed, Meryl Silverburgh, Jonathan and Akiba.

Rat Patrol were assigned as Solid Snake's contacts in the Middle East, unaware that they had been enlisted by the Patriots themselves in order to eliminate the threat Liquid Ocelot posed to them (their abbreviated name of "RAT PT 01" was actually an anagram of "PATR10T"). The team fought off a unit of Liquid's Haven Troopers after their rendezvous point was discovered, engaging them in combat during their escape. However, most of the team (with the exception of Johnny), was later incapacitated after Liquid's initial attempt to hack into the Sons of the Patriots system, to which Rat Patrol were connected. They survived, and left the Middle East to investigate Liquid's new whereabouts.

Rat Patrol later led the U.S. Army-Marines joint task force in Eastern Europe to try and capture Liquid Ocelot on the Volta River, but were all incapacitated after he successfully gained control over SOP, launching a counter-offensive before escaping once more.

Having survived the incident in Eastern Europe, Meryl and Johnny led an assault on Liquid's warship Outer Haven with Snake. They were able to hold off reinforcements while Snake disabled Liquid's war machine. Because of the SOP system being used by Liquid Ocelot, Rat Patrol also gained several naked weapons from gun launderer (and secret Patriot agent) Drebin 893 for use during the assault.

Following the ordeal, Johnny married Meryl, with Ed serving as minister, and Jonathan as the best man.

Members[]

Equipment[]

Like the PMCs, Rat Patrol Team 01 used the SOP system, which enabled them to share each other's senses and operate more efficiently as a unit. The FOXHOUND patches they wore during operations hid their real purpose for occupying the battlefield. The standard issue weapon for the members of the Rat Patrol, bar Meryl, was the Heckler & Koch XM8. Each member of Rat Patrol Team 01 wielding one had a different variant. Ed, who served as radio operator/sniper of the team, was equipped with the sharpshooter variant. Johnny Sasaki used the XM8 compact carbine. Jonathan used the standard size carbine with the XM320 Grenade Launcher attachment. Meryl, as previously indicated, did not use the XM8. Instead, she used two versions of the Desert Eagle: the 6-inch(152.4mm) barreled and the 10-inch (254mm) barreled model with a mounted scope.

Sasaki and Silverburgh wore balaclavas, implying that they may have also been standard issue within Rat Patrol. Their radios were the SINCGARS system, which Meryl briefly used to contact Solid Snake upon realizing that he was actually present in the Middle East to assassinate Liquid Ocelot, rather than carry out threat assessment. Their uniforms included khaki cargo pants and knee pads which resemble the Hatch Centurion. Their upper body garments were largely derived from Sneaking Suit technology. Over their torsos they wore Diamondback Tactical plate carriers, with the plates visibly being within. On the plate carrier and war belt were magazine, grenade, other various pouches used to carry specialized equipment, such as one of Silverburgh's Desert Eagle being holstered over her sternum. Drop leg mounting systems were used by each member, two of which used a pair. The gloves they used were the now discontinued Hatch SOG 750 nomex/kevlar gauntlet style gloves, designed for an emphasis on retaining tactile perception while providing protection against heat, abrasion, laceration, and some impact. The boots were the similarly now discontinued Merrel Sawtooth. Johnny is the only one of the four to wear anything over his eyes, this being a pair of sunglasses.

Logo and slogan[]

Rat Patrol's logo is fairly basic, featuring a blue background with gray borders at the top and bottom, as well as a stylized large font supplying the name of the group, or at least the abbreviated name. Below it in a smaller font is the slogan "Know the threats. Find the solutions.", while smaller text were below that.

Behind the scenes[]

Three members of Rat Patrol, two being Jonathan and Ed, take their names from Hideo Kojima's 1994 graphic adventure game Policenauts, from which Meryl originally took her name and character design.

Rat Patrol 01's logo and slogan were seen only once in the entire game, when Meryl contacts Snake via radio upon seeing his presence at Liquid Ocelot's main encampment while realizing that, contrary to his earlier claim of being in the Middle East to do "threat assessment," it was actually to assassinate Liquid. This was because, due to her using a SINCGARS radio system to contact Snake, she could not actually seen on the video feed.

Rat Patrol was also the name of a 1966 television series, in which four Allied troops are part of a long range attack team in the North African campaign during World War II. Rat Patrol is also the partial namesake of the Rat Islands in Alaska, located near the Fox Islands.

Rat Patrol later reappeared in the Konami-sponsored event E3 Battle, where they, via their combined efforts, defeated fellow Metal Gear character Kazuhira Miller in the first round despite the latter's combat experience.[2] They proceeded to face off against Solidus Snake in the second round, where they lost to him (although the percentage points implied that they won against him).

"RAT PATROL 01 FIRST APPEARED IN Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
Sent to investigate the FROGS Private Military Corporation. Members include Meryl Silverburgh, Ed, Jonathan, and Johnny Sasaki.
"
―Rat Patrol 01's bio from E3 Battle

They also appeared in the Versus battle on the series official site.

"STRENGTHS: Special Forces Skill, Hard to Kill, Sane
WEAKNESSES: No Specially Augmented Power Suits
FEATURED FACT: Led by Desert Eagle-bearing badass Meryl, the unit was so close-knit that Meryl married Johnny with Ed acting as minister and Jonathan as best man
FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION
"
-Rat Patrol in Versus Battle

Notes and references[]

  1. ^ Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008).
    Meryl Silverburgh: "We've lost five inspection teams in the past few months alone. They were all undercover inside Liquid's PMCs..."
  2. ^ Metal Gear Solid Facebook page
    Round 1, Day 2 of our Konami E3 Battle continues with 8 new match-ups @ www.konami.com/e3/battle/
    It's up to you to determine which characters will make it to Round 2, so vote now for who you think will win! Will Kaz be able use his experience to defeat the combined force of RAT PATROL 01? You decide!— with Azrael Dumas and Rodrigo Vergara.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots groups

Rat Patrol Team 01FROGSPhilanthropyThe PatriotsMiddle Eastern militiamenPrivate military companies

South American rebel soldiersParadise Lost ArmyBeauty and the Beast Unit

Advertisement