Soviet officers

Major Raikov salutes two other Soviet officers in Groznyj Grad, Tselinoyarsk.

As members of the Soviet military, officers held positions of authority at various military bases.

History

Warning: The following information is from outside Hideo Kojima's core "Metal Gear Saga." Its canonicity within the continuity is disputed, therefore reader discretion is advised.[?]

Shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis, various officers of the Red Army were relocated to the San Hieronymo Peninsula, Colombia, to operate at a secret Soviet missile base, with female officers often assigned to desk work.

Non-"Metal Gear Saga" information ends here.

Operation Snake Eater

See also: Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater

In August 1964, various GRU officers under the command of Colonel Volgin were stationed in Tselinoyarsk at Graniny Gorki and Groznyj Grad. EVA also disguised herself as a KGB officer held against her will by Volgin by the name of Tatyana in order to infiltrate Groznyj Grad. Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov was also one of the higher-ranking officers within Tselinoyarsk, below only Volgin, to which he frequently abused his authority by beating several of his men, lower-ranked officers included, for sport. During this time, the officers will often timidly beg forgiveness for troubling Raikov, or in some cases even thank Raikov for beating them up. Some of the officers also got irritated at Raikov's sleeping on duty, as he had done it multiple times, and would order him to get up despite his being of a higher rank than them.

After infiltrating Groznyj Grad, Naked Snake managed to knock Raikov unconscious and disguise himself as the Major in order to infiltrate the West Wing weapons lab, but was later discovered. Raikov was evacuated from the base at some point before Snake's return to Groznyj Grad. Volgin was later critically wounded north of the Groznyj Grad rail bridge, after which Snake and EVA escaped Tselinoyarsk.

Post-Snake Eater

Warning: The following information is from outside Hideo Kojima's core "Metal Gear Saga." Its canonicity within the continuity is disputed, therefore reader discretion is advised.[?]

During détente, the Soviet officers on the San Hieronymo Peninsula, alongside the other personnel, were abandoned by the Soviet government. Their supply shipments and communication channels were cut in order to allow the world to believe they had gone renegade in the event that the missile base was discovered. Because of this, most of the officers felt sore about this betrayal, although the base's commander Colonel Skowronski, seemed to retain his loyalty to the Soviet Union despite this. Volgin's comatose body was secretly recovered by Soviet scientists, and was experimented on. In addition, Major Raikov was stripped of his rank after Volgin's officially-reported demise, due to his frequent abuse of his authority, and promptly exiled to the peninsula shortly after it was abandoned, where the resident soldiers imprisoned him within the Western Wilderness and frequently humiliated him.

San Hieronymo Incident

Main article: San Hieronymo Incident

After Gene and his FOX unit took over the San Hieronymo Peninsula, the Soviet officers of both genders were tasked with securing the base. However, one of the officers, despite his bitterness towards the Soviet government for abandoning them, was shocked when he learned that FOX was apparently intending to launch the stolen ICBMG into Russia. The officer, after Snake stole the launch documents, was later imprisoned beneath his stationed area, the Soviet patrol base. Various female Soviet officers were frequently stationed at the security base and the warhead storage facility, although a male officer that manned the security room was present in the latter location. A female Soviet officer was later imprisoned in the warhead storage facility, due to factors such as homesickness, low morale, as well as having loyalty problems.

Colonel Skowronski, the former base commander, was also ousted from power by Gene, and was forced into hiding at the harbor. Various Soviet officers of both genders later defected to Naked Snake's resistance group in order to stop Gene. Colonel Skowronski's hiding spot was later uncovered by Python, who was searching for Naked Snake and later imprisoned within a cattle cage on board the tanker, although he was later freed by Naked Snake. The resistance later attempted to interrogate a Soviet officer in charge of the silo in regards to the whereabouts of Naked Snake after the latter was captured.

Non-"Metal Gear Saga" information ends here.

Phantom Pain Incident

See also: Hospital Escape and Phantom Pain Incident

Soviet officers occasionally were present in Afghanistan, although because of their directly leading forces into battle, they wore combat uniforms instead of non-commissioned officer uniforms during this time. Volgin, who had been awakened from his coma due to the events of Operation Snake Eater, also was present, although he was aiding XOF (who ironically had originally been affiliated with the CIA before breaking away from Cipher) due to desiring revenge against Big Boss. He also wore his Soviet trench uniform before it was destroyed at the hospital when fighting XOF while acting as a third party.

Uniform

Generally, the Soviet uniform was green with red and yellow pauldrons indicating the wearer's rank, as well as double breasted pockets (which depending on the officer's gender was either angled [male] or straight-lined [female]), a lime-green tie, black belts with a side overall restraint, black jackboots, and breeches. Sometimes they also wear a commissar's cap (or a beret in the case of female officers). Female uniforms also included pips on them. In at least one case, the Soviet uniform also had various ribbon bars to indicate the kind of service and accomplishments they made while in service. These uniforms were generally worn by Soviet personnel within Tselinoyarsk and to a lesser extent at the San Hieronymo Peninsula while either indoors or while not on active duty.

At least some Soviet officers wore a variant that was a mixture of the top of the above uniforms, as well as a trenchcoat. Colonel Volgin wore this variant over his rubber suit. The former base commander for San Hieronymo Peninsula, Colonel Skowronski, wore a similar uniform to that of Volgin.

The Soviet officers in Afghanistan didn't wear this sort of uniform, largely because they were on active duty. Nonetheless, they did have slight differences from the standard uniform such as a beret.

Behind the scenes

Soviet officers appear in those games in the Metal Gear series that feature the Soviet military. Although they do not appear directly in the original Metal Gear, the Enemy Uniform that the player procures in Outer Heaven resembles that of a Soviet officer.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Both Majors Ocelot and Raikov share the same rank in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (MGS3), but they wear different insignia. The correct insignia, featuring two lines along the shoulder strap with a single middle size star, is worn by Raikov. The insignia worn by Ocelot, featuring one line along the shoulder strap with three small size stars in a triangle, and a fourth past the top point of the triangle, is that of a Soviet Captain. Similarly, both insignia have the wrong color (like all officer insignia in the game): in the game, officer shoulder straps are a branch color and the straps are gold, like soldiers and sergeant parade shoulder straps; in real life, lines along the shoulder strap (one for junior officers, two for senior officers) are a branch color, and an officer's shoulder strap itself has a uniform color for everyday uniform, which is gold on parade uniforms. In addition, despite Tatyana technically belonging to the KGB instead of GRU, the former of which lacked rank insignia, she has rank insignia on her uniform. Namely, her shoulder strap had a single star on the end with a single gold line (which implies that she held the rank of Lieutenant). EVA once referred to them as enemy soldiers during a Codec call.

The Officer Uniform, in conjunction with the Raikov Mask, is the only disguise in MGS3 that allows Naked Snake to get away with actions that would normally break cover, including being discovered in a Cardboard Box, although attack dogs will remain suspicious. Soldiers will stop and salute the player during an encounter, which the player can respond to in kind. If the player hits a Soviet officer while disguised as Raikov, the officer will say in a nervous tone "Forgive me for troubling you, sir!" or in some cases say "Thank you, sir!" If the player calls EVA, she will imply that the reason why the soldiers act this way after getting beat up is due to it being a typical behavior of Raikov's.

The Soviet officer enemy type is only present for indoor facilities such as Graniny Gorki and Groznyj Grad.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops/Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (MPO), the player can recruit various officers. They usually carry weapons, ammunition, and rations. They also have three character models. In addition, because of the recruitment procedure of MPO, the officers won't grow suspicious of the player if the player uses an officer for the mission of the same gender as the other officers, barring Raikov, given that they don't commit suspicious actions (such as rolling, pointing a weapon, or crawling). If the player either is caught by them or manages to blow their cover (depending on whether the player character is playing an officer or not), the Soviet officers will attack, which when up close, depending on the gender of the officer, the officer will either slash at the player to knock him/her down or knee the player in the groin.

Name	Description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus	Image
Female Officer A	A female officer in the Soviet Army, sent to the San Hieronymo Peninsula on a top-secret mission. Used to work a desk job, but was assigned to secure the base after the FOX rebellion. Squeamish about insects.
Female Officer B	A female officer in the Soviet Army, sent to the San Hieronymo Peninsula on a top-secret mission. Used to be a desk jockey, but was assigned to secure the base after FOX took over. An avid equestrian.
Female Officer C	A female officer in the Soviet Army, sent to the San Hieronymo Peninsula on a top-secret mission. Formerly a desk jockey, but was assigned to secure the base after the FOX rebellion. An unparalleled seamstress.
High Rank Officer A	A high-ranking officer in the Soviet Army, sent to the San Hieronymo Peninsula on a top-secret mission. Relegated to guarding the base now that FOX has usurped the chain of command. Doesn't like sweets.
High Rank Officer B	A high-ranking officer in the Soviet Army, sent to the San Hieronymo Peninsula on a top-secret mission. Relegated to guarding the base now that FOX has assumed command. Plays a mean game of darts.
High Rank Officer C	A high-ranking officer in the Soviet Army, sent to the San Hieronymo Peninsula on a top-secret mission. Reassigned to guarding the base now that FOX has usurped the chain of command. Would rather be fishing.

They make a reappearance in the expansion pack Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, where they can either be captured directly via Infinity mode, or otherwise recruited via the passcode system. The passcodes for acquiring them vary depending on whether it is the Japanese or American version of the game. The passwords are as follows:

Character	Japanese	U.S.
Female Officer A	FEWMDPJFIMIP	UZZQYRPXM86
Female Officer B	IQXKOUXSAXE	QRQQ7GWKHJ
Female Officer C	EUCZRHXIPPZS	MVNDAZAP8DWE
High-Rank Officer A	IZMXNKFAB	DVB2UDTQ5Z
High-Rank Officer B	WQPDMOXVN	84ZEC4X5PJ6
High-Rank Officer C	QEICETALFHE	DTAZ3QRQQDU

See also

• Soviet scientists
• Soviet engineers
• Soviet soldiers
• Flame troopers