| « | Woah, don't get upset Razor! I just thought you'd like to know is all, I know how you worry about us. Ian Simmons
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Ian Simmons was a supporting character in ArmA 2's Operation Harvest Red campaign.
Background[]
The team leader of USMC Force Recon callsign Sabre Team, Simmons was deployed to the wartorn nation of Chernarus alongside the rest of the 27th Marine Expeditionary Unit (27th MEU) to support allied forces in their fight against the Chernarussian Movement of the Red Star (ChDKZ) insurgent group.
Operation Harvest Red (2009)[]
Prior to the USMC's planned invasion of the renegade province, Sabre Team was deployed alongside several other Force Recon fireteams to neutralise vital targets along the coast.
On the early hours of October 8th, they were sent on a covert raid to infiltrate the village of Mogilevka which was being used by the ChDKZ as a staging ground and munitions depot. After succeeding in neutralising their objective, they moved further south towards the coast to destroy the ChDKZ's coastal defences.
However, Simmons' team was compromised when one of his subordinates was pinned down by insurgents at a village at the base of Pik Kozlova. Simmons' team held their ground and helped identify their targets with smoke for another fireteam, callsign Razor, so that they could laser designate the targets for off-shore artillery.
After all targets were destroyed, Simmons regrouped his team and made their way on foot towards the outskirts of the regional capital Chernogorsk. As the invasion commenced in full swing, they were reassigned to assist both government forces and the MEU's ground troops besieging the city.
Simmons' team were eventually able to identify a warehouse where the notorious leader of the insurgent group, Gregori Lopotev was hiding along with his second-in-command Mikola Bardak. Simmons' team relayed this information to Razor, who had also just arrived in the city not too long ago. After breaching the warehouse and capturing the leaders, Razor Team failed to check-in after they had been picked up by a (unbeknownst to the Marines at the time) CDF double agent, who betrayed the Americans and freed the ChDKZ leaders.
Simmons' team tracked down their whereabouts and immediately assaulted the warehouse where the Marines had been kidnapped. They managed to take down several insurgents, including another high ranking member of the group, during the assault.
| « | Simmons: Talk to me Razor! Where's the rest of them? Cooper: Through that door about 30 seconds ago! Go man, go! Simmons: Steve get after them. Pete check Miles, Sanjeev, help me here man. Moments after breaching the warehouse, Simmons asks Matthew Cooper about the whereabouts of the other ChDKZ leaders
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However, Simmons team was too late to stop Lopotev from escaping. Razor's team leader, Patrick Miles, had also passed away from his wounds after suffering a fatal gunshot.
In the days that followed their escape, Simmons and Sabre Team were later reassigned to hunt down the fugitives but mostly unsuccessful (Razor succeeded in apprehending Lopotev's aide-de-camp, however). One week later, their search area expanded to the areas north of the region, and are dispatched to the newly established FOB Manhattan alongside Razor Team.
| « | Congrats on this big achievement, Razor, next time Shaftoe looks for a personal trainer, I'll recommend you. Simmons mocks Cooper after they show up riding mountain bikes before heading to Manhattan
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Captain Shaftoe initially considered offering Simmons team with the task of leading the manhunt for Lopotev but he declined, opting to hand over the task to Razor instead out of respect for the members' loss of their team leader.
Death[]
| « | Simmons, Spukayev himself is at Khelm so your part in this won't take long. Rendezvous with him there and provide a safe escort back here for extraction. Shaftoe tasks Simmons' team with bringing "Spukayev" back to Manhattan for extraction
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After the Chernarussian National Party (NAPA) are blamed for an apparent terrorist attack in the heart of the Russian Federation's capital, the Russian military is authorised to deploy into the country as part of a "peacekeeping" operation.
With the MEU's mandate to intervene in the civil war expired, they are forced to evacuate from the country within 48 hours to make way for the Russians. Simmons' team and Razor are the last of Marines left in the country, as the bulk of the force had already returned to the MEU's lead ship.
Under Captain Dressler's advice, Shaftoe tasks Simmons' team with bringing back a ChDKZ defector who apparently had information regarding a so-called "Operation Cobalt"; a plan supposedly related to the terrorist attack. Simmons' team are quickly sent to retrieve the man and bring him back to Manhattan for debriefing.
| « | Simmons: Hey boys, just thought you'd like to know we're back at Manhattan already. Just getting ready to bug out with Spukayev here, Manhattan's... Cooper: Yeah yeah that's great Simmons. You called me up for that? Get off the line asshole, come on! Simmons' mocking reply to Cooper's team after heading back to Manhattan first
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Having arrived back at Manhattan with "Spukayev" in tow first, Simmons jokingly radios Razor over their slowness in getting back with the documents from Spukayev's safehouse. Just before Simmons could continue with his banter, loud explosions are suddenly heard around Manhattan. Mortars immediately wipe out half of his team, and the rest of the Marines at the FOB are quickly incapacitated by gunfire - Simmons included.
Regaining their senses, he and his surviving team members are roused from their daze by what appeared to be a blond-haired Russian Spetsnaz operative. The man immediately demanded to know the whereabouts of Razor's members, specifically pointing to Matthew Cooper by name.
Simmons and his team refused to answer the blond man, greatly infuriating and causing him to lash out. The Spetsnaz operative unsheathed his knife and stabbed each of the Marines in cold blood. Simmons was the last to be executed, but pretended to be dead just as the Spetsnaz team made their getaway from the ruined FOB.
Heavily injured, Simmons could do little but hope that Cooper's team managed to make it back in time. Luckily, he heard Razor Team's calls and struggled to call out to them. Razor's corpsman immediately tried to treat Simmons' wounds, but it became plainly obvious that his injuries were mortal. Even so, Simmons immediately divulged what he knew about Sabre's attackers.
| « | Simmons: They were asking for you! By your damn names. You guys are so fucked! (laughs weakly) There was this one really blond guy, Russian for sure. "Are you Razor? Where is Cooper?" He flipped when we wouldn't tell him, just went down the line and knifed us, one, two, three, like that... I'm pretty screwed, right Scarlet? O'Hara: Don't call me that. Simmons: Hey come here... (whispers) O'Hara: Bastard. Rodriguez: What'd he say? O'Hara: He said he saved our ass again... Simmons final words to Razor Team
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Having lost too much blood at this point, Simmons finally passed away but not before jokingly pointing out to Brian O'Hara that he had rescued them once again.
Personality and Appearance[]
Simmons was a middle-aged Caucasian male with a short, pale brown head of hair. He wore the standard gear of a Force Recon fireteam leader, consisting of a Rhodesian Recon Vest (RRV) plate carrier, and a sage green-coloured Flame Resistant Organizational Gear (FROG) uniform with MARPAT-camouflaged pants.
In most cases, Simmons wore a simple olive green baseball cap with a headset. For direct assault missions, he opted to wear a tan-coloured Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH) and a heavier, custom RRV for close quarters.
| « | Simmons: Meow! Catfight! Calm down girls you might break a nail. Rodriguez: Fuck off Simmons! Simmons: Hey that's no way to talk to the guy who saved your life! If it wasn't for me you'd be rotting in that warehouse. The standard of Simmons' bickering with the members of Razor Team
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Always ready to answer with an arrogant insult or friendly joke, Simmons constantly competed against Razor's team leader (Miles and later, Cooper) both on- and off-duty. They always lobbied to be chosen for deployment onto missions in order to score more "points" over the other.
In spite of their rivalry, Simmons was an honourable individual and was not so petty to the point of getting in their way of "revenge". Following Miles' death and Cooper's promotion to team leader, he respected their decision to continue their deployment; highlighted by how swiftly he handed over the mission to hunt Lopotev without even a moment's hesitation.
Trivia[]
- Simmons and the rest of his team members are the only named USMC characters that are shown wearing two different outfits; his regular recon uniform and unique "assault" gear when breaching the warehouse.
Gallery[]
