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Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The Central
Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Directorate of Operations (DO), which is headed
by a Deputy Director for Operations (DDO), is responsible for handling
covert actions conducted on the Agency's behalf. Within the DO, are a number
of subsections, including Counterterrorism, Counternarcotics,
Counterintelligence Staff (CIS), Covert Action Staff (CAS), Special
Operations, and others. Of these groups, the Special Operations unit is
tasked with conducting paramilitary (PM) covert operations.
The Special Activities Staff (SAS)
The Special Activities Staff (SAS) is one of the least known covert units
operating on behalf of the US Government's Directorate of Operations.
Operating in teams as large as 16, or as small as one, the SAS is considered
to be among the world's top special operations units. SAS personnel
have been described as being particularly skilled in
counterterrorist/hostage rescue operations, and are said to capable of
"taking down" any type of vehicle, aircraft, ship, building, or facility.
Candidates for the
SAS are primarily drawn from two sources: The first of these is the US
military's Special Mission Units (SMUs) such as the Army's Combat
Applications Group (CAG) better known as "Delta Force" (the 1st Special
Forces Operational Detachment-Delta), as well as the US Navy's Naval Special
Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU-formerly known as SEAL Team SIX).
Other prospective candidates are drawn from and former members of elite
military units such as the USMC's Force Reconnaissance Units; the US Army
Special Forces; and Navy's SEAL teams, or from within the ranks of the
Central Intelligence Agency itself.
Special Operation Groups (SOGs)
The SAS provides a
pool from which the various divisions within the Agency may draw trained
personnel to form a Special Operations Group, or SOG. SOGs are
normally "short-term teams" that carry out paramilitary operations such as
sabotage; friendly personnel/material recovery; threat personnel/material
snatches; bomb damage assessment (BDA); counterterrorist (CT) operations;
raids; hostage rescues, and other activities as directed by only the
President or Secretary of Defense.
A SOG detachment
would be comprised of members from one, or more the SASs three sections,
which include a Ground Branch, Air Branch, and Maritime Branch, depending
upon the needs of the SOG, and its mission tasking. Once organized, a SOG
would travel to its selected Area of Operations (AO), and execute its
mission as directed by the DDO through the local Chief of Station, or
whoever was tasked with carrying out the operation.
Commander Voodoo
Former CIA Spy/NSA
Operative Commander Darren Ricchi Callsign: VOODOO had a relatively short
but illustrious career with the CIA from May of 1995 through June of 2000.
His career cut short and ended abruptly after being charged with conspiracy,
conflict of interest, making false claims against the Clinton
Administration, and use of extraordinary and excessive force in 3 of his
covert missions. Despite pleading no contest and reluctantly resigning
from the CIA, Commander Ricchi was sentenced to nearly three years in a
maximum security federal penitentiary, and was forced to pay almost $78,000
in fines.
On December 2, 2000 at approximately 01:00 Commander Ricchi escaped from
prison only 8 hours after being placed behind bars. In what was his prison
cell, no trace of Ricchi, or any evidence to point to how he actually
escaped was ever found. He seemingly just disappeared.
Despite his conviction, Commander Ricchi was still revered in some NSA
circles as an almost mythical figure.
Recognize My Disease (RMD)
In December of 2002
Commander Ricchi, call sign "VOODOO" was located by members of the 1st
Special Forces Operational Detachment DELTA "Delta Force" by order of
Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Ricchi was brought by dark of
night to the Pentagon Underground.
In the light of
ever growing worldwide terrorist threats Secretary Rumsfeld secretly asked
Commander Ricchi to lead a team forming the CIA's only permanent SOG,
under a new division of the CIA's Special Activities Staff
called the NSA Elite Special Operations Group DELTA
Code Named simply: "Recognize My Disease" ...Commander Ricchi agreed.
RMD is ultimately
responsible for U.S. counter-terrorist operations in the maritime and/or
clandestine environment. RMD has as a primary function intelligence,
counter-intelligence, investigative, and national security work, and the
provisions of Chapter 71 of title 5 of the United States Code cannot be
applied to this organization in a manner consistent with national security
requirements and considerations. In short, they are above National and
International law.
Ultramarine blue signifies the air and sea mission, green denotes ground
missions, while black denotes the Special Operations operating environment
combining the power of Air, Sea and Land. The gold v-shaped figure
represents victory and power. The three symbols, trident, lightning bolt and
dagger are adapted from the Special Operations Command, Atlantic Command,
the predecessor of Special Operations Command Joint Forces Command. The
trident, a symbol of naval prowess, symbolizes the Navy Seal teams and
special boat units. The lightning bolt denotes the Air Force Special
Operations, rapid response and aerospace power. The dagger associated with
the Army forces (Special Forces, Rangers, PSYOP and Civil Affairs), also
represents total military preparedness and readiness for deployment. Each
symbol represents the three parts that together form the whole the
CIA's only permanent SOG team made up of the best of the best from the CIA's
SAS.
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We are a SAS
based SOCOM Clan
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Responsible for, but not
limited to, covert/clandestine counterterrorist and hostage rescue
missions
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Operating in Teams as Large
as 16, or as Small as One
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Liquid Team
(Able): All Around [4-16]
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Fire Team
(Bravo): Assault [4-8]
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Wind Team
(Charlie) Sniping/Recon [1-4]
The Real Story of =\RMD/=
On December 28th of 2002 a
30 year old man logged onto SOCOM: US Navy SEALS for the first time. He
created a character called "DevilSquirrel." VooDoo, the
nickname all his friends called him in real life had already been taken.
"That’s evil, yet funny" he thought with a half smile on his face. He
managed to navigate the menus and joined a game in progress with 15 other
people in a sunshiny map called Abandoned. The terrorist character he
picked in the armory had a .50 caliber sniper weapon, a pistol, some
claymores, and m67 grenades.
As he came into the map the
scores from the previous round came up... It had been round 10 of 11.
Suddenly the round started and DevilSquirrel watched as all 7 other people
on the terrorist squad ran off into battle. The map felt so vast.
He was intimidated by not knowing where to go or even what button did what
on the controller. The controller that had felt so comfortable in his
hand for so long playing sports and racing games, suddenly felt foreign.
With the SOCOM manual on the floor, he looked down and read aloud "Shoot...
R1. Okay, I can handle that" he said confidently.
He managed to maneuver
DevilSquirrel to a nice spot on very back of the map, on top of a stone
temple. Like most "n00bs" he sat there saying nothing, "camping,"
waiting for something to shoot at. There was a lot of chatter on the
headset from his teammates but DevilSquirrel sat quietly and just listened
looking for targets. The TV blasted sounds of heavy gun fire and the
Thai language that was being translated at the top of the screen saying "GOT
HIM" and "MAN DOWN" and "FIRE IN THE HOLE."
What seemed like forever went by
without seeing a fellow terrorist or an "enemy SEAL." A teammate came
on the radio and said "Hey Squirrel, there is only one guy left. We
kill him and we win! Shit, he’s right in front..." BANG! "MAN
DOWN" came up on the screen. It was now just DevilSquirrel and one
SEAL.
On the rock formation directly in
front on him he suddenly saw movement for the first time since the beginning
of the round. It was the enemy, and he didn’t see DevilSquirrel.
In fact he was just sitting on top of the rock looking the wrong way.
DevilSquirrel moved his crosshairs to right on the oblivious seal and pulled
the L1 button... Nothing happened! He looked down at the manual. Oh yeah!
R1... BANG!! "TERRORISTS WIN" DevilSquirrel had gotten his first kill.
"That was like getting a walk off home run your first major league at bat"
he thought. "Nice!" he said aloud.
When they got to the lobby
everyone typed messages saying things like "gg" and "gfg" a few messages
even said "nice job Squirrel!" DevilSquirrel was stoked!
The next map was called Blizzard
where DevilSquirrel went 0-9 and ended up getting voted off for camping
under a pine tree while the bomb was being planted on the other end of the
map. And that’s how it went for about a week. DevilSquirrel was one of
the worst SOCOM players every game he played.
DevilSquirrel was different than
other "n00bs" though. He was smart, actually very smart, college
educated with an IQ of 146. As time went on he stopped camping so much
and learned as he watched others. He watched what the best players
did, and learned what patterns most people followed. He noticed that
most people did the same things over and over again. He started
getting a lot kills just by being at the right place at the right time and
doing the opposite of what most other people did. Every once in a
while he’d get lucky and get an MVP. He understood the game, but
didn’t have the 3rd person shooter skills to back up what seemed to be a
"6th sense" of knowing where the enemy would be even before they knew where
they were going to go.
Enter his good friend Rudi who
was more of a "gamer" than he ever was. Rudi got the game and taught
him things like how to strafe when shooting, and what controller settings
were best. Rudi known as <:X:> (called "X") was now DevilSquirrel's
SOCOM mentor.
Every time DevilSquirrel died
first, he’d watch what <:X:> did, how he played, and how he just overwhelmed
the opposition with immense firepower. It was time to start following
<:X:> around and getting in shootouts! Boy was that fun! It was fun,
and all the while DevilSquirrel’s play consistently improved.
After days of constant assaults
on their favorite game; "Alaska Medley" in "Asia South" they began to know
some of the same people playing with them all the time. One was a guy
who called himself <[AH]>ZAYDA+ who was the leader of a clan called
Assassin Hybrid. He was an absolute badass self-proclaimed "Pimp" who
usually got MVP. When he didn’t get the MVP it was either
DevilSquirrel or <:X:> who got it.
ZAYDA was a good guy. He
was very funny and his personality meshed well with <:X:> and DevilSquirrel.
One day, after playing with each other for weeks, ZAYDA said to the duo "So
when are you two going to join AH?"
<:X:> and DevilSquirrel left in
mid game coming back in the room with the names <[AH]> VooDoo and
<[AH]> X and where promptly invited to the clan Assassin Hybrid by
ZAYDA.
As X and VooDoo ran with the
likes of ZAYDA, Liquid, Raider, pimpjuice, SkyLine and the others for <[AH]>
their skill grew at an accelerated pace. VooDoo knew this would happen
sooner or later. They were suddenly what only could be described at
"elite gamers" in the world of SOCOM. VooDoo and X could go into any
room on any map and real off 30 or more combined kills. But it was in
Blizzard and Frostfire where their legend grew. It was in these Alaska
Medley rooms that the duo would combine for 40-50 kills every game!
They were unstoppable together.
Although VooDoo and X loved
playing with <[AH]> their schedules didn’t match up well with when the rest
of <[AH]> was on, and <[AH]> was very much into clan wars, something that
VooDoo and X just weren't interested in. VooDoo began to hunger to be
the leader of his own clan... a clan that would be "freeplay based".
A clan that he knew would eventually be "The Ultimate Freeplay Clan".
In the beginning of January of
2003 VooDoo and X had started working on a concept for the fledgling clan
and built a full website. Although they had enjoyed their time with
<[AH]> on January 28, 2003 it was time for the two to start their own
clan. They created new names; =\RMD/= VOODOO+ (the "+" was a
tribute to ZAYDA who had taught VooDoo so much), and =\RMD/= X.
The new clan was to be known as "RECOGNIZE MY DISEASE." The
name came from lyrics in the Alice in Chains song, "Confusion".
Now, it was off to get some clan members. It was easy to pick up new
members when the leaders of the clan got the MVP almost every game.
The first person to join RMD was a "total newb" called SemiNole.
There wasn’t enough room to put the clan tag in front of SemiNole so when he
came back to the game he had the name =\RMD/= NOLE. Although
Nole was new to this 3rd person shooter thing too, Nole learned fast. It
didn’t take long before he had traded his tent in for a pair of sneakers and
was running into battle with his M4A1-SD blazing! Now MVP’s were being split
3 ways, and RMD accounted for 90% of the kills in any given "Alaska Medley"
game!
As time went on, KORE (one of
VOODOO’s close friends) was added to the roster... then 2 of NOLE’s buddies:
RED and 3rd Degree. Pretty soon the Alaska Medleys of the US Central 6
and US East 2 were being dominated by a full clan of 16 people.
RECOGNIZE MY DISEASE had established itself as one of the big boys on
the block.
What made =\RMD/= different was its organization, comradely, full website,
and the fact they existed to just have fun! They communicated well on the
battlefield and by instant messenger. This group of guys became friends in
real life. They have persevered through clan members coming and going,
through 2 attempted hostile takeovers, and through the change-over to SOCOM
II and through 2 very bad games in SOCOM 3 and CA.
=\RMD/= reestablished itself in SOCOM Confrontation on release day as an
SAS based clan and continues its tradition of "Freeplay" in SOCOM: US
Navy Seals Confrontation.
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