S.S.D.D.


 * "Same shit, different day."
 * — General Shepherd

"S.S.D.D." (Same Shit, Different Day) is the first single-player mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It serves as a tutorial to teach players basic gameplay mechanics, and takes place in the Fire Base Phoenix of Afghanistan. The player takes control of Joseph Allen.

Main Characters

 * Joseph Allen (Playable)
 * Sergeant Foley
 * Corporal Dunn
 * General Shepherd

Level Briefing
"S.S.D.D."

Day 1 - 15:30:27-34

PFC Joseph Allen

1st Bn., 75th Ranger Regiment

Fire Base Phoenix, Afghanistan

Walkthrough
The level starts with Private Firest Class Joseph Allen and Sergeant Foley on Firebase Phoenix training some local Afghan National Army (A.N.A.) soldiers to shoot properly, as Foley mentions that they have been "firing from the hip and spraying bullets all over the damn place". Sgt. Foley tells Allen to do a quick weapons demonstration. Allen picks up an M4A1 as he is told to demonstrate what the Afghan soldiers are meant to be doing, showing them how inaccurate firing from the hip is. Foley then instructs PFC Allen how the Rangers take down a target (by crouching and aiming down the sight). Foley then goes on to instruct the Afghan soldiers (and indirectly, the player character) how their gun can penetrate light cover, how to snap between targets quickly with their Iron Sights, and how to throw a Frag Grenade.

After teaching the local soldiers, Foley tells Allen to meet Corporal Allen at The Pit, because General Shepherd wants to see Allen to run the course. Dunn demonstrates that switching to a sidearm is faster than reloading. Before entering the course, the player has a choice of several different weapons. Then Dunn tells the player to run the course. In the course, the player has to clear enemy emplacements with minimal civilian casualties. After running The Pit, the difficulty for the game is chosen. The game suggests a difficulty for the player based on their Pit time, but the player can choose to continue on any difficulty.

Dunn instructs Allen to regroup with the rest of his squad after completing The Pit, but upon leaving it, an alarm sounds and soldiers rush to a group of returning Humvees that have brought wounded soldiers from BCT One, including Walden and Arnett. Foley yells to the squad to ready up, and the screen blacks out as the player then, presumably, prepares for battle.

The Pit
The only challenging part of this level is The Pit; below are tactics and tips for improving the player's time. The achievement/trophy "Pit Boss" can be obtained by completing the Pit in under 30 seconds.

The player's final time is not just determined by what time they finished the Pit at. Time is also added or subtracted if the player hits civilians, missed enemies, and/or accuracy:
 * Two seconds are added for each civilian killed
 * Two seconds are added for one or two enemies missed
 * 0.05 seconds are deducted for each 1% of accuracy (so e.g 80% accuracy gives the player four seconds)

Outcomes
The outcomes from running the pit are the response the player gets from Dunn and the suggested difficulty level for the game. The following appear to be the critical times:
 * Under 40 seconds makes Hardened the recommended difficulty. Dunn will say either "That was good, man, that was very good. You've still got it." or "OK, now that was nice. Run like a true professional."
 * Under 35 seconds makes Veteran the recommended difficulty. Dunn will say either "You're very impressive, man. You made that course your bitch!" or "Amazing work dude! OK, now that's how you run The Pit!"
 * When the player finishes the course with a lot of knifed targets Dunn will say "You took down too many targets with your knife. Try again. This time with bullets."

Starting Loadout
The following weapon is the initial starting weapon.

Found at The Pit
The following weapons can be found specifically at The Pit.

Intel Locations
Intel  1/1 : Intel number one can be found by a white tower (northeast corner) on the left after the basketball court and open field area. Retrieve it before going down to the pit.

Achievements/Trophies
Pit Boss (10G / Bronze Trophy) - Run the Pit in under 30 seconds.

Back in the Saddle (15G / Bronze Trophy) - Complete "S.S.D.D." on any difficulty.

Trivia

 * S.S.D.D. stands for "Same Shit, Different Day", and was spoken by General Shepherd in the opening cutscene of the game.
 * Outside the map, by the airport control tower, the hangars have icicles on them. This is odd because the location of the mission is in Afghanistan. This means that the model for this control tower must have come from the mission "Cliffhangar".
 * Some of the soldiers fall down like the targets in the demonstration when you shoot them.
 * This is the only level where Foley is seen carrying the M4A1.

Weapon Demostration

 * All the local (Afghan) soldiers carry an ammo pouch containing six AK-47 magazines, even though they are being trained with M16A4s and M4A1s.
 * If the player tosses grenades in completely different directions (without invoking friendly fire), Sgt. Foley will still continue as if the player had knocked down several targets.
 * After completing Sgt. Foley's shooting test, pressing the frag grenade button will cause a message to appear that says "No M2 Fragmentation Grenades Remaining.".
 * During the hip fire demonstration, if the player hits all targets with a single bullet on their first try while firing from the hip, Sgt. Foley will still say "See what I mean? He sprayed bullets all over the damn place.".
 * After Foley is done training the player, one of the locals will be given an M16A4 by Foley. The local will then proceed to use the gun and fire rounds down the range even though no targets appear for him to shoot at. Furthermore, he continues to fire indefinitely without reloading.
 * If the player runs out of ammo during the demonstration, they will automatically be refilled up to 600 rounds.
 * There is a One Man Army backpack on the blue mat next to the HMMWV some Rangers are repairing. The letters OMA and the words No Scope are present. Two more of these backpacks are found next to the pit.
 * If the player stands on the makeshift basketball court long enough, a Ranger voiced by Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling will say, "Get off the court, dude." If they continue to stand there he will say, "Come on man wait your turn.", and eventually, "Allen, what the Hell?!"
 * A lone Mk. 19 Mod 3 grenade launcher with a tripod is on the ground next to one of the Humvees, but this weapon is never used in-game.
 * The radio on the humvee plays rap music, cycling through four songs: 'Crime Wave' By 50 cent; 'Danger' By Marco Polo & Torae; 'New New' By Suga City ft. Maria V and 'Survival Skills' By KRS-One & Buckshot.
 * On the outskirts of the base, there are several soldiers jogging back and forth. Two of the soldiers may be called Pvt. Miller, and Sgt. Roycewicz.
 * There is a Pave Low beyond the fence that's spinning its rotors, but will never take off.
 * Occasionally, the player can hear two soldiers talk about a 'Delta Force' that came through. One will say that they weren't Delta, and then they make specific references to Ghost and his "freaky skull" mask and Soap with his Mohawk and "funny accent".
 * Near the makeshift basketball court there are two soldiers looking at a phone with a blank screen.

The Pit

 * General Shepherd, when overlooking the Pit, has two Sergeants as guards, which is odd because U.S. Generals usually have Colonels to provide security.
 * One of the spectators in the Pit is a man by the name of Cpl. Bowling. This is another reference to Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling.
 * Another conversation states that, "A guy with a mohawk rolled the course in 18.26 seconds, made our D boys look like they were moving in slow motion," and that, "Some other dude with a skull ski mask did it in 18.28 with a M1911". The two soldiers are obviously Soap and Ghost.
 * After running the course, there will be an assortment of new weapons added to their choices.
 * When Cpl. Dunn puts the Desert Eagle into his leg holster, there is already a handgun in it.
 * 'The Pit' section of the level is the only time in the game where a SCAR-H with a foregrip attachment is found and can be used.
 * If the player waits long enough before running the Pit, Corporal Dunn will say "Okay, Private Allen, we don't have all day. Get in The Pit." and then after a longer time he will say "You're gonna get us both in trouble with the general, man. Get in the Pit, and run the course, dude!"
 * Before entering 'The Pit', a Ranger can be heard saying to another, "Hey man, are you still gay? I'm kidding..."
 * After running 'The Pit' once and then waiting long enough, Dunn will talk and rant about "We Rangers are never in any real wars" and "We always babysit the SEALs."
 * If the player completes the course under 35 seconds, Dunn will sometimes say "You made that course your bitch!"
 * During the player's run through the course, he can hear other Rangers shouting things at Allen such as "bring it bitch" and "c'mon get some."
 * If the player uses too many knife attacks in The Pit, Dunn will say, "You took out too many targets with your knife. Try again, this time, with bullets.".
 * If the player gets a time that makes their recommended difficulty Veteran, when selecting it, it will say "Are you sure?" if the player hits yes, it will say "Are you really sure?" If the player hits yes again, it will say "Veteran is extremely difficult. Are you sure you would like to continue?" If the player hits yes, it will bring them to the end of the level.
 * The soldier on the right of General Shepherd looks like Lt. Vasquez.
 * It is possible for the player's accuracy percentage to be over 100%, but only if the player uses bullet penetration to hit two or more targets with one bullet.

Exit

 * After the Pit, AH-64 Apaches can been seen taking off.
 * If the player gets in the way of one of the Humvees at the end of the level, it will go right through the them, and the level will end.

Miscellaneous

 * In the cutscene before the level, a statue of Imran Zakhaev on a horse is shown.
 * When the game is paused, friendly Pave Lows can be seen on the radar map. There is also a Black Hawk flying overhead but it doesn't show up on the radar.
 * In the beginning, next to the basketball hoop there is a port-a-potty. The phone number on the side says 800-555-DUMP.
 * On the British TV Show "The Gadget Show", they recreated a real life version of The Pit, and an ex-SAS soldier ran the course in 42.1 seconds.
 * On the mission's picture, Corporal Dunn seems to have goggles on his helmet, but in fact he has a night vision device.
 * S.S.D.D. is also a Player Title in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.