Hazardous Environment Combat Unit
 Two HECU riflemen, on guard duty Following the catastrophic resonance cascade at the Black Mesa Research Facility, bizarre aliens from Xen teleport into the complex and begin attacking it's personnel and facilities. The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit is dispatched to the facility to fight the aliens and regain control of Black Mesa. Unknown to the surviving personnel at Black Mesa, though, the Marines have also been ordered to eliminate Black Mesa's civilian personnel to ensure that the incident is covered up. The HECU rapidly takes over the surface areas of Black Mesa and dispatch forces into the interior to eliminate the aliens, Black Mesa Security Force, and bring important members of the Science Team up to the surface for brutal interrogation.
Outfit
The HECU were a highly organized combat force, composed of elite soldiers with access to high quality equipment and weaponry. They are capable of rapid deploment of a large combat force in a short amount of time into a designated area, as evidenced by the initial stages of the Black Mesa Incident.
Generally, a HECU trooper was outfitted with a full body urban camouflage battle dress uniform (lacking any distinctions or patches to prevent identification of the unit) with a Powered Combat Vest and an LC-2 harness carried over it, a military backpack and heavy boots all designed to maximize his combat effectiveness without sacrificing his comfortability. Other equipment was assigned depending on the trooper's specialization and preference. Combat knives, tactical radios, sidearms (Beretta M9, Glock 17 or IMI Desert Eagle ) and hand grenades were issued to all soldiers.
Trooper specializations
- Rifleman - the bulk of the HECU were regular riflemen. These men were equipped with Heckler & Koch MP5N submachineguns and M4 carbines for combat and kevlar helmets integrated with M40 gas mask to maximize their combat potential.
- Machinegunner - to provide additional firepower for HECU squads, specially trained troopers were assigned to them. They operated M249 Squad Automatic Weapons with deadly precision to provide fire support in combat with the Xen aliens. They commonly wore exposed ammo belts on their vests and numerous additional belts in their backpacks, along with a tripod to mount the weapon on.
- Recon - lightly equipped members of the HECU that were assigned to it's squads as scouts. They commonly used MP5N machineguns and wore characteristic red berets.
- Sapper - demolition specialists of the HECU commonly used Franchi SPAS-12 shotuns and wore black balaclavas with goggles.
- Combat engineer - one of the most important support soldiers in the HECU, the engineers wore regular HECU uniforms and armor and were equipped with blowtorches, goggles and an assortment of other essential engineering equipment. They were only armed with handguns, as the amount of equipment they had to carry prevented equipping them with rifles.
- Combat medic - members of the HECU that underwent medical training usually displayed little combat prowess, as their main role was the preservation of life of HECU troopers. They commonly wore kevlar helmets along with a backpack and harness filled with medical supplies. They were armed with handguns only.
- Sniper - in order to secure open spaces outside the complex, the HECU deployed high qualified snipers. Armed with M40 sniper rifles, they usually nested themselves in alcoves and niches and camouflaged their positions with camo nets.
Arsenal
The HECU employed a variety of weapons and combat vehicles, most of which weren't standard military issue, at least in the United States.
Firearms
Heavy weapons
Other
Vehicles
Modus operandi
The HECU's method of operation was based on the principle of speed and control. Troopers were carried and deployed from VTOL V-22 Ospreys into combat zones. Their immediate orders were to secure landing zones and then proceed to secure the internal facilities.
During the Black Mesa Incident, within a few hours the HECU managed to capture and secure large parts of the facility and fortify them with sandbag bunkers, heavy machine guns, sentry turrets and trip mines and also bringing in heavy ordnance (such as the M1 Abrams tanks and M2/M3 Bradley and further Apaches to patrol the area) to further reinforce their numbers.
Due to the nature of Black Mesa (a decomissioned military missile base), they were able to maintain their presence by making use of already existing facilities and stockpiles of fuel and weapons as well as rapidly fortify key locations.
There is also a darker side to HECU's operations... due to their status, they operate outside any official military force and as such there is no supervision over their actions. This lack of control, coupled with the orders to silence any witnesses of the Black Mesa Incident has led to multple war crimes carried out by the soldiers, including, but not limited to brutal torture and mass executions of civilian personnel.
Mission progress
HECU's initial foray into Black Mesa is highly successful. The Marines quickly gain an advantage over the confused and frightened survivors and aliens and establish a substantial presence within the facility. Black Mesa's civilian personnel fail to put up any notable resistance, as many personnel mistakenly believe that the Marines are there to rescue them, and those who try to defend the facility against the HECU are outgunned and overwhelmingly outnumbered. In a matter of minutes, the HECU takes control of Black Mesa's central command areas and issues orders over the public address system for the facility's remaining personnel to surrender. The troops begin fortifying key surface areas with sandbags, mounted machine guns, and fixed artillery.
The tide soon turns against the HECU, though, as the Xen aliens teleport into Black Mesa in overwhelming numbers. Surviving facility personnel lend their help to Dr. Gordon Freeman, who is able to sneak and fight his way across the facility despite all the HECU's defences. Freeman quickly becomes a priority target of the troops. Their anger toward him is exemplified by the graffiti seen in the "On A Rail" chapter of the game, which reads "YORE DEAD FREEMAN" [sic] or "SURRENDER FREEMEN" [sic] and, in one instance, the train passes by a set of Trip Bombs with "DIE, FREEMEN" [sic] written near them. Also in the same chapter two soldiers who were guarding the area can be heard talking about Freeman and their proposed revenge. Furthermore, the military attempted to force Freeman to surrender by executing science personnel periodically.
As the Xen aliens swarm through Black Mesa and a sinister team of "Black Ops" gains advantage over the military, the HECU, which is suffering appalling casualties, is evacuated as aerial bombardments tear into the facility. The evacuation is woefully incomplete, leaving many Marines behind in the facility, in the unenviable position of being caught amongst the forces of the Black Ops, the Xen aliens, and the newly-arrived Race X creatures.
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Hazardous Environment Combat Unit
