33rd Infantry Battalion

The 33rd Infantry, also known as "The Damned Battalion" are US Army Battalion in Spec Ops: The Line, led by Colonel John Konrad, a highly decorated, but PTSD-troubled Afghanistan veteran. The unit was deployed to assist in relief efforts after an unprecedentedly large sandstorm hit Dubai, knocking out power, water supplies, and emergency services. The 33rd, however, when, for reasons not explained in the game, the city was surrounded on all sides by a "storm wall", a stationary sandstorm that blocked all communications and made extraction of the 33rd practically impossible. During the several months the 33rd was trapped, Konrad instituted martial law, eventually turning to summarily executing criminals and hanging their bodies in public. This in turn prompted both the civilians and some of Konrad's own staff to rebel, causing further violence in the city. Five and a half months after the storm wall appeared, Konrad managed to get a broadcast declaring his mission a failure out of the city, prompting the deployment of a squad of Delta operatives, led by Captain Martin Walker to assess the situation in the city.