Combat Missions
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Combat Missions was a one hour long reality TV show produced by Mark Burnett and hosted by former Survivor castaway Rudy Boesch that aired from January to April in 2002 on USA. It pitted four teams of military and police operatives against each other in physical challenges and "mission" scenarios. Each team had a callsign and corresponding color. The four teams were Alpha (Red), Bravo (Blue), Charlie (Yellow) and Delta (Green) The team members were past and present members of SWAT, the United States Army Special Forces, the Navy SEALs, Marine Recon, the CIA, the Delta Force, and the U.S. Army Rangers. The mission scenarios had each team face off against an opposing force (not another team) using MILES gear in real-life combat situations. The show was never picked up for a second season.
Scott Helvenston, one of the contestants from the Delta team went on to work for Blackwater USA in Iraq after the show and was killed on March 31, 2004.
[edit] How the Game is Played
Each of the four teams starts the competition with six players. The 15 week contest is split into three sections. Each week is referred to as an "Evolution." During each evolution two teams are chosen to go head to head, first in a training exercise and then in a combat mission. Training exercises are usually physical challenges, including climbing, swimming, running and shooting. The team who completes the exercise quickest receives extra points towards that week's mission. The combat mission pits those two teams against each other in a combat-like scenario, some military in nature, some SWAT-related. Both teams start out with 1000 points, plus whatever was earned by the winner of the training mission. Points are then deducted for team members killed and time taken in the mission itself. Failure to complete all objectives, or the death of all team members results in a mission failure. Whichever team has the most points after both teams have run the mission wins. For the first six evolutions, the team with the lower score was forced to vote off a player, and then headed into the dossier room to select a replacement. From evolution 7 - 12, lost players were no longer replaced, severely weakening the losing teams. During the last phase, the entire losing team was kicked off in order to determine the overall winning team. After that team (Bravo) was selected, it was split into two teams of 3 who faced off. From those 3 remaining players one was eliminated in a Training Exercise, and the final two faced off in a mission in order to select the Combat Missions individual champion.
[edit] The Contestants
| Name | Team | Background | Notes |
| Mark Jackson | Alpha | SWAT | |
| Scott Oates | Alpha | Navy SEALs | |
| Mell Spicer | Alpha | Navy SEALs | |
| Harald Zundel | Alpha | Navy SEALs | |
| Chris Pate | Alpha | SWAT | |
| Frank Monestere | Alpha | Special Forces | |
| Daniel Patrick O'Shea | Alpha | Navy SEALs | |
| Eric Johnson | Alpha | Navy SEALs | |
| Dexter Fletcher | Bravo | SWAT | CM Champion |
| Jeff Byers | Bravo | Navy SEALs | |
| Steve Claggett | Bravo | SWAT | |
| Mark Corwin | Bravo | Marine Force Recon | |
| Bob Kain | Bravo | SWAT | |
| Sean Sirker | Bravo | Special Forces | |
| Jody Taylor | Bravo | SWAT | |
| Cade Courtly | Charlie | Navy SEALs | |
| Ken Greaves | Charlie | Navy SEALs | |
| Justin Young | Charlie | Marine Force Recon | |
| Jeff Everage | Charlie | Navy SEALs | |
| John Potter | Charlie | Navy SEALs | |
| Edward Bugarin | Charlie | Delta Force | |
| Wilson Wong | Charlie | SWAT | |
| Ossie Crenshaw | Charlie | SWAT | |
| Jonathan Weber | Charlie | Marine Force Recon | |
| Baz | Delta | CIA | |
| George Ciganik | Delta | Marine Recon, SWAT | |
| Scott Helvenston | Delta | Navy SEALs | |
| Rodney Nutter | Delta | Marine Force Recon | |
| John Winn | Delta | Marine Force Recon | |
| William Nissen | Delta | Army Rangers | |
| Rod Teeple | Delta | Navy SEALs | |
| Garth Estadt | Delta | Special Forces |
