How to never trigger the alarm in Recon by Fire in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Nobody was There achievement/trophy

Recon by Fire is the ninth mission in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign, and the second stealth mission, although it’s not 100% stealth by a long way. You, playing as Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, must accompany Captain John Price in a reconnaissance mission on a small island off the coast of Spain. Both of you are disguised as bushes, because it just wouldn’t be Modern Warfare if you didn’t get all ghillied up at some point.

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The Nobody Was There trophy/achievement requires you to never trigger the alarm during the Recon by Fire mission, but the name of the trophy/achievement is a little misleading. It’s inevitable that the enemy will know you were there by the end of the mission, but there are two sniping sections where, if you don’t shoot accurately, enemies may be alerted and trigger alarms.

How to get the Nobody was There trophy/achievement

The first sniping section takes place on a ridge overlooking the main hatchery and warehouse buildings. In order to avoiding triggering the alarm, you need to take out all of the guards patrolling (or hanging around) outside without any of them triggering the alarm. They’ll trigger the alarm (or at least try to) if they see one of their buddies get shot, or if you fire and miss, so it’s important to be patient and to shoot accurately.

Use your thermal scope to scan the hatchery, and zoom in on any highlight figures. Then, listen to what Price says:

• He’ll always tell you a number of notches, which tells you how high above the target you have to aim. So, for example, if he tells you three notches, line up your target with the third notch below the center of your crosshair.
• If he says, “It’s just him,” or something similar, then you can take out the target without risk of the alarm being triggered.
• If you zoom in on two targets, he’ll tell you to take one, and he’ll take the other. It doesn’t matter which target you hit, Price will get the other.
• Sometimes when you zoom in on two targets, he’ll tell you to wait because there’s a third guard patrolling nearby, so do as he says. Wait until the patrolling guard has gone away, then take out the two targets. Take out the patrolling guard before he comes back.
• If you zoom in on a group of three, he’ll tell you to move to a spot where you can hit two targets with one bullet. You might need to move a long way to the left or right in order to do this, but it’s worth it. You can run around up here; you’re too far away for the guards to see you. And don’t worry about lying in long grass only.
• If he says, “Those are civilians,” don’t shoot them.

You don’t have to be 100% flawless. Sometimes when you make a mistake, Price will be quick enough to take out an alerted guard before he reaches the alarm, but there is a risk in every mistake. If a guard does manage to raise the alarm, then restart at your last checkpoint to make sure you get the trophy/achievement.

The second sniping section, at the lighthouse, works in the same way as the first, only some of the targets are wearing armor. When you zoom in on these targets, Price will tell you to aim at the head, so line your notches up very carefully. The trophy/achievement should pop as soon as you complete this lighthouse sniping section, so long as no alarm was triggered here or at the hatchery.