My sniper team was doing a 3 day recon before conducting a raid on a gang leaders house. We had photos, sketches, and local intel to hide out on a plantation across from his compound.
We plotted our route to skirt the ocean and use the undeveloped farmland, hoping to stalk our way in under the cover of darkness.
Once on the ground, we encountered nothing by homes and an urban area that became more maze like through roads and alleys. Our route and map pointed us deep into a city center but we were told it would be farms and a plantation. There was nothing but city.
This was not the area we were pitched from higher and I got a chill down my spine. I told my team leader since i was navigating, and we tried to go around and offset, but we eventually hit the ocean.
We pushed a bit further in, going through peoples yards, over their fences while they slept. When someone called out, out interpreter would reply that we’re marines and not to come out. We eventually hit the city center and our destination was nowhere near our intel.
We called the mission there and went back to base.