Gurlukovich Mercenaries

The Gurlukovich Mercenaries are an army of over 1,000 Russian mercenaries (former Spetsnaz GRU soldiers), known as "an army without a country". The mercenaries were involved in the Tanker Incident and the Big Shell Incident. The army was at first commanded by Sergei Gurlukovich, but after his untimely death at the hands of his supposed comrade Revolver Ocelot, his daughter, Olga Gurlukovich, took control of them.

History
The Gurlukovich Mercenaries were originally going to be deployed during the Shadow Moses Incident in 2005, in order to assist Liquid Snake's FOXHOUND and the Genome Army. However, due to the actions of Solid Snake, this never occurred.

In 2007, the army had discovered the existance of Metal Gear RAY. An 18 man invasion squad led by Sergei Gurlukovich, Olga Gurlukovich, and Ocelot take over the U.S.S. Discovery, in which a new type of Metal Gear was being transported. Many members patrolling the upper levels of the ship were neutralized by Snake, during his infiltration there, as he made his way down to the holds. Later, the mercenaries report to Sergei, informing him that the tanker was successfully under their control and that explosives had been put in place. Sergei then ordered them to take Olga out of the tanker, though the squad was wiped out single-handedly by Snake during an intense shoot-out, despite their efforts. One member did survive however, only to be shot by Ocelot who arrived moments later.

Members of the unit also descended into the holds where Metal Gear RAY was stored with Sergei and Ocelot personally leading them, and held the Marines there hostage, along with their commander Scott Dolph. However, after Ocelot revealed his betrayal to Sergei and killed him, the troops were eventually killed when Ocelot hijacked RAY and sunk the tanker, including those still on the upper levels and the Marines. The only survivors were Olga, Snake and Ocelot.

In 2009, Olga lent the army over to the Sons of Liberty to help them take over the Big Shell, where another Metal Gear was under development. With the exception of the Shell 1 troops, the majority of the Gurlukovich troops changed their overall uniform slightly, sporting teal green camouflage, wielding the AN-94 assault rifle instead of the AKS-74U, and foregoing the helmet. Olga had inherited command of the mercenaries after Sergei's death. However, she ended up betraying and murdering them, under the alias of the Cyborg Ninja/Mr. X, to ensure that Raiden survived on the Patriots orders, due to their holding her child hostage. She was deeply affected and bitter for being forced to do this to her comrades, whom she valued as not only friends, but also family. She even went so far as to declare that she would "most likely go to Hell for what she did" when sacrificing herself to save Raiden, even if she only did it to save her child, who she would never meet.

The attack teams also wore a different variation of body armor and head gear. Towards the end of the Big Shell Incident, a new version of the attack team appeared, utilizing M4 carbines with grenade launchers, thicker body armor, that also protected their shoulders and arms, and helmets covering their entire face. They were in fact former members of the United States Secret Service, who had originally been assigned to Solidus Snake during his presidency, now the terrorist leader. Eventually, the surviving mercenaries evacuated to Arsenal Gear as it became active, and faced a final showdown with Snake and Raiden, this time utilizing Tengu commando equipment, making them more dangerous. Despite the advantage in numbers and firepower, they were ultimately defeated.

With the Sons of Liberty eliminated, it was unknown what happened to the remaining members of the Gurlukovich Mercenaries due to Olga's death.

Tengu Commando
"A soldier outfitted with special equipment from Arsenal Gear. Named after a mythical Japanese demon, Tengu possess superior combat effectiveness thanks to their full body armor and artificial muscle tissue."

- Official description from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

The Gurlukovich Mercenaries were also trained as Tengu Commandos using Arsenal Gear equipment, in order to protect the inner sanctums of Arsenal Gear from infiltration and destruction. The Tengu soldiers had masks inside their helmets that could help them breathe in biochemical environments. They could also run faster and were stronger than the average soldier, due to the artificial tissue they had in their armor. Tengu Commandos also had a somewhat greater field of vision than normal Gurlukovich soldiers and could withstand heavier punishment from both melee attacks and firearms. Numerous Tengu Commandos fought against Snake and Raiden in their final battles aboard Arsenal Gear to prevent the latter from eliminating Solidus Snake.

Military Hardware
Weapons
 * AKS-74U
 * AN-94
 * SPAS-12
 * Makarov PMM
 * M4
 * P90
 * High Frequency Blade

Vehicles * Liquid's Hind D was given to them by the Gurlukovich Mercenaries.
 * Hind D (at least 1)*
 * KA-60 Kasatka (at least 2)

Other Appearances
The Tengu Commandos reappeared in Metal Gear Acid 2 as unique soldiers who only used sword-based attacks, despite clearly being armed with the XM2000 on screen. The Commandos, along with the regular Gulukovich Mercenaries, also appeared in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus as recruitable soldiers on higher difficulties. The Commandos came equipped with a unique N. Blade as their fixed weapon and used the P90 as their standard firearm, in fact the P90 can only be taken away from this soldiers.

Trivia

 * According to Olga during a radio conversation with Solidus Snake, once the business with the Sons of Liberty was done, she and the remainder of the Gurlukovich Mercenaries would go back to Russia and live their own lives (since their leader, Sergei Gurlukovich was dead, they couldn't follow his dream of returning Russia to her former glory).
 * The skateboarding game Evolution Skateboarding has two secret characters called Gurlukovich 1 and 2. They can be unlocked by completing the game 100% with Rick McCrank (for Gurlukovich 1) and Chris Senn (for Gurlukovich 2).
 * A costume available to download for LittleBigPlanet allows the Sackboys to dress up as a Gurlukovich soldier.