I don't understand SOP (Sons of the Patriots)!

Question

First of all, I've read every article I could find about it--including the one on the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database--so please don't refer me to them. I've also played all the way through Metal Gear Solid 4.

I know that The Patriots control SOP, and that they can shut down all the weapons in the world, but do others have some kind of access to SOP? Do army commanders, for example, have minor access to it? It said somewhere in the game that SOP ensures that the PMCs won't attack their clients, which would seem to indicate that their clients have control over the PMCS through SOP. Is this right? Also, according to the game--or maybe that article--SOP is the reason for large PMC growth (or maybe it's the other way around). I don't really understand this. Do The Patriots control what every PMC does? Is SOP controlled by America? If so, does that mean America is completely protected from any attacks? Can PMCs lock down each other's weapons?

I just don't really understand the point of SOP other than to protect the Patriots. Help!

Answer 1

Well, it's called GUNS of the patriots, in case you haven't noticed, that's the title of mgs4. And I think the only the patriots knew of it, and had it in their computer (i think jd, can't remember the name.) and apparently liquid knew and was able to take control of it, as you should know from playing the game. and i'm guessing the program was just to take control of all the guns in thr world, which we saw liquid do

Answer 2

Basically we're looking at Lord of the Rings here.

Everyone and their uncle had started to use the SOP system to control their soldiers and control their weapons. It wasn't just PMC's but also other countries, nations like America who not only used it on their soldiers but also their nuclear arsenal.

What they didn't know was that the Patriots had developed the system so they could control it all. The general idea is that The Patriots could control everything, without anyone actually knowing about it. It was all part of their plan to control everything, from information to what people believed, even warfare.

As a PMC, Liquid Ocelot could control his men and his weapons, but he couldn't shut down other nations and that's why he experimented, he wanted to control everything, and because The Patriots thought GW was destroyed so he could control Guns of the Patriots (the military aspect of SOP) without being detected. It wouldn't have been until JD was destroyed that he could control the entire system.

So by the end of the game, the weapons of every nation in the world stopped working, except for the older weapons used by rebels.