OK, after a lot of head scratching I decided to give up on Metal Gear Portable Ops on the PSP.  I think this game is much more frustration than it's worth ;-)  And, certainly I can find out what the story is all about by going onto YouTube and looking at the consolidated cut-scenes from the game. This should fill me in, so I can continue on to the next MGS on the XBOX.

What finally did it for me is the complete imbalance between sneaking mode and gun mode.  I really did enjoy the sneaking around part of the game, the abducting enemy soldiers and convincing them to be my operatives, and the occasional hiding in a box.  The gun-play however was driving me nuts in that when you go into FPS mode you can't move! You can only aim! This is pretty ridiculous. I got the point where I have to beat Mr. Freeze (can't remember his actual name at this point) and after many failed attempts, after many days, I decided to hang up the gloves. The irony is that this was on easy. Years ago I had gotten way past this point when I got stuck (if you see the video below, I was somewhere near video 7) and on medium difficulty!  The odd thing is that I think that if there were achievements to be had, I would probably soldier through this game, but since I was playing it only for the story, so I can get into the next MGS, going on Youtube was easier :)

If you are interested in seeing the cut-scenes, have a look at this first YouTube clip (1 of 10) that gives you the entirety of the story :)