BF3: Rock And A Hard Place mission on Hard Mode. BEWARE

I'm currently playing this on Hard, and it is by far the biggest nightmare ever. When I reach the area where the paratroopers arrive, if I die, I'm f**ked. Once I respawned and the lad I had to follow was at the other end of the level, standing still, and when I moved any further than him I was "leaving the battle area".

Another incident I died and respawned and all of my teammates were crouched in a straight line and not moving, nothing happened.
One more was when I respawned, I ended up being at the exact same spot I was when I was shot and killed. So when I respawned, I died instantly. Like, dropped dead on the spot.

Did anyone else find this mission to be a glitchy pain in the arsé trying to progress through it? Serious practice is needed on my part but at the same time It's been easy enough for me up until this point.