G.I. Joe Special Missions #17: All In A Night's Work!

[superboyprime]

'I always had a lot of probs with Duke as the "First Shirt". In a line infantry company, the top kick runs the outfit. He is, without a doubt the most experienced soldier in the unit. In Nam, you might have had First Shirts who had been in WW II and Korea-- and a commanding officer straight out of "Shake and Bake" or ROTC. The main prob I had was that the folks at Hasbro and the writers on the cartoon show just treated Duke as if he was interchangeable with Hawk. This is why Duke was never really developed as a character in the comic. There was also a design prob in that he looked too similar to Hawk. In my own head, I tended to think of Stalker as acting first shirt, especially in the field. There was a character in the Nam comic, Sgt Polkow, who fits the mold of what a first sergeant should really be like-- In a glorified sense. The actual first sergeant in that comic was a bribe-taking SOB, but when the chips were down, he did his job. That is hitting closer to reality.' - Larry Hama

Comments

[thezmage]

These are some of my favorite Stalker scenes short of him wrestling the crocodile

[scorntx]

Huh. Never heard the term 'first shirt' before.
Always something new to learn.


Now, I'm not entirely up on this sort of thing, but I'm pretty sure punching an FBI guy in the stomach and threatening him is not the sort of thing you just get away with, regardless of how hardcore you may be or how much of a stock 80s government weasel they are.

[nyadnar17]

Off the books assbeating are pretty common in both Law Enforcement and Military.

Its a pretty macho arena and "physically assaulted for fucking up" is probably gonna be seen as a fair trade for not snitching to the higher ups.

[superfangirl1]

On the cover. I think it would be inefficient to throw a gas grenade on enemy that very close to your personal space lol

[john_drake1964]

"And this is partly why you go through the Gas Chamber in basic."

"I thought it was in case of enemy usage of chemical weapons."

"That, and also in case you fumble your own grenades at close range."

[lbd_nytetrayn]

There was also a design prob in that he looked too similar to Hawk.

Maybe if they'd updated Hawk's design-- specifically his hair -- to match the later figure and cartoon, whose hair was black, that wouldn't be such an issue?