G.I. Joe Team - A Real American Hero - Chain of Command

Chain of Command

Most commonly, the G.I. Joe chain-of-command has Hawk (later General Hawk) as the team's commanding officer (CO), while Duke is the senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) and second-in-command. However, a number of differences exist between the comics, cartoon and even the toyline.

The original comic book series takes a more or less realistic approach with the military command hierarchy. In the early issues of the comic, overall command of the G.I. Joe team fell to BG/O-7 Lawrence J. Flagg, until his death in issue 19 of the series. Flagg's main role was administrative and dealing with the The Pentagon, while Hawk (a COL/O-6) was the field leader with Stalker (a SGT/E-5) the senior NCO and de facto second-in-command. Note that this ignored the only other commissioned officer Steeler's grade of 2LT/O-1, although in practice it is not unknown for inexperienced officers to defer to experienced NCOs. Hawk was eventually promoted to Brigadier General in Flagg's place, but still retained a prominent role in the field rather than being a desk-jockey. Unlike in the Sunbow cartoon series, Hawk is prominently featured from the very beginning. Corresponding with his release as an action figure, Duke is introduced later on and takes over as second-in-command. As a First Sergeant (MSG/E-8), Duke outranks the team's enlisted ranks and NCOs which make up the majority of the team, and his seniority and experience are respected even by his superior officers such as Lt. Falcon and Captain Grid-Iron. Vice Admiral Keel-Haul is introduced in issue 36, and with a grade of VADM/O-9 technically outranks even Hawk. However other non-canonical sources suggest that Keel-Haul was only an honorary Joe team member, and thus the existing internal chain-of-command is preserved. The original G.I. Joe, General Joseph Colton (a character modeled after the original 12" G.I. Joe toy) makes several appearances in the 86th, 127th, and 152nd issues of the series, but is not an official member of the team.

In the comic series by Devil’s Due Publishing, when Hawk becomes incapacitated, a new character, General Philip Rey, was introduced and given command. When the Joe team is disbanded and reformed once more, the original G.I. Joe, General Joseph Colton takes control with Duke as field commander.

The Sunbow animated series has a more liberal take as the first episode was aired a while after the first run of G.I. Joe action figures were released in 1982. As a result, the focus on much of the cartoon's first season was on newer characters rather than the originals (with the notable exception of Snake Eyes and Scarlett). This resulted in the first season of the series featuring Duke as the leader of the team, with Flint taking an active leadership role in later episodes as well. In the second season (to coincide with the release of his new action figure), Hawk was finally established as the overall commanding officer. In the first episode of the second season, Flint explains to Beach Head, “First comes Hawk, then Duke, then me, and finally you,” clearly stating the overall chain of command up to that point. Later episodes gave Sgt. Slaughter a prominent leadership role as well.

In the early years, the toyline mostly held off on identifying the one character that served as the team's leader. The first run of the toy line featured Hawk as the highest-ranking team member; however though his file card makes specific mention of his abilities as a leader, it falls short of explicitly naming him as the team’s commander. Duke, who appeared the following year, is not specifically mentioned as either the team's commander or second-in-command, but his file card extols his ability to command by winning respect and mentions his current assignment as acting First Sergeant of the team. Any question of the team's commanding officer ended in 1986 when Hawk's second action figure version was released and the character was officially billeted as the team's overall rather than field commander.