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Rank has rarely been a significant issue in official Joe fiction, with experience seeming to count more rather than actual rank. The cartoon seemed to ignore it altogether, except in the movie, when Lt. Falcon tried to pull rank on Duke and failed. Nevertheless, the filecards take care to report the rank of all but a few Joes, and even early Cobras had equivalents ranging from E-4 to O-5. Enlisted rank insignias are rarely seen, but when they are, they are sometimes upside-down from real-life insignias[1]

U. S. Military Pay Grades[]

Grade Army Marines Air Force Navy Coast Guard
O-12 General of the Armies Admiral of the Navy
O-11 General of the Army General of the Air Force Fleet admiral
O-10[2] General Admiral
O-9 Lieutenant General Vice Admiral
O-8 Major General Rear Admiral (Upper)
O-7 Brigadier General Rear Admiral (Lower)
O-6 Colonel Captain
O-5 Lieutenant Colonel Commander
O-4 Major Lieutenant Commander
O-3 Captain Lieutenant
O-2 First Lieutenant Lieutenant Junior Grade
O-1 Second Lieutenant Ensign
Grade Army Marines Air Force Navy Coast Guard
W-5 Chief Warrant Officer (discontinued)[3] Chief Warrant Officer
W-4 Chief Warrant Officer (discontinued) Chief Warrant Officer
W-3 Chief Warrant Officer (discontinued) Chief Warrant Officer
W-2 Chief Warrant Officer (discontinued) Chief Warrant Officer
W-1 Warrant Officer (discontinued) Warrant Officer
Grade Army Marines Air Force Navy Coast Guard
E-9 Sergeant Major or Master gunnery sergeant Chief Master Sergeant Master Chief Petty Officer
E-8 Master Sergeant or First Sergeant Senior Master Sergeant Senior Chief Petty Officer
E-7 Sergeant First Class Gunnery Sergeant Master Sergeant Chief Petty Officer
E-6 Staff Sergeant Technical Sergeant Petty Officer, 1st Class
E-5 Sergeant Staff Sergeant Petty Officer, 2nd Class
E-4[4] Specialist or Corporal Sergeant or Senior Airman Petty Officer, 3rd Class
E-3 Private First Class Lance Corporal Airman First Class Seaman
E-2 Private Private First Class Airman Seaman Apprentice
E-1 Private Private Airman Basic Seaman Recruit

Non-Army Joes[]

The vast majority of Joes are in the U.S. Army. But the following characters are exceptions, grouped by their service.

Other branches of the US Armed Forces[]

Air Force[]

Ace
Bombstrike
Countdown
Freestyle
Ghostrider
Maverick
Payload
Skystriker
Slip-Stream
Space Shot

Coast Guard[]

Cutter

Marines [5][]

Dial-Tone
Gung-Ho
Hollow Point
Leatherneck
Lt. Stone
Mainframe
Sgt. Slaughter

Navy[]

Deep Six
Depth Charge
Dr. Link Talbot
Harpoon
Keel-Haul
Mariner
Rampart
Shipwreck
Topside
Torpedo
Tracker
Wet-Suit
Wet Down

No Rank Given[]

Back-Stop
Chameleon
Mercer (listed as E-5 Equivalent)
Red Dog (listed as E-5 Equivalent)
Specialist Trakker (specialist implies E-4)
Storm Shadow (as G.I. Joe member)
Taurus (listed as E-5 Equivalent)

U.S. Law Enforcement (current or former)[]

F.B.I.[]

Bullhorn
Mace
Red Zone
Sneak Peek

S.W.A.T.[]

Shockwave (RAH)
Wide Scope

U.S. Marshals[]

Bullet-Proof

Non-American Operatives[]

Big Ben (British SAS)
Lt. Stone (British M.I.5)
Skymate (Australian SAS)

Oktober Guard (Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact)[]

General Iron Bear
Big Bear
Col. Brekhov
Daina / Volga / Vorona
Dragonsky
Lt. Gorky
Horrorshow
Red Star
Shrage
Stormavik
Sgt. Misha Zubenkov
Wong

Rank on the cartoon[]

As mentioned above, the Sunbow cartoon generally disregarded Joe rank. Otherwise, the first-season Joe team would have been led by Ace and Doc, with the next-ranking officers being Cutter and Steeler. Shipwreck would have outranked Beach Head, and Bazooka would have been giving orders to Alpine.

The various team members usually treated one another as equals, and leadership on a mission was more a matter of functionality and experience than official rank. The only Joes addressed by rank on the series were First Sergeant Hauser, Sergeant Slaughter, Lieutenant Falcon, and General Hawk, plus "colonels" Dial-Tone, Lifeline, and Shipwreck. (In their episode, Beachhead expressed surprise that the promotions had not gone to himself, Roadblock, or Slip-Stream.)

G.I. Joe's leadership, as reported in "Arise, Serpentor, Arise" and "The Most Dangerous Thing in the World," had Hawk at the head of the team, followed by Duke, then Flint, and finally Beachhead and Sgt. Slaughter. In the absence of these, Scarlett, Ace, and Lady Jaye usually took the lead on their missions, and Stalker, Gung-Ho, Cover Girl, Cutter, Roadblock, Dusty, and Tollbooth also took on leadership roles at times. Shipwreck was not averse to shouting orders to his teammates, but he apparently never carried legitimate authority over anyone. In addition, Cutter sat next to Flint at Dusty's court-martial, and Slip-Stream, Wild Bill, and Admiral Ledger were alongside Hawk at Falcon's hearing. Admiral Ledger was in charge of the USS Flagg but seemed to be outside the Joe team itself, on par with Colonel Sharp.

Rank in the comic[]

Rank seems to have little to do with who is in charge of any given mission. As one example, in issues 6 and 7, Stalker (E-5, Sergeant) was put in charge of a team that included Steeler (O-2, First Lieutenant). Stalker went so far as to remind Steeler, an officer, that "this ain't no democracy." Similar examples abound; Keel-Haul should outrank everyone (including Hawk) but virtually no-one behaves as though this were true, Duke and Stalker routinely lead teams that include officers or at least higher-ranking enlisted men, and so on. During the disastrous Trucial Abyssmia mission Duke was in charge of a team that included Falcon, despite the latter's higher rank.

References[]

  1. Tripwire, Airborne, and Spirit's first figures. All Fall Down! The Mountain! Hydrofoil
  2. 11 men have held rank higher than the four-star O-10. "Five star" Generals of the Army: Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, and Bradley; Fleet Admirals Leahy, King, Nimitz, and Halsey; and Generals of the Armies of the United States John J. Pershing and George Washington. (Washington's rank was awarded posthumously in 1976.) While provided for by legislation, the modern rank Admiral of the Navy has never been awarded.
  3. The Air Force is the only branch that does not have any ranks available in the Warrant Officer Tier.
  4. Army E-4's are regarded as specialists except when specifically named corporals. It is presumed that most Joe E-4's are classified as corporals as part of their assignment to the G.I. Joe team.
  5. The "Mega Marines" of 1993 were not all Marines. Gung-Ho was an established Marine, Clutch was an established member of the Army, and Blast-Off and Mirage were not specified.
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