G.I. Joe Inside The Filecards Featuring ‘STALKER’
Story by Staff Writer SHAFT
Today I take a look at G.I. Joe ‘Stalker‘. He is listed as “Ranger” and has a PMS of “Infantry” and SMS of “Medic” and “Interpreter”. We once again are into potentially three different US Army branches of Infantry, Medical Department and Military Intelligence, which would not be possible in a real world scenario.
First let’s look at the word “Ranger’. This can be ambiguous as the US Army has two different types of Rangers: A soldier going through Ranger School which is open to all MOS’s and a unit called the 75th Ranger Regiment. Only a few MOS’s are allowed in the 75th and one does not necessarily need to go to Ranger School in order to get in. Although Ranger School is required for NCO’s such as staff sergeants on up. Given that Stalker served in the Vietnam War (confirmed on later filecards but possibly hinted on his original with “Advanced Infantry Training” and qualified with the M-14) he would have served in a LRRP unit. There was no official 75th Ranger Regiment back then (it was officially stood up in 1984) but each division had their own LRRP unit which were all part of a parent unit called the 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger). So good chance Stalker was assigned to this unit. He could also have gone through Ranger School but nothing on his filecard confirms this.
For his three military specialties there is no way he would have started as a medic and then re-classed to Infantry. I doubt any commanding officer would allow that. From what little I have read on LRRP’s during the Vietnam War some of them took course in advance medical training, language and intelligence course (probably not the actual US Army Intelligence School though).
Another possibility for Stalker is he served his time as a LRRP but then went on to become Special Forces. He could have started as a 18D Medical Sergeant (to cover his medic SMS) and then when he was an E-7 went on to become a 18F Intelligence Sergeant. He would have learned some foreign languages in Special Forces as part of the standard training. From his skills alone he screams Special Forces. This would more likely be the case on a modern take on him since I do not think Ranger Recon teams (basically the new “LRRPS”) do not take language courses from my understanding as their job does not entail this. I definitely do not go with the notion that he is wearing a green beret on his figure as my understanding is this was cost cutting method used by Hasbro so they didn’t have to paint a tiger-striped beret like his filecard has. However it is interesting to note he is seen wearing a green beret in the Marvel issue with Flagg’s funeral. He would not be wearing one if he was not Special Forces.
A couple later filecards has him as “EOD” but there is no way he would have re-classed to an 89D EOD Specialist, especially if he went from Infantry to Special Forces.
