G.I. Joe Inside The Filecards Featuring ‘Torpedo’!

Story by Staff Writer Shaft

Today we move to the US Navy as we look at G.I. Joe Torpedo. He is listed as a SEAL with a PMS of “Navy SEAL” and SMS of “Demolitions”. His filecard is pretty straight forward as SEAL’s do learn demolitions as part of their training pipeline. However during the time his character came out the SEAL rating (equivalent to a US Army and US Marine MOS) was not one that a new recruit could jump into right away. From my understanding one had to start in a different rating and serve a few years before trying out for BUDS class. I believe that changed during the global war on terror in order to fill the ranks of the SEALS out quickly (US Army Special Forces did the same thing during this time as well).

So if Torpedo started his Navy career not as a SEAL then what would have been his prior rating? I like to think he started out as a Torpedoman’s Mate. The only reason I pick this rating is how did he get his code name? I think this would make the most logical sense in this regard. Unless he is just a very fast swimmer and the other Joes said he looked like a “torpedo” while swimming.

One thing that has bothered me on his filecard is the rank of WO-4. To become a Navy warrant officer one typically has to serve roughly 10 years to even try out for a warrant officer. Then maybe looking at another 10 years to achieve the rank of WO-4. Torpedo would be around 38-39 and while I do like to think the Joes are between the ages of 26-42 I do not know if a SEAL that high up in rank would still be kicking it out i the field and may be more of a desk jockey at that point in their career. Later filecards had Torpedo as an officer and I actually prefer that rank over the WO-4 one on his OG filecard. He could have enlisted as a Torpedoman’s Mate then went to the US Navy Officer Candidate School and then to BUDS. I like to think of him leading the rest of the Joe team’s SEALS.