Since some people (for some strange reason) requested it, this is my fitting of the Joe team into the real world. All this stuff is more or less real, though some has been modified slightly to fit what I wanted to accomplish. By reposting it, at least I should be able to find it again if I need it. Enjoy the fruits of my bureaucratic madness.

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General Integration Joint Operations Exercise.

The purpose of my JOE team is the proving of integration and combined arms and joint force doctrine for the purposes of enhancing force integration.

At least that's what the operational statement says. They actually use the funding from the JFK special training budgetary allocation to conduct domestic and foreign covert military anti-terror operations, which is usually a legislative no no. They have no house oversight, and have never been considered to be part of SOC/JSOC/USSOCOM. They are not an operational team and do not have a stand up state of readiness.

They operate under the special training provisions in the Goldwater-Nichols Act and the Nunn-Cohen Act, and a special presidential order that goes back to the Kennedy Administration.

In the Hierarchy of command, they operate out of the JFK special warfare center, which is the only place on the military hierarchy that they could operate and still "answer to the president" without being part of the typical chain of command.

They get their equipment from private contractors as "evaluation material" or through reciprocal agreements with USSOCOM so they don't manage a Table of Equipment. They are paid through the JFK special training budgetary allocation, and each member of the team is considered a military instructor on special assignment. The Greenshirts and Steel Brigade are members of the normal military rank and file who, for the purposes of their Career Sheets are participating in "training exercises".

Rank structure is completely different because of the nature of the "operational exercise" designation. Each member of the team is a training instructor on special assignment they all hold a similar rank of instructor or specialist (similar to professors at a university) for the purposes of chain of command (though they aren't paid the same). Duke might report to Dusty on an operation because the nature of the "training operation" design discards rank. Anyone of any rank can be put at the head of an operational training group, based on specific knowledge of the subject matter.

Intel comes from the maintenance of reciperical agreements with NSA, NRO and Homeland Security. They have a contract with each agency to transfer the data between agencies, and skim all the best intel off the top.

The team was created as an Army based 13 man Special Detachment A, with a special exemption for Scarlett, as women were not able to participate on Special Ops teams by legislative restriction. Once the operational plan was approved, they brought in a Marine, Air Force Captain, Navy Seal, and a few other specializations in order for the official purposes of "developing joint force doctrine". They kept on adding area specialists from different branches.

Note that the team was RIF'd in '94 because it's secret nature made it a dumping ground for every black budget legislatively questionable pork barrel project in the Pentagon. They ended up having to take on the maintenance of an inefficiently designed mini aircraft carrier, a mobile Nuclear Weapons truck, a weaponized space shuttle, and bunch of other stuff too controversial for the regular military. The cost for maintaining the equipment eventually became too large to hide in the black budget. They were shut down as part of the Clinton era Reductions in Force, as an "egregious waste of the taxpayers funding and a ridiculous waste of training dollars".

They were reinstated post 911, as a coordinating body, and are officially GIJOE II.

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See, in my actual Joe-verse, a LOT of this is relevant. Not the Superstar Sputnik verse, but my actual play universe that started when I was a kid. I love stuff like this, though I don't have the knowledge needed to put it into such specific terms. I am blatanly going to steam some of this, as far as it relates to my timeline... Unless you object. In which case, my Sputnik verse's Pitt is going to come to your house and eat all your toys.

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Well I'm sold. I'll buy 3!


Very good explanation of the Joe team front to back. I really enjoyed the explanation for all the wacky things GI Joe had.


See! Clinton took away our Joes!!! (J/k)

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It wasn't meant to be political, but the RIF's of the time coincided with he cancellation of the line, and it fit too well not to include in the history. Imagine having to get rid of actual warfighting capability with base closures, and then being handed a unit that is maintaining 2 space shuttles, a personal aircraft carrier and a giant robotic walking suit...

But it blows my mind, the cost and staff requirement to deal with the kind of equipment that the joes had and keep it in working order is huge. Same with an aircraft carrier. You can't really hide that stuff in a black budget without the $90 hammer and $4000 toilet seat appropriations scamming, which people notice.

I did a estimate of the staff required to crew, support and maintain the joes equipment once, and it was something like 4000 people.

And Lance, I am glad that you like it. Feel Free to take what you like and use it. Also Tom Clancy's Shadow Warriors was a great resource for starting the research on this if you are interested in background stuff.

- R

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Well, I'm one of the ones that asked to see this, and I'm glad I did. (makes me wonder how many other gems are out there that I've missed). But this is awesome. Like Lance, I may borrow some of your research here, if it's ok to do so, but I'll modify a bit for my own verse.

The bit about the poorly designed mini aircraft carrier was brilliant. You've given an explanation for the unit's ultimate demise, but also given a rational explanation for how a cover ops team has a carrier, AND explained why the toy itself is in the scale it is in. Brilliant.

Since the Flagg was in many ways the icon for the Joes though, I hope the reinvented version of the team still has access to it, even if not posed with the task of maintaining it.

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Like all my stuff, use anything you like, discard what you don't and add what isn't there. All I ask is that you post what you come up with so that I might be able to steal an idea or two from from you someday.

The Flag was accidentally sold as scrap metal to maritime terrorists, who rearmed it and use it as a "pirate" ship to conduct maritime and coastal robbery operations from. Maybe someday the Joes will hear about this and head in to "reclaim" it.

Ok, I'm kidding - but that's what went through my head when you asked about the Flag. My current team Doesn't have a flag, because it mostly conducts small unit operations - and I don't have one.

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Yeah, I had the hunch that it might not have been written out of that summary if you did have one. lol

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I was that weird guy


Yes great explanation! I am studying it as we speak

Steve

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