Blood for the Baron!

Chopper wrote: All really low res and nothing full body frontal pics. I haven't given up yet tho, I have some idea's.

Chopper - where were you looking????

Hopper wrote:Better to have Red Cap as Z force commander, i think, with AF in general perhaps answering directly to the UN? Although a single individual - a major flagg for example - representing AF to the UN would make more sense. So perhaps you are right?

Um, that's the premise for the BAf character in a nutshell.

the ranks should run....

Sky Raider/Leviathan (if they're both Commanders)
Flagg (Major)
Skip/Eagle (captains)
Duke (Master Sergeant)

what's Dolphin's rank?

I'd prefer Skip and Eagle to be Majors or Lt. Colonels if they're commanding company size elements or larger.

The ranks run like that in a formal army, Sundance, but I've always thought that AF were more like the SAS as Hoppy suggests. So each force's commander, regardless of previous rank, is an equal. A Force commander and being an international force it would be very hard to keep their existing rank. So its more a term than a rank. I think the idea of 1 commissioned officer (save Duke) and the rest either NCO's or grunts would work really well, using the SAS as a template and Flagg as the direct liaison to the UN (Operation Deep Cover). Especially as they would be keen to try and keep politics out of it. There may be AF sanctioned Generals but they are not in direct command the way I see it. Also Flagg is based at in command of, Ground Zero.

I'm sure you are aware that in the SAS a private or corporal could be in charge of a senior NCO or CO too. AF is the same, while Duke is only a Master Sergeant he is a Force commander and equal to Skip and the rest, regardless of the number of stripes on his shoulder.

All this fits nicely with BAF, not sure about MAF. Was Duke ever in MAF? It wouldn't be hard to assume that Flints AF was another section of AF too, so he could be on a par with Duke. Will have to read more MAF I guess.

What do you guys think? 25 years on and still not solved

I think only appeared as the Tiger Force leader in MAF, but if this serves as a reference I can recall that Lt Falcon failed trying to pull rank on Duke in the animated movie, I guess that means that in Sunbow GI Joe, the leader is the leader and the rank seems to apply just as the resume to get into the team, or to define a temporary leader when the official ones aren't there. Therefore, could have a similar policy: goes first, then all the unit leaders as equals, then the rest.

Cool, maybe Duke moved on to Tiger Force and Flint took over? LT Falcon was in training, so I'm not sure that counts. I'll have to check out a bit more of Falcon. One of my favourite figures, that guy. Anyway, I'm more concerned with BAF, but if MAF fits all well and good.

IIRC, Duke only appeared in Marvel UK stories in AF monthly.

as for the SAS in real life, that's a tad spurious. i'm pretty sure SAS requirements for selection require at least a rank of corporal. i know they require at least three years service. and there's more than one officer in the sass.

Minimum rank may be corporal, but the rank system definitely doesn't apply to front line troops in the SAS. A corporal CAN be a squad leader regardless of the other ranks in his unit. I think it may be a rare thing to have front line CO's too. I am pretty sure that I read that the vast majority of SAS troops are NCO's or less. I'm 100% sure that a squad leader is picked on his merits and not his rank. I.e. a corp may be a jungle warfare specialist and they CAN be placed in charge of Sgt's etc. That's one of the reasons the SAS work as well as they do.

Have a read of "Ghost Force" by Ken Connor. He served for 23 years and wrote a book that the British government tried to censor. One of the requirements of the SAS is to disclose nothing, even after your service has terminated. Connor got in real hot water because he also published under his real name. Anyway, my point is in the SAS a Captain can be outranked by a private if need be.

One other thing too, I'm pretty sure there is a maximum rank for the SAS (captain?) and soldiers have been known to drop in rank in order to join the SAS.

i was wrong, you can join as a private. but some special forces units only accept sergeants and above...

there was a major in the WW2 SAS... and there are officers in the HQ troop...

The Baron wrote:

Hopper wrote:Better to have Red Cap as Z force commander, i think, with AF in general perhaps answering directly to the UN? Although a single individual - a major flagg for example - representing AF to the UN would make more sense. So perhaps you are right?

Um, that's the premise for the BAf character in a nutshell.

It's been a while since I read the story! It actually took me ages to work out who the hell Major Flagg was...
I just re-read my whole post - It doesn't really say anything! I think I had a brain meltdown yesterday. Bizarre!