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Army Ranger

File Name: Wayne R. Sneeden

Birthplace: Auburn, Alabama Rank: Command Sergeant Major

Primary Military Specialty: Infantry

Secondary Military Specialty: Small-Arms Armorer

First Appearance: G.I. JOE #47 (May 1986)

"I wanna be an airborne ranger... I wanna live a life of danger..." — Beach Head

 

    Beach Head is the code name used by G.I. Joe team Ranger, U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Wayne R. Sweden. Born in Auburn, Alabama, Beach Head became a Ranger after joining the Army. He served at both the Ranger School and at the Covert Ops School in Central America before joining the G.I. Joe team in 1986. Beach Head is known as having a very cool head in the field, and seems to enjoy some of the worst the Army has to offer. It's not unusual to hear him quietly singing country music during tense operations. The one thing that makes Beach Head lose his temper is what he sees as other people's incompetence and laziness. Which is why he makes for one mean drill sergeant.

    Beach Head's first mission on the Joe team was assisting Hawk during the rescue of Snake-Eyes from Cobra Island. The rescue was successful after an off-shore battle with Cobra attack boats and Cobra Eels. Following that mission, Beach Head snuck onto a Russian airliner to foil hijackers, along with Flint and Lady Jaye. Soon afterward, he was part of the first team of Joes to enter Springfield before the invasion of that Cobra-controlled town, whose job was to knock out the enemy's power and communications. Later Beach Head was part of a group advising Sierra Gordo's counter-revolutionaries in the fight against Cobra, where he once again found himself involved in rescuing Snake-Eyes from Cobra's Terror-Drome. He was also one of the many Joes to be involved in the contruction of the third Pit headquarters in Utah. In the jungles of Southeast Asia, Beach Head and a small team of Joes took part in a near-disastrous mission, which nearly cost them their lives thanks to a treacherous CIA agent. Some time later, with a large force of Joes, Beach Head participated in the Cobra Island civil war. He served on the team until it was disbanded in 1994.

    Beach Head became part of the reinstated Joe team in 2002, where he acted as a drill sergeant for new recruits in addition to his usual duties as a Joe. After he rejoined the team, he helped stop Storm Shadow in his attempt to assassinate Hawk and fought against terrorist Tyler Wingfield. Beach Head was later part of a convoy of vehicles escorting a group of young children who turned out to be clones of the original Serpentor. When the revived Serpentor arrived to claim them with the forces of The Coil to back him, Beach Head and several others were captured, and some of the team's new recruits were killed. Imprisoned on Cobra Island, the Joes eventually escaped and joined the battle against Serpentor's forces as the Joe team invaded the island. He later fought Destro's new recruit, Wraith as the mercenary freed Major Bludd and Scrap-Iron from Blackwater Prison.

    A short time later, members of the Joe team fought Cobra forces that were drawn into an attack on a train guarded by the Joes, believing that Destro was being held prisoner onboard. At the battle's end, Hawk was shot in the back by Cobra Commander and paralyzed. In Hawk's absence, the Jugglers began to take control of the team to reign it in, if not disband it altogether. Eventually, the team's roster was cut down to only a dozen Joes, and Beach Head was one of many reassigned to other units. After the remaining Joes stopped a plot by Cobra to unleash the weapon known as the Tempest, and defeated a new threat, the Red Shadows, the military again disbanded the team. One year later, the Joe team was reformed with a smaller roster of active members. Beach Head, like most former Joes, is a reserve member of the new team. He was called back to duty to stop a group of terrorists who had taken control of a Cobra biological weapon facility in Manhattan.

Artwork: G.I. JOE: Front Line #17 (cover)