JUGGLERS,
THE. A top secret committee of generals that meets behind unmarked
doors in the Pentagon. The G.I. Joe team was one of the many units that
fell under the Jugglers' responsibility. "The Jugglers" is an unofficial
nickname of the group. Some believe that when the politicians need to throw
away troops in a fight they don't want to win, the Jugglers decide how
many and who, and then bear bad news and take the blame. In reality, they're
called the Jugglers because they make everything balance out and they always
end up looking good. In the early years of the Joe team, General Austin
had as few direct dealings with the Jugglers as possible, rarely appearing
before them. He also apparently shielded both General Flagg and Hawk from
them. When Hawk was promoted to General after Austin's retirement, he appeared
before the committee. Months later, he was brought before them and given
the bad news that the Joe team had been placed on suspension following
their failure at the Battle of Springfield. The suspension didn't last
long, and afterward, the Jugglers passed full command of the Joes on to
General Hollingsworth, though they continued pulling strings from behind
the scenes.
Years
after Hollingsworth was placed in charge of the Joes, the U.S. government
chose a side in Cobra's civil war. In exchange for the return of a top
secret "black box" stolen by Cobra, the Joe team entered the civil war
on the side of Serpentor. The head of the Jugglers, General Malthus, authorized
the deal, but funded the operation secretly (through a special services
fund, recorded as payment for basketballs) and bought ammunition supplies
from Destro's armaments corporation, MARS. The Joes came out on the losing
side of the civil war thanks to a last minute deal among Cobra's high command.
The Jugglers refused to take the fall for the failure and blamed Hawk and
Hollingsworth, claiming they had entered the war with out any authorization
from the Pentagon. Malthus -- who allied himself with U.S. Senator Hegel
-- had Hawk and Hollingsworth arrested and placed in a Virginia hospital
for psychiatric evaluation, safely away from the media. Nearly the entire
Joe team was arrested as well, but a small group led by Roadblock eluded
capture and stormed the hospital to rescue their commanders. A fire fight
between the Joes and the hospital staff -- Domestic Operations Agency members
working for Malthus -- and before the Generals were killed, Destro arrived
via helicopter. In full view of the press, the weapons supplier gave Malthus
the receipt for his purchase of ammunition. The Joes returned to action
and Malthus spent the next few years in military prison at Fort Leavenworth.
Hegel was spared any blame due to insufficient evidence. Later, he even
tried to shut down the Joe team. (#77-78, 99)
Two
years after the Cobra Island debacle, the Jugglers remained in place, now
under the control of General Thurston Crowther. During a closed meeting
of the committee, the generals were astounded by Storm Shadow's sudden
entrance, crashing through the ceiling above their chambers. He had evaded
security to force the Jugglers into giving Snake-Eyes a dangerous mission
to break him out of his despair over Scarlett's comatose state. Having
stolen the files on the highly classified and covered up "George Strawhacker
case," Storm Shadow threatened to expose the fact that Strawhacker was
allowed to rot in a Borovian prision for years. Strawhacker had been the
fiancee of Snake-Eyes' twin sister before her death years before. But after
Snake-Eyes left on the mission to rescue George, General Crowther captured
Storm Shadow and Stalker, explaining that he learned the government didn't
want Strawhacker rescued, since he had been leaking false information to
the Soviets and his rescue would cast doubt on his traitorous behavior.
Crowther sent in the former Cobra mercenary Major Bludd to kill Snake-Eyes
so that no one would rescue George. After Snake-Eyes freed Strawhacker,
the spy was killed by Borovian rebel leader, Metz. The former Soviet nation's
new leader's were present when Bludd revealed his mission. Crowther continued
to hound Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow and Stalker until Hawk met with the General
and told him that he should lay off the three Joes since the word of Borovia's
head of state held more weight than Crowther's. (#103-108)
The Jugglers didn't cause any more trouble for the Joes for the years
leading up to the team's shutdown in 1994. Some time later, Hawk himself
became a member of the Jugglers, hoping to weed out the corruption from
the inside. In 2001, the G.I. Joe team was reinstated under Hawk's command.
He remained on the committee, vowing to shield the team from their political
meddling and keep the Jugglers' power in check. So far, he has been successful.
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