Bazooka |
Tuesday, 19 February 2008 | |
BAZOOKA. The code name used by G.I. Joe team's missle specialist, U.S. Army Sergeant David L. Katzenbogen. Born in Hibbing, Minnesota, Bazooka joined the Army and drove a tank in the Third Armored Division before realizing that an illiterate farmer with a $200 rocket launcher could destroy a tank with little training. He transferred immediately and began learning about various armor defeating weapons systems. Bazooka joined the G.I. Joe team in 1985. During thier final training mission as provisional members of the G.I. Joe team, Airtight, Bazooka, Crankcase and Heavy Metal were testing out new vehicles in the desert near Las Vegas, Nevada led by Lady Jaye. On the highway on the way back from a lunch break, the group was attacked by Cobra B.A.T.s (Battle Android Troopers) carrying creeper vines and sleeping gas created by Cobra agent Dr. Mindbender, who was demonstrating them to Destro and the Baroness. The Joes were kidnapped and forced into battling the B.A.T.s in a junkyard. The Joes figured out how to defeat the vines and destroyed Mindbender's factory, forcing the three Cobras into retreat. Over the next several years, Bazooka was a part of many important operations, including the rescue of Ripcord and Snake-Eyes from Cobra Island and the invasion of the Cobra-controlled town of Springfield. He was also one of the many Joes to be involved in the contruction of the third Pit headquarters in Utah. For a time, he was also part of the short-lived special unit, Tiger Force. Bazooka was one of the few members of the team who did not participate in the Cobra Island civil war. When most of the team was arrested after that war, Bazooka and several other Joes went "underground". The group staged an assalt on St. Lo's Infirmary in Virginia where corrupt governement agents had arrested falsely-accused Generals Hawk ad Hollingsworth. Bazooka was injured during the assault, but the Joes were successful and Bazooka recovered soon after. Bazooka continued to serve with the team until it was disbanded in 1994. He later left the Army and began working as a security guard. |