G.I. Joe Headquarters
The
Pit [& Pit II]
Location: U.S. Army Chaplain's Assistants School
Motor Pool, Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, NY
First Appearance: G.I. JOE #1 (1982) [G.I. JOE #33 (1984)]
History: The motor pool at the Chaplain's Assistants School at Fort Wadsworth was equipped to meet any repair and maintenance need, just like any other Army motor pool. It was also the only motor pool in the world with a hydraulic lift that went down and the only one with five floors of armored basement below it. In reality, the motor pool hid secret headquarters of the G.I. Joe team, also known as "The Pit." Built under extremely tight security, the Pit was designed to keep certain the Joe team's status remained classified and its existence virtually unknown. Apparently, even the rest of the personnel at Fort Wadsworth was unaware of the Pit's existence, believing that the Joe team members were just motor pool staff.
Hidden
under the Chaplain's Assistants School, the least threatening of all army
installations, the Pit housed nearly the entire G.I. Joe operation within
its five levels. Various levels contained training areas, briefing rooms
and high-tech communications equipment and computer systems. Personnel
support areas such as the kitchen and living quarters were also included.
The bottom levels of the Pit could be sealed off and could operate independently
for six months, withstanding up to a five megaton blast. Fortunately, that
aspect of the Pit was never tested.
In 1983, the Pit was threatened with a Cobra assault. Cobra had discovered that the Joes were quartered at Fort Wadsworth, so Hawk had a prefabricated fortress built one level below the motor pool. Using the equipment lifts, the fortress was pushed to the surface just as Cobra destroyed the motor pool. Cobra believed that the ground level fortress was the entire G.I. Joe HQ, so when they blew it up they assumed the Pit itself had been destroyed.
Much of the Pit remained intact after the blast, but the top levels had been severely damaged. The army took the opportunity to rebuild the Pit, this time expanding its facilities to deal with the team's growth within the last year and allow for even more Joes to subsequently join the team. The rebuilt headquarters was different enough for the Joes to unofficially call it "Pit II." The Pit II had an expanded motor pool above it, which allowed for many more vehicle lifts and a helicopter launch pad and even a ICBM missle silo. The original Pit had an escape tunnel leading to a water tower on the ground level. In addition to that, Pit II included an earth-boring vehicle to allow for an additional escape route.
After the Joe team
was put on suspension following the Battle of Springfield, the Pit was
sealed and all personnel were assigned above ground. Cobra chose this moment
to again attack the Pit. The only people inside were a group of officers
who were investigating the team. Hawk, General Hollingsworth, General Ryan
and Admiral Dyson tried to fend off Destro and Cobra Commander's attack
on their own, but failed. Ryan and Dyson both gave their lives to save
the others, and Ryan detonated explosives that destroyed the Pit even as
Hawk and Hollingsworth escaped. The Pit collapsed, leaving a crater in
the middle of Fort Wadsworth and the Joes without any headquarters. At
first the Joe team was to be a mobile unit, but that proved to be unfeasible
for the G.I. Joe team's size, and a new Pit would soon be built.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Fort Wadsworth actually exists
on Staten Island. According to the series' writer, Larry Hama, it was easy
to use the army base as a reference for the comic book because of its closeness
to Marvel's Manhattan offices. Several years ago, Fort Wadsworth became
one of the many military bases recently closed down.)
Pit
III
Location: U.S. Army Chaplain's Assistants Supply Depot,
Escalante Desert, Utah
First Appearance: G.I. JOE #62 (1987) (above ground); G.I. JOE
#64 (1987) (underground base)
History: After the destruction of the first Pit, a new G.I. Joe headquarters facility was planned. Built beneath an army supply depot in the Utah desert, the new facility was situated to avoid some problems with the site of the original Pit. The Fort Wadsworth site proved too dangerous to personnel and Staten Island residents when Cobra uncovered its location. Thus, a depot in the desert was chosen due to its relative isolation. Built beneath the three quonset huts of the Chaplain's Assistants Supply Depot, the base lacked the huge vehicle lifts of the old Pit, and was accessible through a stairway beneath a trap door in the center quonset hut. The trap door was often covered by a rug and guarded by the Joe member Spirit, who often sat on the rug and meditated. The final construction stages of the new Pit were completed by the Joes themselves. When the facility was finished, the older Joes dubbed it "Pit III," with a feeling of nostalgia for their original base.
The wide
open spaces of the desert allowed for an even more ingenious method of
getting vehicles and heavy equipment above ground. The first level held
the main staging area. Larger than the first Pit's staging area, it could
hold many of the Joes' large vehicles and even the space shuttle Defiant.
At one end of the level was a huge set of sliding blast doors. When the
doors opened, a set of hydraulic lifts lowered a ramp which was a artificial
segment of the desert floor above. The ramp allowed vehicles of all sizes
to exit and enter the Pit leaving no trace of the ramp after its use. This
allowed the Joes to launch the Defiant from the desert.
Unfortunately, the Pit III was a target of Cobra as much as the original
Pit. Cobra satellites noticed the base in the desert where more people
entered and exited a quonset hut than could be comfortably quartered there.
Suspicious of the site, Serpentor sent Dr. Mindbender's cybernetically
enhanced Star-Viper, who had reflexes and infiltration skills far beyond
the average person. The Star-Viper found his way into Pit III and stole
a top secret electronic "black box" from the Defiant's computer
system. He would have escaped easily that night, but he interrupted a tender
moment between Flint and Lady Jaye. The Joes sent the few armored vehicles
they had above ground after the Star-Viper, but he escaped. The "black
box" eventually forced the Joes into the Cobra Island civil war. Some time
later, Dr. Mindbender sent out an assault force to the location of the
Pit. The Joes, however, had been tipped off. When Cobra arrived and destroyed
the quonset huts, all they found beneath them was solid desert. The Joes
had simply moved the huts a mile across the desert, keeping the Pit hidden
under the desert floor. A long time later, Cobra Commander staged another
assault on the Pit, but was repelled by the Joes. Unlike the first two
Pits, Pit III was never destroyed. When the G.I. Joe team was disbanded,
the base was simply shut down. The gates were locked and "no trespassing"
signs were hung up to keep people away.
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