Games - The Pit

	Games - The Pit

The Pit is the headquarters of the specialist G.I. Joe team from the 1980s Marvel comic book created by Larry Hama. It is a multi-level underground base complete with training facilities, living quarters, a briefing room, and heavy equipment storage.

There have been three versions of the Pit.

The Pit (or Pit I)

The original Pit is secretly located underneath the Chaplain's Assistant School's motor pool within Fort Wadsworth, a real-life base in Staten Island, New York. Most of the people (excluding the Joes) in the school have no idea of the Pit's existence. The base is five levels deep. The first level houses the heavy equipment (tanks, cannons, jeeps, etc.). The second level contains electronic communications and briefing rooms. The third level is the training area with a swimming pool. The fourth level contains the armory and living quarters with suites. The fifth level contains computers and generators and is where classified documents are located.

The base can withstand a direct hit from a five-megaton warhead. Each level can be sealed, and the last two levels can operate independently with sufficient food and power for six months.

The secrecy of the Pit did not last forever. Cobra attacked the base in G.I. Joe #19 (Marvel Comics). When Cobra destroyed the motor pool facade, it was revealed to actually be an armored fortress that somewhat resembles the G.I. Joe headquarters in the cartoon series. In the end, it was heavily damaged, but the Joes successfully fooled Cobra into thinking they destroyed it.

Pit II

Pit II is actually a repair and improvement of the original Pit. It is about six storeys deep. It's designed to be more defensible and impregnable. Among the improvements: the addition of a helicopter launching pad in a nearby building from the motor pool; improved nuclear blast protection; an ICBM missile silo (no reason was given why this was added); earth boring machine located at the lowest level for escape; a small nuclear power plant; a new level with R&R facilities; larger living quarters to accommodate increasing number of Joes; and detention facility to hold prisoners. Interestingly, latrines are added, a feature missing in the original Pit blueprint. The renovation was an engineering feat as it took about 6 months to finish rather than years.

Reconstruction began in G.I. Joe #22 (Marvel series) and re-opened in G.I. Joe #33. The second Pit did not last long however, as Cobra finally learned the exact location of the Joes' headquarters and managed to infiltrate and attack the Pit from the inside in G.I. Joe #53. After the attack, the Joes would no longer have a permanent headquarters and be a nomad unit. This status, however, did not last long either.

Pit III

Pit III is located in a desert in Utah. Its exact location is unknown but it is probably not so far from the nearest town that two teenage girls once managed to come close to its visible facade. Not much is known about the designs of Pit III as no blueprint was provided to readers. The exterior of Pit III appears as small outpost ringed by fences with three quonset huts. There are two entrances to Pit III. The first is a trapdoor located in one of the huts. The other entrance is a sand-covered, mechanically-controlled ramp that also leads underground. This is used for heavy equipments and vehicles.

Despite G.I. Joe's status as a nomad unit with no permanent base after the destruction of Pit II, the need for another Pit arose in order to secretly house the Defiant shuttle complex. Signs of the base were immediately visible to the Cobra even during construction via spy satellites. In spite of this, this the Joes had more success defending this base than previous Pits.

Cobra had tried to destroy Pit III three times:

G.I. Joe #83 - The first time, Cobra attempted a direct assault. The Joes were fortunately tipped off by an informant. Cobra destroyed the huts only to find no entrance. Frustrated, they left. It turns out the Joes simply moved the huts a mile from the Pit's actual location.
G.I. Joe #100 - This time Cobra tries to destroy the Pit from the inside by activating two brainwashed Joes: Clutch
and Rock n Roll. Once again, the Joes were lucky because Clutch and Rock n Roll fought their programming and passed out instead.
G.I. Joe #130 to 131 - Led by the original Cobra Commander
with complete information (exact location, defenses, contingencies) provided by the mercenary, Firefly, Cobra launches another direct assault. Although caught by surprise, the Joes manage to hold off Cobra's attacks and managed to take the fight to Cobra. The expected contingencies by the Joes did not quite happen as expected because the actual contingency plans were kept by the Joe, Duke
. It was a somewhat Pyrrhic victory however, since Cobra Commander's primary aim was to document the success of Cobra's ability to defeat U.S. radar systems and market it to his clients.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Pit ]

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