if cobra is a terrorist organization. how do they recruit new soldiers? is it through an underground movement like the foot soldiers or can you register at your local cobra recruiter office.

the members of cobra aren't stupid. to be a heat viper you have to be skilled in technology, to be a techno viper you have to be a tech, to be a medic you have to have nursing med training.

how would cobra get recruits if they are the fantasy equivilent to al-qaida

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If you haven't already, you need to read A Viper's Tale. It is probably the best written GI Joe fan fiction I've ever read. It is by far the best fan comic. It completely changed my view of Cobra. They aren't just mindless thugs like we tend to want to believe our enemies are. They have problems or a different set of beliefs that change their alignment. Not every "bad guy" is a lunatic.

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They pay them. They hire people who want to fight and can't due to being criminals and such. Cobra had a whole town Springfield and then Cobra Island and then Broca Beach to recruit people from as well. They promise them great wealth and fortune in the Cobra ruled world and so on. Remember its not a REAL world terrorist organization.

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They get them the same way the real world AQ, PLO, IRA, White Sepratists, Black Sepratists, or any other group recruits.
They find the dissaffected, the idealists, those who feel they don't deserve what they have and seek "justice", and those who feel they don't have what they deserve and seek "justice".
They promise them hope, justice and a better world after the "revolution". They offer purpose and meaning to the purposeless and drifting.
And of course like all movements they're promised power, but when the revolution is over the only thing that changes is the people at the top and they're either dead or back where they started.

I also think they heavily recruit from impoverished Third World nations and Eastern Europe. All that propaganda works especially well when you're broke-ass and eating dirt.

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I think they recruit from the disaffected, the lunatic fringe, the poor and third world nations as others have said.

But it seems only natural that Cobra would pull from every available pool.

In my own Joeverse Cobra also recruits from various militaries around the world. Getting the soldiers who wash out, getting enlisted men, non coms and officers discharged for crimes, etc. etc. Cobra has to have some people in charge who know military tactics. Otherwise Joe would win every fight decisively.

I imagine that after the Iraqi army fell a number of the high ranking officers who didn't get captured made their way into Cobra. Heck the Iraqi Information Minister would be a perfect mouthpiece for Cobra. "There are NO Joes on Cobra Island!! It is ludicrous to think that there are. We have pushed the Joes back, not 2 in 10 of them survived and in a short while our glorious army will be invading America and punishing them!!!" As a convoy of Mobats and Awe Strikers loaded with Joes roll past him.

I also see the Alley Vipers as recruiting from police officers who have been fired or suspended. Who better to help Cobra plan and carry out urban operations than the men who patrolled the streets?

Just my thoughts.

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is this one based off of one of the better written fanfic's that was up on the joe newsgroups around 2001'ish? i vaguely remember one on there that was pretty well written as far as making them all seem like the troopers/blueshirts were ordinary guys, but this one story mentioned catching someone trying to doublecross cobra from within, had some backstabbing & whatnot going on, playing against each other trying to move up and had more of a real-world feel to it, at least with regards to describing the organization, etc.

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DD's GI Joe Reloaded, touched on the topic, which I enjoyed. Cobra also recruited military members, former members who were ticked at their former employer, the US Government(Rock n Roll went undercover as a Cobra recruit, who was a ex SEAL) & current (Duke being a Cobra Agent).

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Honestly it just depends on what source you want to go by because they have used every method under the sun over the years.

Since Hama's Cobra Commander was a person that had the American dream go horribly wrong on him Hama had Cobra going after the people who also felt like the American dream had gone wrong for them as well. Of course the file cards often say something to the extent that the legions of Cobra come from around the world so it would seem that Cobra Commander is slick enough to find people anywhere who are so down that Cobra is the only way up.

Devils Due did an issue where they sort of showed how Cobra also picks up troops from within the prison ranks as well so it's not just fairly good people who found a dark leader to take them to the light of a better day.

Think they even mention things like medical school drop outs for the medi-vipers.

Unlike the real world groups as far as anyone can tell there are no racial, religious, or other requirements or restrictions on Cobra so that really makes it a tough group to stop when a Cobra could be the nice old man down the street, the hardened ex-con, the African warlord, or your state senator.

I have it that Cobra Commander recruits from every possible resourse.

From those who have tried and failed. Laid off workers, homeless, ex cons, disatisfied youth, recently uneployed. I figured CC has his crimson guards in entry level positions all over screaning candiates.

On an international level there are tons of nations that are imporverised. Any offer of money would probably go along way. Again probably CG's screaning in lower levels.

I figure CC just goes to the store and buys up all the army builders. That's how I'd amass an army for world domination.

I'm glad I looked in this thread. My name's Louis Colli, I'm the writer of A Viper's Tale (http://gijoe-comic.tripod.com/tale.html.)

First of all, thank you pluv for the very kind words. Best fanfic ever is high praise indeed =)

When I wrote A Viper's Tale, I was trying to explore how Cobra got their troops. It never made sense to me that Cobra would be hiring criminals or terrorists. First of all, hiring that much scum would attract every kind of government agency. Cobra always seemed ultra secretive to me. Secondly, and most importantly, how could Cobra keep thousands of criminals loyal and working together? They couldn't. It'd be chaos.

It made much more sense to me that they would be hiring the poor and disenfranchised. They'd need the money Cobra pays and would be much easier to train and keep in line. Then again, that's just my view.

And I believe that PaidLoad is referring to A Viper's Tale II: Redemption (http://gijoe-comic.tripod.com/tale2-1.html.) In the sequel, the unnamed Viper returns to Cobra where he meets a Joe undercover and helps to foil a Cobra plot to destroy the USS Flagg.

I've always tried to make my comics grounded in real world emotion and back stories. For me, the best part of Hama's Joe was the early days when it all seemed at least plausible.

Louis