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  1. #1
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    Default Was Bucky officially in the military?

    As in did he enlist and was he ranked

    Or was he just a trained civilian who was allowed to accompany cap?

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    Extraordinary Member vitruvian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dcnewb View Post
    As in did he enlist and was he ranked

    Or was he just a trained civilian who was allowed to accompany cap?
    In the Golden Age, I believe he was a camp aide and therefore a civilian too young to enlist. In Brubaker's retcon, he was a bit older and specifically trained as a commando who could do dirty work (like sneaking around to knife guys in the back while Cap was drawing their attention) that wouldn't be good PR for Cap to do himself... not sure if it is definitively stated that he was enlisted or at what rank, but that seems to be at least implied by him receiving the commando training. In the MCU, he was normally enlisted, full stop.

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    If I'm remembering right, Bucky lived on a military base where he showed exceptional natural skill in hand to hand fighting and was specially trained to be Captain America's partner. That's the modern interpretation. So I suppose he wasn't enlisted in the traditional sense but yes, he was a US soldier in the military.
    Last edited by Of Atlantis; 06-26-2015 at 12:40 PM.
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    But wouldn't a soldier have to be ranked and recorded as being in the army?

    On the wiki sites, they don't list the Us. Army as an affiliated team for Bucky

  5. #5
    Were You There? Michael P's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dcnewb View Post
    But wouldn't a soldier have to be ranked and recorded as being in the army?
    And presumably they did, it's just nobody ever mentioned his rank or serial number in a story.

    On the wiki sites, they don't list the Us. Army as an affiliated team for Bucky
    See above. We infer he was in the military from the specifics of Brubaker's retcon, but it hasn't been spelled out.
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  6. #6
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    I dunno lol

    He's had a plethora of aperences and a couple of self titled comics since then
    I'm Pretty sure if the notion that he was an official
    Soldier was true then they would've mentioned it

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dcnewb View Post
    But wouldn't a soldier have to be ranked and recorded as being in the army?

    On the wiki sites, they don't list the Us. Army as an affiliated team for Bucky
    Actually, I think only higher ups had official military rankings because nearly 10 million people were enlisted at the time. That said, nothing was ever explicitly said to my knowledge that Bucky had a rank higher than an enlisted rank.
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  8. #8
    Extraordinary Member vitruvian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prince Of Orphans View Post
    Actually, I think only higher ups had official military rankings because nearly 10 million people were enlisted at the time. That said, nothing was ever explicitly said to my knowledge that Bucky had a rank higher than an enlisted rank.
    Ha, no, that's not how the US military works. Everybody has a rank, even if it's just (for example) Private First Class (abbreviated PFC) in the Army straight out of boot camp.

    And if they gave him commando training and sent him knowingly into the European theatre of war with Cap (i.e., knowing full well that that was one James Buchanan Barnes, not just that it was some kid in a costume that Cap called Bucky), as per Brubaker, then I have to imagine that somewhere he was down on the rolls as at least PFC Barnes, even if his enlistment might have been classified for reasons having to do with Captain America's secret identity.

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    Overly Opinionated Conway's Avatar
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    In Brubaker's first stories it was insinuated that Bucky joined the Army in 1941 at 16 after already living on base for a few years. In his later run when Bucky was Capt. I recall him saying that according to the official records, Captain America and Bucky were listed as Colonel Steve Rogers, and Corporal Bucky Barnes. These statuses were required to allow access to military bases and to prevent the Nazis from locating them in the official records. (I think they even mentioned that he was promoted to Sargent Barnes posthumously.)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Conway View Post
    In Brubaker's first stories it was insinuated that Bucky joined the Army in 1941 at 16 after already living on base for a few years. In his later run when Bucky was Capt. I recall him saying that according to the official records, Captain America and Bucky were listed as Colonel Steve Rogers, and Corporal Bucky Barnes. These statuses were required to allow access to military bases and to prevent the Nazis from locating them in the official records. (I think they even mentioned that he was promoted to Sargent Barnes posthumously.)

    Would you happen to know which issues or at least story arcs they mentioned that?

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    Overly Opinionated Conway's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dcnewb View Post
    Would you happen to know which issues or at least story arcs they mentioned that?
    I'm trying to check now that I have some time.

    The scene at Camp Lehigh was in Captain America #12 (Winter Soldier Part 4) The General tells Steve (who is wearing lieutenant's bars on his uniform) that Bucky just got back from a month in the U.K. with an S.A.S. regiment, and that he's not the only sixteen year old in the army.

    I'll try to find the stuff about their official ranks and let you know.
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    Sweet
    Thanks

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    Although "16 year old in the army" can be pretty ambiguous.

    I'm still kind of not fully convinced. Why doesn't Marvels official site include his U.S. Army affiliation in his bio?

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    Ultimate Member Holt's Avatar
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    The 16 year old in the army line was referring to the fact that a lot of teenagers back then would lie about their age so they could go fight. My grandpa's brother, for instance, was only 15 but lied on his forms about being 18 so he could ship out.

    I assume the line could be taken as some sort of indication that they falsified records to have him in the service. All it'd really take is claiming he was born two years before he really was.

  15. #15
    Overly Opinionated Conway's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dcnewb View Post
    Although "16 year old in the army" can be pretty ambiguous.

    I'm still kind of not fully convinced. Why doesn't Marvels official site include his U.S. Army affiliation in his bio?
    I'm not finding that scene where they discuss their ranks. Unlike the rest of Brubaker's Winter Soldier stuff I don't have the rest of his Cap run on digital. Since Marvel Unlimited doesn't have an app on Kindle and it's not working in their browser anymore it might be a while before I can find it.

    I can tell you that in Winter Kills, he goes out dancing with Toro on Christmas '44 in London, and they both have Army uniforms.
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