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Welcome to the collection
of
My cousin received all of the Adventure Team men and equipment and while his guys were digging in the backyard for treasure, my guys were laying down a protective cover for him. At one point, we laid everything out and found that it all actually covered the entire backyard! The tower, the helos, the jeeps, the command vehicles (there were 3), the all-terrain vehicles--just about everything was there. We kick ourselves now! In 1980, I joined the Army and became a real life GIjOE. I was infantry. I wore the same clothes and carried the same weapons. I spent time in Germany With the 3rd Infantry Division. Some of the guys talked about GIjOEs, which was cool. Some of the guys blew theirs up when they went home on leave (as a sort of payback to the Army). I went on to Fort Hood. The family I stayed with owned some Joes. It was fun to see them again. When I got home, my Joe's were gone! They had been shipped out to my aunt's house where she had a boy. When I asked if I could recover my GIjOEs only. She said they had been blown up and/or eaten by the dog. That was the end of my original collection.
After moving to Alabama in 1995, I rediscovered an old friend-- the REAL GIjOE. I owned a hobby shop and a guy that needed cash for Christmas offered me a PH Joe for a very nice price. I bought it and it now sits comfortably out of reach of the little hands in the house. Although I know my kids would treat him right, he (like me) has knee and elbow problems. My motorpool is not a great one, but it has the essentials. We have a 1/6th scale Sherman, an M5 Stuart, M3 Scout Car, 1 Horse (dragon), 1 Speeder Bike, an M151, 1 Willys, 1 Littlebird, a Harley, a Space capsule, an Actionman desert raider, a Trouble Shooter, a Schwimmwagen (now a Barbie car), and a few other odds and ends now in storage. I hope to do a photo story one day using the M3 Scout car, which I am making some cosmetic changes to. My collection numbers some 200 or so figures, including ones from Sideshow, Dragon, 21st, BBi, Hasbro (CC, Pinheads, PH, Fuzzheads, flattops and so on), ERTL, and more. My preference is US military pre-Vietnam, Law Enforcement, and Spec Ops but I try not to limit myself. I have a living history background, which comes in handy when working on my figures. Once I started collecting, it felt like my childhood all over again. I'm going to rebuild my cellar area (see photo above) and make a display section for all the stuff I have. This cellar will soon be MY "Joe room." If you notice, ALL the containers and boxes except for 2 have Joes or Joe stuff in them. Thanks for viewing my pics (what few there are). Now... Fall out, maggot! I'm through yapping at'cha! --Dave "Tanker" Matteson
For more information
about all things Dave, check out his websites found here: And Don't Miss... Collections
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In
1968, I received my first GIjOE,
and with it, I received a 5-Star jeep. Over the next 6 years,
I would accumulate every uniform and vehicle made for GIjOE.
In 1994, while living in Rhode Island, I was a
member of the Air National Guard. During an airshow, Hasbro was
there selling 30th Anniversary sets. I bought 3. I also received
a neat hat for working with them.
