---
title: Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right! (Maintenance units comic)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-be-a-dope-maintenance-units-comic-1941/
description: 'Multi-panel comic for soldiers in the Joe Dope series: soldiers in foxholes find a rifle jammed, one hammers at it.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right! (Maintenance units comic)

[![Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right!, 1941 US poster: Multi-panel comic for soldiers in the Joe Dope series](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-be-a-dope-maintenance-units-comic-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-be-a-dope-maintenance-units-comic-1941.jpg)

# Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right! (Maintenance units comic)

Multi-panel comic for soldiers in the Joe Dope series: soldiers in foxholes find a rifle jammed, one hammers at it, and the last scene shows Joe Dope pounding a part inside a repair truck while another soldier lies injured. The slogan 'Don't be a dope!' is name-calling aimed at the careless soldier, with the closing instruction to give pieces to Maintenance units.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
"At fixing these things I'm a bear!"
Is the boast of Joe Dope - and right there
He boldly attacks it
And pounds it and whacks it
Which drives Maintenance men to despair!
Give pieces needing repair to Maintenance units
Don't be a dope!
HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT !
[signature: Will Eisner, ORDNANCE]
[imprint:] ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U. S. ARMY
```

[← Do your part! Build our battle line with salvage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/do-your-part-build-our-battle-line-with-salvage-los-angeles-1941/) [Don't be afraid to ask - Who is that guy? →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-be-afraid-to-ask-who-is-that-guy-1941/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
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- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
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