We’ve never really explained how The Specialists fit into Fort Humphreys, where they’re currently stationed, within the comic. It’s just never come up, though perhaps we should have found a way to clarify it. In any case, this page seems like a good opportunity to shed some light on the situation.

Fort Humphreys — previously the Washington Barracks and currently Fort McNair — is located in the middle of Washington DC, where the Potomac meets the Anacostia River. At the time of WWII, it was home to the Army War College, and has hosted various military schools over the course of its long history. So it seemed like an ideal place to house a project as experimental as The Specialists. However, since the military was not completely sold on General Hightower’s team of supermen, they weren’t given permanent housing. Instead, a temporary village of quonset huts was erected in one of the two large fields in the center of the base. This is why the Specialists all live in huts, but you’ll occasionally see permanent buildings (such as when Henry needed to make a phone call). The first page of this chapter gives another perspective of the Specialists’ base-within-a-base, as does the map below.

(Here’s another relevant detail that probably won’t come up within the comic: Due to his rank, General Hightower was offered quarters in one of the base’s permanent structures, but turned it down in a show of solidarity with his team. He lives in a quonset hut just like everyone else, which also doubles as his office.)

Fort Humphreys