Boo Recruits

Boo Recruits is the first of three stories in Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #71, by DC Comics. It was followed by the reprints, Franlin, My Dear and I Want My Mummy!.

Premise
The gang are brought to an army base to help uncover rumours of a ghost soldier.

Synopsis
After being cleared at an the gates of an army base, Mystery Inc. head to Sergeant Williams's office at Bungalow Twelve. Hearing of their detective work, he has called them to investigate the sightings of ghost a called the Scary Soldier. He wants them to go undercover as recruits, so they join up to boot camp, where they meet the hard-as-nails drill sergeant. After reprimanding their unfit appearances, he sends Scooby off to K-9 duty. The drill sergeant sends the teens on an obstacle course, where they have a run-in with the Scary Soldier, who sends them on their way. They inform the drill sergeant, but he doesn't let up, and sends them onto kitchen duty. Fred overhears that one of the soldiers saw the ghost at night. Sure enough, the gang's search at night leads to the Scary Soldier again. It doesn't spot them, and they end up secretly hiding from Scooby and his handler.

Spending the night up has exhausted Shaggy, but he is still forced to finish the obstacle course, with the others. They fail miserably, and the drill sergeant sends them to Williams. The gang report to Williams, who's interested on how their investigation is going, wanting to know how the soldiers are doing and if any of them have considered quitting; he orders them to go ask around. The whole gang regroups, with Shaggy about to give up on the case. The others motive him, as Fred is convinced this can be solved.

The next night, the gang have caught the attention of the Scary Soldier, leading him into the obstacle course, where gets a light shone on him, followed by a pile of tires shoved over him. The commotion alerts the entire base, where the gang reveal that the Scary Soldier is really Sergeant Williams. Williams thought the base was a dump, and wanted to get transfered to a better one. He only needed to scare away a few soldiers, and by getting the attention and bad press from Mystery Inc.'s involvement, the base would be shut down for sure.

The drill sergeant is impressed by the gang's work, who invites them to complete their training. He's turned down, of course, as the gang are waiting for the next mystery to be found--after Shaggy and Scooby get some well earned sleep, that is.

Characters
Main characters:
 * Mystery Inc.
 * Scooby-Doo
 * Shaggy Rogers
 * Fred Jones
 * Daphne Blake
 * Velma Dinkley

Supporting characters:
 * Drill sergeant

Villains:
 * Hamster monster /
 * Sergeant Williams

Other characters:
 * Guard
 * Dog handlers
 * Scooby's handler
 * Dogs

Locations

 * Army base
 * Bungalow twelve
 * Mess hall

Objects

 * Tires

Vehicles

 * The Mystery Machine

Full credits

 * Derek Fridolfs - writer
 * Walter Carzon - penciller
 * Horacio Ottolini - inker
 * Silvana Brys - colorist
 * Saida Temofonte - letterer
 * Fridolfs, Ottolini & Brys - cover artists
 * Brittany Holzherr - editor

Notes/trivia

 * The title is a play on "new recruits."

Coloring mistakes

 * None known

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * None known.