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{{trope}}
[[File:g00childsoldiers.jpg|link=Mobile Suit Gundam 00
{{quote|''"Children, you call them? They can pull a trigger just as well as veterans, and they have the spirit of a bull [[Hold Your Hippogriffs|narthax]]. Call them children if you wish. I call them troops. Good troops."''
|'''Colonel Marus Cullen''', ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''}}
They depend on us to defend them, but we're forcing them to defend us. Sometimes they have an actual talent to help them get through the war, which unfortunately may be the reason they were drafted to begin with, but often it's just tough luck. While the notion of [[Children Are Innocent|innocent childhood]] is a relatively modern adoption (thank the Victorians and their contemporaries), even the ancients still felt fairly queasy about the idea - and with good reason: warfare screws with kids heads, and they're rarely good for much else afterwards. Since the use of child soldiers forces the enemy to gun down children in self defense, it's a very strong contender for [[Moral Event Horizon|the most morally reprehensible war crime in existence]]. On a somewhat lighter side, there are also many stories, in fiction and real life, about boys ([[Sweet Polly Oliver|and girls]]) who lied about their ages in order to serve their countries.
This trope is great for an [[Dark and Troubled Past|angsty backstory]] while at the same time excusing [[Improbable Age]] with prior experience. It can be a result of [[Fielding Old Men and Boys|most of a country's men being dead or a severe numbers disadvantage]]. A staple of the shows which focus on violence but broadcast to kids, notably the more serious [[Mecha Show
In fiction, this also has the convenience of explaining why [[Person of Mass Destruction|Persons Of Mass Destruction]] are obeying their weaker bosses and not actually running things, or at least not demanding wages and better job conditions. It doesn't occur to them; and even if they do rebel, they don't know how to do it properly.
This trope blends imperceptibly with [[New Meat]]. Since even legal adults can be teenagers, old soldiers in particular may regard them as no more than children. This trope is [[Truth in Television]]; many armies in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa have underaged troops. Furthermore, even Western countries such as Germany, Russia, and the United States have overlooked recruitment ages in major conflicts such as [[World War II]]. This was likely to happen before the late 20th century, because births were not as well documented and the recruiters took them at their word if they looked about the right age. Though it's frowned on by Western culture, there is a certain brutal logic to conscripting youth - everyone is under threat, so everyone fights. Sometimes the children are better off on the front lines than enduring [[War Is Hell|what would happen to them if the enemy takes their village]]. As a more pragmatic and ethical solution, many countries that feature soldiers in the 16-19 age range often utilize them in noncombat or support roles, and/or continue to train them until they're older, resulting in far better psychological health, effectiveness of personnel, and morale overall.
Some [[Super Soldier
Compare [[Little Miss Badass]], [[Creepy Child]], [[Cute Bruiser]], [[Enfante Terrible]], [[Kid Samurai]], [[New Meat]], [[Young Gun]], [[Recruit Teenagers
Contrast [[Falling Into the Cockpit]], which usually implies no former military experience. See [[Plucky Middie]] for the naval version. See also [[Raised
If only children get to be soldiers, then you have a [[Competence Zone]] on your hands. If it's because they're the only ones left, ''then'' you have a [[Teenage Wasteland]] on your hands.
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{{examples}}
== Precociously Talented Type ==
===
* Sousuke Sagara from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]!''. By the start of the series, Sousuke's 16 years old and has been fighting for pretty much his whole life, having been raised as a mujaheddin in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion.
** This is apparently [[Truth in Television]], which is why many child soldiers are from the Middle East in anime. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Gundam 00]]'' also uses this and ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' made a reference to it.
*** Sagara had actually been a soldier ''before'' that. He was actually sent to kill a guerilla leader at age 8 after being trained as an assassin by the KGB, but failed and joined the arabic leader's troops. He was brought to Russia by Kallinin, {{spoiler|who legally adopted him when he and toddler-Sagara were the only survivors of a plane crash, and introduced him to military life. Kallinin later deserting the KGB also to join sides with Sousuke, further training him in the art of war at still tender ages.}}
** In the novels, it's mentioned that Gauron himself was one of these: he was fighting for the Khmer Rouge by at least age 12, and probably earlier.
** Sousuke's former comrade, Zaied is also an example, and unlike Sousuke, is played horribly straight, having grown up into an [[Empty Shell]] [[Sociopathic Soldier]], who seems to lack pretty much all social contact, drive and ambition. It makes him a dangerous antagonist and [[Evil Counterpart]] to Sousuke.
* Except for Pluto, all of the Sol senshi in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' are in junior high when they show
* ''[[Divergence Eve]]'' has Kotoko-01, though since she's an android it may or may not count.
* ''[[Gundam]]'', even discounting judicious use of [[Falling Into the Cockpit]], has a lot of this, starting with 16-year-old Amuro Ray.
** The pilots in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
** Setsuna F. Seiei (pictured fourth from left) in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00
** And for Usso, it speaks of how children are forced to fight. While all teenagers in real life would want to pilot a giant robot and crush all the adults. Imagine if it was a tank, and you don't even got your driving license... real scary thought.
*** Indeed, a Zanscare pilot that Usso downs shoots himself when he sees how old Usso is, because he can't bear to live in a world where children so young are made into soldiers.
** In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
** Most blatant example: ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
** Decil Galette of ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' is one of the most [[Enfante Terrible|revoltingly evil]] examples of this ever created, beinga seven year old boy who joined the army because it gave him the chance to kill people. By the Second Generation he's more or less grown up into an [[Expy]] of [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Ali Al-Saachez]] and [[Zeta Gundam|Yazan Gable]], the franchise's two defining [[Psycho for Hire|Psychos For Hire]].
* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Speed Grapher]]'', Suitengu.
* This is arguably the entire concept of ''[[Naruto]]'', where the main characters, at the start, are twelve years old and already sent into occasionally life-threatening missions. The fact that they ''are'' ninja and they're accompanied by more experienced one helps, a little, but [[There Are No Therapists|tough cookies if you watch your family die before you one night, or have to leave your teammate to die.]] The trope is played with rather interestingly, as the series of [[The Messiah|messiah-like characters]] see this trope as a major part of the problem with the whole ninja system in general, which they seek to fundamentally change or end.
** This story without a doubt fits this trope, as Naruto, as of the gradually building climax-arc of the series, is {{spoiler|[[The Chosen One|the saviour and prophet]] everyone is relying on to save the day.}} Naruto himself grew into the role of [[The Messiah]] not by destiny or conscious choice, but because of the various events and realities of his live, and the choices he made eventually culminating in a person and reputation that effectively becomes messianic. In a sense, the [[Upbringing Makes the Hero]] combines with several wise mentors passing on their full or partially messianic philosophies onto Naruto, who sees the reality of the world around him and puts two and two together.
** Mangaka Masashi Kishimoto is queasy about actually killing off members of his young protagonist set outright (aside from [[Disney Death|feints]], [[Death
** Some characters start even younger, as Kakashi graduated at the age of 5, became a Chunin at 6, and by 13, was a Jonin who would have died on several occasions if not for his teammate Rin's medical ninjutsu.
* The armed forces of the Space-Time Administration Bureau from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' doesn't seem to have a minimum age requirement. Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate become active members at the age of nine and proceed to sky-rocket through its ranks. Unlike most examples, the child soldiers of the series all join out of their own volition. (However, there's unfortunate implications that this is a [[Boxed Crook]] arrangement for everyone except Nanoha, as these tend to be the opponents of previous seasons; and anyone ''not'' working for the TSAB is still in prison or at least confined to a frontier world.) In crossover fanfic it's not unusual for others to find this disconcerting.
** Played more darkly in Runessa Magnus' backstory in ''[[
** The TSAB looks more like a police/firefighter force. The characters' job is to arrest bad guys, avoiding lethal force as much as possible, and to rescue people from disasters. Definitely a dangerous job, but far less scarring than a "job" where you have to kill or be killed. But even that is darker in SSX, where we're reminded that working in Disaster Relief means that when you fail, you see people die.
* Duel Academy students in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''
* Major Edward Elric from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' earned his commission in [[The Empire|Amestris']] State Military at the tender age of twelve.
* Mana Tatsumiya in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is (arguably) 14/15 years old, but has been fighting in various trouble spots around the world since her childhood. Her old Pactio card actually shows her, around 10 years old, with [[Guns Akimbo|Desert Eagles Akimbo]].
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** In fact, the entire class (including the teacher!) that wasn't left behind counts, save the [[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghost]] Sayo. Setsuna has been a bodyguard or training in Shinmeiryuu techniques since childhood.
** [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Fate's haremettes]] also can be seen as this.
* In ''[[Strike Witches]]'', all but two of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing's Witches are children, the youngest being only 12 (the two oldest are, appropriately enough, the commander and her second in command). Justified somewhat in that most magic users are teenage girls anyway, and the fact their magic gets weaker the older they get. So by 20 they are pretty much decommissioned from service.
* The main cast of ''[[Sky Girls]]'' are in their teens, the youngest only 15 years old. This is justified by 90% of the male population between 20 and 30 being dead in due to a war against an alien enemy.
* Mostly averted (both ways) in ''[[Gundam SEED Astray]]'s'' Kazahana Aja. Although she is an official member of the Serpent Tail mercenary group at the tender age of six, she's only the team's civilian liason, and thus is generally a non-combatant (Plus, her mother is part of the group, too). Her report at the end of ''X Astray'' is a bit of a [[Tear Jerker]], however.
* Played straight and subverted by ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'', where the psychic children are used more or less as soldiers, but the organization doing so still treats them like children and tries very hard to provide for a healthy upbringing for them.
* ''[[
* The Shinigami in ''[[Bleach]]'' have a few children in their ranks. [[Hot Librarian|Ise Nanao]] and [[Stepford Smiler|Ichimaru Gin]] joined as children. [[Adorably Precocious Child|Hitsugaya Toshiro]] is a child in the current timeline, ''and he's the 10th squad captain''.
** [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|But then again]]...
*** Looking by Soul Society standards, he's still considered a child.
** You're forgetting [[Cute Bruiser|Kusajishi Yachiru]], sir.
* In ''[[
* Yu Ominae from the anime/manga series ''[[Spriggan]]'', was "recruited" (read: kidnapped) into a secret U.S. government black ops unit called COSMOS sometime after his archaeologist parents were killed in Iran. Considering he's no older than 16-17 by present day in the series (he's a high school student), this means he was likely taken around the age of 10. COSMOS (Children of Soldier Machine Organic System) was filled out with children kidnapped by the CIA from the around world. They are brainwashed, have their names replaced by a number, and given extensive special forces training. To give some perspective as to the results of this training, Yuu, after freeing himself from COSMOS' brainwashing, is considered to be one of the deadliest special agents alive in the world of Spriggan.
* In the manga ''[[Jormungand]]'', the character Jonah is a child soldier and is a prolific fighter, who has been hired by a arms dealer. Even though he's on par with the other highly trained fighters, he's also mentally fragile and hates weapons and his reliance on them. Needless to say, his personality disturbs the other adult mercenaries.
* At the beginning of ''9 Banme no Masashi'' the titular character is 16 and one of the top elite soldier in her secret paramilitary organization.
* Most of the main cast in [[Kagerou Nostalgia]], with Kazuma Shudo, a 14-year old, PTSD-ing [[Hired Guns|mercenary]] being the straightest example.
* Some, if not all of the ''[[Spider Riders]]'' are ages twelve to thirteen. For pete's sake, Princess Sparkle is only eight!
* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', [[The Ace|Mami Tomoe]] reassures two prospective recruits that, though being a magical girl is often dangerous, it is ultimately very rewarding. {{spoiler|She is very, very wrong.}}
* The oldest member of the [[So Ra No
* ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'' has the titular team fighting against a terrorist organization, despite the fact that most of them are teenagers and [[Kid Appeal Character|Jinpei]] is only about 10 or 11.
=== Comic Books ===
* Really this is what [[Captain America (comics)]]'s sidekick Bucky was.
** I'd call a sidekick to a [[Super Soldier]] fighting in actual warzones a child soldier even before we add the [[Cloak and Dagger]] elements to his character.
* Arguably, all of [[Batman]]'s Robins. An eight-year-old Dick Grayson and ten-year-old Damian Wayne fit the description better than the others, however.
* Xavin the Super Skrull in training from ''[[
** In the ''Runaways''/''[[Young Avengers]]'' [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]] arc, Xavin tells a [[Mad Scientist]] that when he/she was five, he/she was forced to first watch his father slaughter a "screaming family" and then was made to spend three days with the bodies as a punishment for crying during it.
** Arguably the rest of the Pride's kids and anyone else in their group counts. Granted they're soldiers by choice (if the adult heroes and social services had their way, they'd all be safely in foster care), but still...
* Hell, ''any'' [[Kid Sidekick]] is arguably this.
* Hit Girl from ''[[Kick-Ass]]'' is a strange case, because not only is she aware of her status as this, but she's far more capable than the 16 year old title character. {{spoiler|After her father gets killed, Kick-Ass helps her track down her mother, and she goes back to a normal life like nothing bad ever happened.}}
*** The first issue of ''Kickass 2'' {{spoiler|shows Hit-Girl continuing to train Kick-Ass, keeping a small army's worth of firepower hidden in her bedroom, and being thoroughly bored with civilian life. So her normal life is probably going to just be a temporary blip.}}
** In [[Kick-Ass (
* X-23 from the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' was artificially created to be a perfect killing machine, this meant learning to kill from birth on and being send on messy assassinations by the age of 12.
** Metaphorically Marrow was also a child soldier. Being forced to kill fellow Morlocks in order to survive and being indoctrinated to hate normal humans for no apparent reason.
===
* A particularly ridiculous version is the ''[[
** By way of comparison, in ''TNG'', there was a "cadet crew" made up of some of the teens and older pre-teens, but their activities were realistically limited. The only time they actually did anything "for real" was during an exceptionally severe shipwide emergency where everyone available was needed. Even then, they were limited to doing what they'd actually learned.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Mad Scientist Wars]]'', Commander Primary Xerox, head of [[The Men in Black]]-style organization '''M''' is somewhere between the two types. {{spoiler|Up until the age of ten he was trained along with other children to be an assassin, and sent to kill Mad Scientists.}} On one hand, he has amazing reflexes and a great deal of weapon training, but on the other hand {{spoiler|The guilt of his only ''mostly'' repressed memories has haunted his adult life, and he's never really recovered from the emotional stress. And he has the ''body'' of a Jaded Vet to go along with his mentality.}}
* ''[[DC Nation
* Tabitha, as portrayed in the ''[[
* Brutally Deconstructed during the ''[[
{{quote|
''"I know what they want me to do…they want me to just jump to the front line and take my friends to battle, as if we were soldiers willing to die for our country. Besides, they think it's so easy…that in the end, Daemon will be defeated, just like D-Reaper and the Nightmare."''
''The sound of Henry's fist crashing against the floor covered Jeri's gasp.''
''"Of course! If the kids do it, it's because it's easy, right?"''}}
* Again, this is a major premise of ''Naruto'', so it naturally comes up in the ''Naruto/Justice League'' [[Crossover]] ''[[Connecting the Dots]]''. The principled Justice League is horrified to discover there is a whole dimension of child assassins, even though Flash points out that the League employs plenty of teenagers.
* The Cutie Mark Crusaders officially become ones in chapter 16 of ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]''. To their credit, they actually ''want'' to fight the griffins and they helped in defending Ponyville earlier.
* ''[[The Servants of Ungoliant]]'': Darklanders that serve as Ungoliant's soldiers are inclined to be teenagers and young adults. Individuals older than twenty-six are relatively uncommon.
* Expressed and discussed in ''[[The Secret Return of Alex Mack]]''. Jack O'Neill can't help but see Alex and the other super-powered teens in his command as [[Child Soldiers]], and feels guilty about it. It comes to a head when eight-year-old Shar (who has unmatched [[Kill It with Fire|elemental fire powers]]) manages to get herself onto the battlefield against {{spoiler|Gojira}}; it doesn't matter that she's the one who actually took down the foe, Jack goes ballistic about a prepubescent combatant and she gets banned from even getting near to any future SRI operations.
=== Film ===
* It was the plot of ''[[Toys (
* Implied a bit in ''[[Transformers (
* The Clone Troopers of ''[[Star Wars]]'' are considered combat ready at age ten. Their accelerated aging means they appear twenty, and they've been trained since birth.
* The movie ''Blood Diamond'' depicts child soldiers in a real-life conflict.
* The leader of the drug dealers from ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' is twelve years old.
** Actually, in his case, he's not just a Child Soldier, but a Child Boss.
* The film adaptation of ''[[Chronicles of Narnia|Voyage Of The Dawn Treader]]'' starts out with a teenage Edmund lying about his age to try and enlist to fight in [[World War II]]. Unfortunately, the recruiting officer can tell he's underage and turns him down. Apparently, Edmund's tried multiple times and is becoming increasingly frustrated.
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
* Nog in ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' is an [[Eager Young Space Cadet]] - a [[Plucky Middie]] [[Recycled in Space]].
* From ''[[Frasier]]'', on Frasier and Niles' Greek aunt Zora.
{{quote|
'''Frasier:''' I have never believed that. She would have been five at the time.
'''Niles:''' That's why the legend says they were strangled with jump ropes. }}
* In a flashback the Pilot of Magnum PI, there is a scene in Vietnam, where two ARVN soldiers are shown that had supposedly been fighting since they were ten.
=== Literature ===
* The eponymous kid from the ''[[Ender's Game]]'' series.
** And, to an only slightly lesser extent, the majority of characters in that series (or at least the first book).
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* ''[[The War Against the Chtorr]]''. With most of the world population killed off by alien plagues, anyone old enough to fight the alien invaders is conscripted into the military.
* In ''Century Rain'' by Alastair Reynolds, one of the two major human factions in the setting, the Polity, used genetically engineered, nanotechnology enhanced child-soldiers against the other major faction, the United States of Near Earth, in a war some time before the beginning of the novel. They later show up in the course of the novel, as part of a rogue Polity group which is attempting to destroy the book's [[MacGuffin]]. They are described as being particularly hard to fight because of human instincts and their own extreme skill and small size.
* Massively subverted in [[John Scalzi]]'s ''[[Old
* In [[
* In the ''[[Seafort Saga]]'' the radiation associated with FTL travel means you must join the Navy as a child so your body acclimatises to it as you grow up otherwise you risk cancer. The protagonist finds himself commanding a ship starting at the age of 17 for several year. Later he is Commander of the Naval Academy and must send the academy cadets on suicide missions to defend Earth.
* In the short story
* In the [[Posleen War Series]] novel ''Yellow Eyes'' Panama is forced to recruit children as soldiers to defend itself from the Posleen. It avoids becoming a [[Moral Event Horizon]] because it is clearly portrayed as a desperation move against the Posleen, [[Horde of Alien Locusts|who would have killed and eaten the children anyway if they weren't stopped]]. Also, the children are rarely used as front-line soldiers, instead they are used primarily for supply and logistics work in order to free up adults to fight in the front lines.
* Most of [[Redwall]]'s main heroes are the rodentine equivalent of about twelve to fifteen years old.
* The [[
* [[The Tomorrow Series]] is about a group of teens (exact age not specified, though they're still in school) who inadvertently become guerilla soldiers when their country (Australia) is invaded while they're out camping.
* The whole [[Harry Potter]] series is about kids getting caught up in their elders' war and recruited/forced to fight in it in various capacities. This is an instance of "Precociously Talented Type" and "Just Plain Tragic Type" combined.
* Ditto for the [[Percy Jackson]] series. Neither side thinks twice about recruiting and training to fight demigods as young as ten years old. Percy himself fights his first battles at age twelve, Annabeth is only seven.
* ''[[Bitter Seeds]]'' has a team of Nazi child psychic soldiers.
* The entire main cast of ''[[
* David Westheimer's alternate history novel about a 1945 invasion of Japan features a Japanese schoolteacher leading his his malnourished class against American tanks. Tragically, it's
* Rana Sanga's son Rajiv in [[Belisarius Series]] was being groomed to be a quite formidable [[Warrior Prince]] while still a teenager. However his father certainly intended that he be allowed to grow up before seeing actual combat and he only participates in war in the series because of an attempt to murder his family while his father is away on campaign.
* In ''[[
=== Tabletop Games ===
* The citizens of the planet Cadia in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' are trained from birth for combat, mainly due to the fact that their planet is parked riameght outside a [[Negative Space Wedgie]] that leads straight to hell, and frequently spews forth the [[Legions of Hell]]. The birth rate and recruitment rate is the same thing. Their soldiers enter combat as part of the youth army, the "Whiteshields," at age 13. They only get promoted to the full army by earning a medal. And they are ''badass''. A common saying is that any Cadian who can't field-strip his own lasgun by the age of ten was born on the wrong planet. While Whiteshields do have stats, the only official miniatures ever printed for them look like adults.
** [[Space Marine]]s, due to the requirements of their [[Applied Phlebotinum|implants]], are inducted into the chapter at around the onset of puberty, and the [[The Spartan Way|entry requirements]] make sure they must be well-versed in the act of war before they're even considered. Their transformation into full-fledged Space Marines isn't complete by the time they're seeing battle as part of the chapter's Scout Company.
*** As in so many other things, [[Space Wolves]] are the exception. They take in valorous young men on the brink of death, usually in their twenties (leading the population of their planet Fenris to see their order as a [[Warrior Heaven]] in itself, but that is neither here nor there). Although we're never given figures on the success rate, the [[Honor Before Reason|wisdom]] of this is uncertain; when Leman Russ was found by the Emperor, his [[Band of Brothers|associates]] all volunteered to become Space Marines, and over half died from implant rejection. On the other hand, few of them were young in any way, and several were downright [[Badass Grandpa|elderly]].
* The premise of [[Bliss Stage]] is that the only people left who can fight the [[Alien Invasion]] are teenagers.
* A number of races in Warhammer Fantasy do this as well. Dark Elves begin training the moment they are strong enough to pick up a sword or spear. All Bretonian knights start off as a Knight Errant. Once the young knights have proven their worth in the field of battle, they are knighted and receive a small plot of land to rule.
=== Video Games ===
* Latooni, Seolla, Arado, and Princess Shine from ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''. The first three are [[Tyke Bomb|Tykebombs]], while the fourth is a [[Everything's Better with Princesses|princess]] who isn't ''technically'' enlisted, and is simply allowed to fight alongside the other heroes to protect her [[The Kingdom|Kingdom]].
** Also, Mihiro Ardygun in ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'', who co-pilots the Valhawk with her older brother (himself 16) at the age of 10. {{spoiler|During the [[Time Skip]], while her brother was missing, she took over piloting duties full-time.}} Though not a soldier ''officially'', she does fight on behalf of a government organization that does include several soldiers, including the aforementioned child soldiers from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]'' and ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''.
* [[Halo|Master Chief]] and his fellow [[Super Soldier|Spartans]] started their [[The Spartan Way|grueling military training]] at age six, and have been kicking [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Covenant]] rear since they were fourteen. Their skills and reputation are such that the Covenant calls them "demons."
** ''Ghosts of Onyx'' goes even further, with the SPARTAN III program, which turned children into ''suicide'' super soldiers who went off to fight and die at the age of ''twelve''.
* 14-year-old Leo Stenbuck [[Falling Into the Cockpit|fell into the cockpit]] of Jehuty in ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'', but continued to fight of his own free will as a part of the military afterwards, and is only 16 in the sequel.
* What's a young girl in a pretty white dress doing as one of the top three generals in ''[[
* Some of the backstory for the ''[[Crusader:
* In ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'', Gallia has a policy of Universal Conscription, so military training is a part of general education and citizens as young as fifteen may be called up to serve. Moreover, the militia is known to have soldiers as young as ''twelve'', although the girl in question enlisted voluntarily and required special permission to do so.
** Even worse, the little girl is a ''shocktrooper'', the most durable ''and'' most damaging troop type in the game.
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* The SeeD in ''[[
** Also the underlying function of the SeeD is to {{spoiler|be prepared to defend the world against [[Big Bad|an imprisoned evil sorcerer]]}}
** However see the below category to see the flip side of this.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' has a few child characters, mostly [[Street Urchin|thieves]], Mages in training (and a few full fledged mages) and exiled royalty, but [[Fire Emblem Tellius
* Ikari Warriors member Whip from ''[[
** She was also a [[Tyke Bomb]], seperated from her brother {{spoiler|K}}. Heidern really enjoys recruiting young girls for some reason.
* Grunt from ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' is a tank born krogan who is and acts like a child...by krogan standards. His major issue is that he is not only clanless but his father was hated by many krogan.
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** And we have Raiden who became a child soldier in the Liberian Civil War thanks to Solidus, recieving the nicknames of "White Devil" and "Jack the Ripper". Having a combat rifle at age six, he became captain of a unit of child soldiers ("the Small Boy Unit") at age ten. Similarly, Solidus himself was also heavily implied to be in his teens when he participated in the war.
** [[Metal Gear Solid]], the novelization, the Official Missions Handbook, and [[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]] also heavily imply that Solid and Liquid Snake were raised within the military from a very young age, at least since two years of age, in fact.
* In the original [[Freedom Force]], both Liberty Lad and Sea Urchin are
* Zig-Zagged in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''. We have Tear who was trained by Legretta and was given military-grade training from a young age. It shows, but she has a sensitive side too. (And an urge to act like a young girl like thinking it'd be so fun to be hugged by Anise's giant plush animal.) We also have Sync who is only fourteen years old, is a candidate for [[That One Boss]], and falls into the dramatic side given his backstory. One of Sync's comrades, Arietta, also falls into the [[Alas, Poor Villain]] types, since she can't be any older than 16 yet was trusted by the Daathic Government to act as a bodyguard for Sync. Her successor, Anise, is only ''thirteen'', is {{spoiler|blackmailed into being [[The Mole]] because of her parents being hugely in debt}}, and clearly had to grow up fast a bit. Oh, and the other god general who's underage by our standards? Asch the Bloody who is 17...and had clearly been in the Daathic Army for ''years'' beforehand. Luke also marches into battle when he's only 17 as well, but consider that {{spoiler|He's actually much ''much'' younger than that!}}
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'' also gives us Alice, one of the main antagonists who's part of a terrorist organization and is ''clearly'' underage. Don't forget Marta, too, who is only 15 years old.
* ''[[League of Legends]]'' has no real restrictions on membership beyond the ability to kick enormous amounts of ass, so you can have children fighting amongst adult archangels, insane wizard Yordles, and people who've been in the military for years.
** Annie, who is literally ''six years old'' and fights clutching her teddy bear in one hand... and occasionally turning it into an flaming giant to destroy her enemies
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** Kog'Maw, who's still an infant, but because he's an infant [[Eldritch Abomination]] who destroys everything in his path, no one minds.
** While she's grown up now, Riven's backstory indicates that she was a fanatical child soldier for Noxus.
* ''[[Blitter Boy]]'' is this, acording to [[Word of God]].
=== Web Comics ===
* The title character in ''[[Terinu]]'' was raised by [[Space Pirate]] Mavra Chan to be an assassin, starting at the tender age of nine. His best friend Matt was sold ''by his own father'' to Chan to serve as a cook's mate on the same ship at the age of eleven. It's a sufficiently [[Crapsack World]] that in Matt's case this was distinct improvement over his previous situation.
* Karcharoth of [[Cry Havoc]] was conscripted at the age of six, and has been fighting in one army or another for fifteen years. Understandably he has a rather distorted view of life. He was recruited due to his minor, but growing, psychic powers.
=== Web Original ===
* [[Proud Warrior Race|Sirene]] from the [[Play
* Zero Takaichi of [[Tasakeru]] joined with the Militia and became a samurai at age 13, as is the custom for males of his species.
* The youngest [[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]] are about thirteen years old when they start in the field. The youngest agent ever, Ella Darcy, was ''ten'' when she joined, but she wasn't a field agent.
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=== Western Animation ===
* Occasionally implied in the [[Transformers]] metaseries with the younger-minded characters. Done outright in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' with Sari {{spoiler|especially after she turns out to be a [[Robot Girl]]}} and is pushed into the front lines in season 3.
** The episode "Human Error" {{spoiler|(where the main 'bots are shown in analogous human bodies)}} shows that Bumblebee is the Cybertronian equivalent of [[Toy Ship|roughly her age]].
** {{spoiler|Omega Supreme}} might also count, given that he was specifically created to be a superweapon and purposefully made mentally 'slow' so that he wouldn't question orders. Not a child, but close to a child's mind.
*** The Transformers in Animated have an explicit childhood stage. He was a child soldier with mild mental retardation, and the actions of his creators made it clear that they knew what this would do to him, and how wrong their actions were.
* {{spoiler|Noodle}} of [[
* Jedi Padawans such as Ahsoka Tano of ''[[The Clone Wars|Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' could very much be considered this. Ahsoka is only fourteen or fifteen and yet leads troops into battle and gets into the thick of the fighting herself. Their talent with the force and training from childhood makes even the Padawans very deadly warriors.
** When Kamino comes under attack, the clone cadets take up arms to defend their home. Thanks to their accelerated growth, they're about as half as young as they look.
* I pity the fools who forgot to mention ''[[Codename
** It gets better. The KND are basically a global organisation with, amongst other things: A [[Space Base|Moonbase]], [[Kill Sat|orbital cannons]], [[Standard Sci
* The plot of ''[[
* Episode 8 of ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'' had The Academy on Galaluna, a military training facility which starts training future soldiers as children. To be fair, however, it is partially Truth In Television: most of them are teenagers, and military schools do exist for such ages. However, they also showed a row of children who looked even shorter, and, presumably, younger than Lance and Arthur — who were already small and really young-looking to begin with.
* In the original ''[[
* This gets [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Young Justice (
{{quote|
** Later discussed in the episode "Agendas". With the League discovering that {{spoiler|[[Captain Marvel]] is only ten}}, they begin debating whether to boot him out of the Justice League. Batman says he knew all along, and it has no impact.
{{quote|
'''Batman''': Robin ''needed'' to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice.
'''[[Wonder Woman]]''': So he could turn out like you?
'''Batman''': So that he wouldn't. }}
* Similar to above, the ''[[Teen Titans (
* [[Badass Normal|Caleb]] in [[WITCH (
== Just Plain Tragic Type ==
===
* [[Now and Then, Here and There]] deals with this trope in an almost unwatchably brutal manner.
* The various groups employing Contractors in ''[[Darker than Black]]'' don't really care much about issues like "age." As such, kids who manifest powers tend to be [[The Corps Is Mother|grabbed up immediately]], [[Unperson]]ed, and trained as assassins or other special agents. Additionally, Hei {{spoiler|was a [[Badass Normal]] one; he fought in Heaven's War to protect his Contractor little sister}}, and one flashback makes it clear he wasn't more than about 16 when he first got involved.
** Through this is somehow justified by the fact that they [[Lack of Empathy|lose their emotions]] and [[The Sociopath|their sense of guilt.]] Even the youngest Contractors seem to become [[Creepy Child]]ren at best and sociopathic cold-blooded murderers at worst.
* The titular girls from ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' get rescued from death and [[Hollywood Cyborg|cybernetically enhanced]] at a very young age. They then are brainwashed into working for an Italian government organization to fight terrorism—generally by [[Small Girl, Big Gun|using very big guns]]. The brainwashing of child soldiers is the whole point of ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]''.
** The girls are recruited from a pool of orphans who would otherwise be crippled at the very least.
** Then there's Pinocchio who had no brainwashing, and eagerly learned how to become an assassin at a young age.
* The children of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' are early on said to have a [[Competence Zone]] of 14, but it seems instead to be a similar result from the [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. Milked for all the drama it can give.
** Milked not just for drama, but also for [[Deconstruction]]: Evangelion deconstructs [[Kid Hero
* Guts from ''[[Berserk]]'' was trained as a mercenary by his adoptive father when he was just a little boy and had to participate in his share of horrific violence as a result. One of the most horrible things to happen to him back then was being sold by the adoptive father as a sex slave to a pederast soldier for three silver coins.
* ''[[Bokurano]]'' has a group of 12-13-year olds (the first episode states they've just finished grade school) protecting the whole world from being destroyed. Even if they ''were'' completely well-adjusted to begin with ([[Dysfunction Junction|and they're]] ''[[Dysfunction Junction|not]]'' -- [[Author Appeal|this is a Mohiro Kitoh work]]) the circumstances of the 'game' they've found themselves in makes their tenure as 'defenders of earth' more tragic than most other examples on this page combined.
* Runessa of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. As mentioned in ''[[
* Chise from ''[[Saikano]]''/''She the ultimate weapon''. In high school (or was it Junior High?) but being forced to be in the military and even going as far as {{spoiler|turning into pretty much a machine with a [[Berserk Button]] that is automatically triggered by battle}}.
* Kirika and Chloe from [[Noir]], and to a lesser extent Mireille, actually belong to both types. Kirika was an active assassin from the time she was ''[[Tyke Bomb|five]]''.
* [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00
* Kazuma Shudo of ''[[Kagerou
* ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'' has the titular team fighting against a terrorist organization, despite the fact that most of them are teenagers and [[Kid Appeal Character|Jinpei]] is only about 10 or 11.
=== Comic Books ===
* In ''[[Justice Society of America|The Last Days of the Justice Society]]'', [[The Flash]] is shot and killed by a child soldier during the fall of Berlin.
* Mariane Satrapi's ''[[Persepolis]]'' featured a portrayal of the real life Iranian unit of children, who were walked into the minefields to detonate them ahead of the troops.
* The Vertigo reboot of [[Unknown Soldier]] is set in Acholiland, the base of operations of the Lord's Resistance Army, one of the most infamous [[Real Life]] users of child soldiers. Therefore, they're all over the place.
* When the [[X-Men]] were up against Storm's uncle, a ruthless African dictator, he had a whole unit of child soldiers, trained to be extremely sadistic. Storm had no choice but to kill a squad before they could to the same to her.
** While not as explicit, Cyclops is an example of a child soldier grown-up. Traumatized as a child (kidnapped father, orphaned with his brother), trained in military tactics from age 14, and sent on paramilitary actions until he was a full adult. Recent X-Men author Kieron Gillen even [http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/11/03/kieron-gillen-uncanny-xmen-interview/ cited] this trope as his central motivation for the character.
===
* As ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' fics, ''[[
* ''[[
* The ''[[Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[
* The ''[[
=== Film ===
* ''[[Blood Diamond]]'' shows the kidnapping and indoctrination of the son of one of the main characters. Includes the real-life practice of giving kids amphetamines to kill any feeling of fear or
* Glimpsed in ''The Two Towers'' in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. There is a scene where the soldiers suit up to defend Helm's Deep and we see a number of people being armed are ''very'' young boys needed to up their soldier count. Mercifully, we're never shown the kids doing any actually combat besides throwing stones at the besiegers from the wall.
** Which is not to say that they aren't implied to having fought, we just don't see them die either. Judging by the heavy casualties suffered by the defenders, it is safe to say that most of these children will have been cut down by the Uruk-Hai, although some of the boys can later be seen in the background of the post-victory banquet scene.
* ''[[Downfall (film)|Downfall]]'' features a girl of about 12 'manning' an 88mm gun at the Battle of Berlin. When everything appears hopeless, her not-much-older comrade shoots her at her own request, then kills himself.
* Good lord, the [[Precision F-Strike|fucking]] Pure Ones in ''[[Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole]]''. First off, they take owlets from their nests and train them to fight the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, who are damn near unstoppable. As if the "Pickers" being moonblinked wasn't bad enough, throughout the climatic fight many of them were most likely killed. To top it off, the whole thing is disturbingly similar to the Hitler Youth. [[Fridge Horror|And Nyra's name is Aryan with an "a" missing.]] Think about that for a moment.
* Sam Peckinpah's ''Cross of Iron'' features a Russian boy soldier who is captured by the German characters.
** He was later released by the protagonist, to promptly be shot by a passing Russian soldier. Cue [[Heroic BSOD|Protagonist BSOD]].
* In the 1959 German movie ''Die Brücke'' (''The Bridge''), a group of Hitler Youth tragically try to defend their hometown from American tanks.
** Even more tragic, the bridge had no strategic importance, their teacher had them send there in order to keep them away from actual fighting. Additional the bridge was meant to be destroyed anyway.
* In ''The Straight Story'' ([[David Lynch]]'s most logical film yet), one scene has Alvin Straight recounting [[Shell Shocked Senior|his experiences]] in [[WWII]], in which he had to kill a bunch of Hitler Youth.
* In USSR there were
** Heavily subverted in the film ''Till the first blood'' where a war game in summer camp begins to resemble an actual war more and more.
* Another Russian film series ''The Uncatchable Avengers'' features four teenagers (3 boys and 1 girl) fighting in the Russian Civil War(1918-1924).
* ''[[City of God]]'' prominently features children fighting in drug wars the projects of Rio de Janiero. Children are shown killing each other, dealing and using drugs, {{spoiler|and in one shocking scene, a child is forced to execute one of his friends by the villain.}}
* In ''[[Doctor Zhivago (
* ''[[Lord of War]]'': West African dictator André Baptiste has a military unit composed entirely of child soldiers which he calls the "Kalashnikov Kids" and his "Boy Brigade".
* In ''[[Master and Commander (film)|Master and Commander: The Far Side of
* The whole Harry Potter series is about kids getting caught up in their elders' war and recruited/forced to fight in it in various capacities. This is an instance of "Precociously Talented Type" and "Just Plain Tragic Type" combined.
* In ''Taps'', cadets at a [[Military School
* In ''[[The Horse Soldiers]]'', [[John Ford]] plays this for tears and laughs.
=== Literature ===
* The midshipmen in ''[[Master and Commander]]'' books, tragically a case of [[Truth in Television]].
** ''[[Aubrey
*** Mitigating this, as the aforementioned series does mention, midshipmen were frequently carried on the ship's books a few years before they were actually carried on the ''ship''.
**** If a boy's father had been in the navy, some sources say that the minimum age was NINE.
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* ''[[Les Misérables]]'' features minor character Gavroche, a street-child who participates in the student uprising, collecting ammunition from the bodies of fallen enemy soldiers {{spoiler|and survives being shot once to throw his bag of bullets over to his friends before falling to another shot}}.
* The later ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books see several underage wizards/witches seeing real combat due to various circumstances, namely the rising stakes. The most tragic example is {{spoiler|Colin Creevey}}, who is killed in the book 7 finale ({{spoiler|he would have been sixteen or possibly even seventeen at this point, but his small stature would have certainly made him seem younger}}).
* In ''[[Temeraire]]'', which is as historically accurate as any series featuring dragons can be, shows young midshipmen and other military personnel among Britain's armed forces. Laurence himself ran away from home to join the Navy at twelve, and when he becomes an aviator, several of his crew are around ten, eleven, or twelve. While aviators don't actually go up at ages earlier than that and aren't part of the crew meant to fight until years later, cadets ''start'' training at seven so they're acclimated to the dragons by the time they're ready for duty. This is more presented as childhood being shorter in those days, as well as the British being pressed hard by Napoleon, than anything else. The author also does not shy away from some of these
* Teenage witch ''Sylvia of Arc'' from Nick Perumov's "Swords' Guardian" series. Was "considered a veteran at the age of ten." She fills both variants (i.e. is both Precociously Talented AND Tragic) of this trope, though, as she is IMMENSELY talented and could take most adult opponents with ease... until she started to run into demigods, that is.
* Even [[Alice, Girl
** She (actually the author, of course) also gives an explanation WHY this is common: "If a grown up soldier revolts, he can be hard to deal with. He may very well turn the weapons you give him at you. Kids usually can be controlled by means as simple as threatening to deny them sweets."
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Warhammer
* Karin Lowachee milks this trope for all the tragedy its worth. The main character from ''Warchild'' is a child solider, borderline spy and assassin, even. He's not a very happy or well-adjusted young man. But then he's contrasted with his friend Evan, who in addition to being captured and raised by pirates, is alluded to being a child whore in addition to solider. And even the "good guys," [[Gray and Gray Morality|if you can call them that]] use teenagers as cannon fodder.
* The second book in ''[[The Dalemark Quartet]]'' by [[Diana Wynne Jones]], ''Drowned Ammet'', introduces Mitt, a boy whose family is forced off its farm and into the city slums because they can't pay the earl's rising taxes. Then Mitt's father joins a society of revolutionaries and dies, which prompts Mitt to join the society himself, and then he gets the brilliant idea to blow up the earl.....
* In ''[[
* Chris Armani's ''Song For Night'' takes place in [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|West Africa]] (presumably Nigeria, given the writer's home country) during a senseless war that forcibly recruits children. Amongst the tragedies, these kids are usually orphans, they get their vocal cords slit to keep them from making noise, they're coerced to rape innocent people by their [[Complete Monster|sadistic leader]], and witness their comrades get blown up by proximity mines, which they're trained to defuse. Unsurprisingly, many of them don't last past their teens. The worst part? The aforementioned statements are [[Truth in Television]], since the story's based off the author's real life experiences.
* In ''Suicide Kings'' from the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series Dr. Nshombo uses child Aces as soldiers. Since they have superpowers this would normally put them in the precocious category, except for how he gets them. He takes normal children in large numbers and exposes them to the wild card virus. This kills most of the people exposed to it. About nine percent suffer extreme but survivable mutations. And about one percent gain superpowers without being mutated, known as Aces. Aces or those with useful mutations are conscripted. The rest, including those who turn out to be [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|"deuces"]] are shot.
* The [[Gone (novel)]] series. In book 1, the [[Big Bad]] has recruited superpowered kids from Coates Academy to fight for him, and [[The Dragon]] has an army
* Robert Muchamore's unpublished book, "Home" (available online [
* The [[Posleen War Series]] tends to have a lot of these. Given the Posleen kill counts though, the kids are probably better off than otherwise.
* There's a short story which details the journey of a group of children on the Children's Crusade. As history tells, it does not end well, which makes their optimism that God will favor their cause once they reach Jerusalem to be rather a [[Tear Jerker]]. Fortunately, the narrator had been a werewolf since birth (he joined the Crusade in the hopes of God freeing him from his curse) and the night they're delivered to Egypt as slaves happens to be just the same night as the full moon...
* Willie, husband of the narrator of ''Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All'', joined the Confederate army in the [[American Civil War]] at the age of 13. It messed him up - just how horribly is revealed gradually over the course of the book.
* Hans and Gretchen Richter in [[1632]] were kidnapped from their peaceful family in the [[Thirty Years' War]], Hans to be a soldier and Gretchen to be a [[Sex Slave]]. They are forced to do their captors bidding lest their younger siblings be killed as useless mouths. The amazing thing is that they were able to remain human at all and had any capability of recivilizing themselves when they were freed.
* A young Vlad Tepes in ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''Chanda's Wars'' by Allan Stratton, Chanda's siblings are taken by a warlord in an [[Bulungi|unnamed Sub-Saharan African country]] to be soldiers.
* ''[[Someone Else's
* In [[The Hunger Games (novel)|The Hunger Games]] trilogy, Katniss is only 16/17 and yet, is the face of the rebellion
** the other characters count as this
* We don't know the age of the average orc in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[The Lord of the Rings|Middle-Earth]] and at least some seem to have been thousands of years old because they remember events of ages past (which would either real badasses who could survive it, or real garritroopers). However the most commonly accepted backstory of orcs is that the first generations were abducted (and mutated) elves and the later were raised in slave farms to be [[Mooks]]. When there is no Dark Lord wannabe around they were so traumatized by this that they simply existed as bandits. In other words their description sounds [[Adult Fear|uneasily]] [[Nightmare Fuel|like]] that of real child soldiers who are kidnapped at a young age and abused until they were [[Being Tortured Makes You Evil|vicious enough]] to take part in war crimes. And of course many orcs must have been children when they were "trained" and sometimes when they saw combat.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The series finale of ''[[JAG]]'' had one of the officers dealing with a marine who is actually only 16 years who lied about his age signing up. To resolve the situation, the lawyer talks the Marine Corps into making the kid an honorary Marine before he is sent home to his mother with a promise that they would be delighted to recruit him legally when the time is right.
* Dealt with in several later-season episodes of ''[[M*A*S*H (
** Famously, in ''Sometimes You Hear the Bullet'':
{{quote|
'''Hawkeye:''' Let's hope it's a long and healthy hate. }}
* ''[[
* If the ''[[School for Scheming]]'''s [[Mind Rape|plan]] had [[Super Soldier|worked]], [[Firefly the Series|River Tam]] would have become one of these.
* ''[[Band of Brothers]]'' touches on this a couple times:
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** Pvt. Jackson, who died by his own grenade in episode 8, was noted to have lied about his age when he joined the army at 16.
** In episode 5, Winters is haunted by the memory of shooting a German soldier who looked no older than 18.
* A looser example, but during ''[[The Wire]]'' season 4, Michael (who was only 13 or 14 at time) was forced to become this for Marlo's drug crew. It was the only way for him to escape his worsening circumstances at home. While Michael could handle taking his finances from his junkie mother, the return of his step-father made him feel threatened (and for good reason, if he was really molested by him). By requesting the help of the local gangsters, it gave Michael their protection and even housing to get him and his step-brother away from home. ''[[The Wire]]'' implies that many young inner-city kids (including Bodie and Wallace) got their start in the drug game through similar circumstances. Even Calvin lampshades this in season 4 when he stated that by 18, kids are too deep into the drug game to be reformed, let alone act civilized to authorities.
* Kira Nerys of [[Deep Space Nine]] joined [[La Résistance|the Bajoran resistance]] at the age of twelve or thirteen. While she was willing (indeed, eager) to join the fight against the Cardassians who were occupying her planet and her side was generally the "good guys", this show fully exploited [[War Is Hell]] and [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized]], meaning that much of what she saw and did allows her to qualify as this.
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* In ''[[
* ''[[
{{quote|
=== Tabletop Games ===
* Turns up several times in the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' universe, particularly in the [[All There in the Manual|supporting materials]]. The defence of Hive Hellsreach during the Second Battle for Armageddon is one of the more poignant examples.
{{quote|Evacuees will be restricted to those below the age of seven (plus one parent/guardian) and those above the age of ninety. Regrettably, there are not enough places for everyone, so each person eligible for evacuation will be assigned a number. [...] If you are not eligible for evacuation you will be immediately assigned to a hive defence unit - details of where to report will follow this announcement.}}
=== Theatre ===
* The Wole Soyinka play ''Travel Club and Boy Soldier'' is about a military coup in an unspecified third-world nation, and the "Commandant" who's leading the whole thing is, well, the titular boy soldier. He's a teenager when the takeover happens, but he's been in the army for years by that point.
* ''[[Les Misérables (
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Suikoden II]]'' is the ur-example of this trope. The story begins two friends who, during military training in a youth brigade, are attacked by their own country's forces dressed up as a neighboring nation's units, just to justify going to war with that nation. Many child soliders such as Pohl are ven killed (in his case, run through by Luca Blight).
* The protagonist of ''[[Planetarian]]'' is a former child soldier, and has [[Flashback Nightmare
* In the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series, this is the [[Backstory]] of aforementioned Frank Jaeger and {{spoiler|Raiden}}. It turned the former into a badass and the latter into a psychological wreck.
** Give Gray Fox some credit; he's a psychological wreck, too.
** The Beauty & Beast Corps that Snake fights in ''[[Metal Gear]] Solid 4'' are all child soldiers who were horribly traumatized in their childhood. For example, Laughing Octopus was forced to laugh while she killed people, despite the fact that she found it horrifying, and so she cackles like a hyena all through her boss battle. At the end, she confesses, "I'm not really laughing..."
* ''[[Drakengard]]'' features a few missions where the enemy soldiers are child conscripts. Naturally, Caim, being the murderous nutcase that he is, viciously slaughters them all, much to the dismay of his more level-headed comrades.
** [[Dysfunction Junction|Particularly the pedophile, though the child-eating cannibal is pretty ecstatic at the fresh food.]] One of your comrades is an eternal child forced to do a lot of killing, including {{spoiler|his own sister}}, and who is ultimately forced to make {{spoiler|a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] that doesn't even kill him, but leaves him stranded alone in a timeless void incapable of even achieving the peace of death}}. It's safe to say Drakengard ''revels'' in this trope, [[Gainax Ending|especially when the Abominations show up.]]
** Noteworthy in the game is a mission where most of the foes are the normal faceless adults you've been used to fighting throughout the game, except for a small squad of child conscripts. You can ignore them easily enough, but if you want one of the unlockable weapons during this mission, you have to hunt them down. And since getting all the endings in Drakengard requires every single weapon, you're pretty much forced to do this.
* [[Emotionless Girl]] Leona from ''[[
* ''[[
** Iji is actually 20 years old, so she doesn't count. The diary writing alien soldier and her girlfriend are definite examples, though.
* [[Final Fantasy VIII
** It is arguable that ''[[
* ''[[Suikoden V]]'' has [[Murder, Inc.|Nether Gate]]; among their many, many atrocities is how they raise children to become career assassins. The player meets several members; some managed to escape its influence and have spent years recovering. Others... haven't.
* In ''[[Brothers in Arms]]'': Hell's Highway it is implied that {{spoiler|Frankie}} is under 18. He dies.
** Some people did (and still do!) lie about their age in order to join the military.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games usually play this for drama. The younger members often have some tragic backstory that forces them into war. A few examples: Amelia, Ross, and Franz from [[Fire Emblem:
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' has [[Psychic Powers|psychic commmando]] Paxton Fettel, as well as the player character, the Point Man. Though grown by the events of the game, both were trained basically from birth. Fettel in particular killed people when he was only ten, {{spoiler|though not in combat, and it wasn't entirely his fault...}}
** The psychological and emotional ramifications are explored in third game. Essentially, they're both scared children running from something far more powerful then them and either becoming obsessed with that (or similar) power or lashing out mindlessly in fear.
** The Point Man was entered into stasis at around 16, and taken out and trained when he was physically in his late 20s. It's hinted (but never made clear) that he [[Fridge Horror|might still be a child mentally]].
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'': You can talk to a [[Retired Badass|Retired NCR Ranger]] with a broken leg in Novac. If you ask him why his leg is broken, he'll say that it was because the Legion sent children as suicide bombers against him and his squad, knowing they'd hesitate to shoot.
* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia 012: Duodecim]]'', [[Final Fantasy XII
=== Web Comics ===
* Cloud's mom, Ye Thuza, from ''[[
* [[
* In ''[[
** In the Hammerchlorians storyline, it was revealed that they ''could'' have very easily gone to an experienced local magic-user instead. Susan... didn't take it well.
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[
{{quote|
'''Aang:''' You are a kid! }}
{{quote|
'''Aang:''' Well, you're just a teenager. }}
=== [[Real Life]] ===
* A celebrated moment of Mexican history eulogizes the last stand of the cadets who defended the Chapultepec castle against the U.S. Army and a storming part of U.S. Marines during the Mexican-American War. They are called "Los Niños Héroes" (The Child Heroes) making an allusion to their young age. They all existed and their names are real (despite many "revisionist" claims), however, one episode of high controversy is when one of the cadets, Juan Escutia or Juan de la Barrera (different cadets), threw himself to the abyss of the Grasshopper Hill rather than die at the hands of the enemy, while holding the Mexican Flag, which wrapped around his body during the fall. This, however is false. It may come from three episoes: one was when after the Battle of Molino del Rey, a soldier named Margarito Zuazo hid his batallion's flag wrapped around him below his uniform to avoid capture. The second one comes from Escutia's death: he was a sniper at the top of the castle, a bullet hit him and he fell to the abyss. Another one comes from a poem that said that another cadet, Agustín Melgar, "surrounded by enemies you shoot your weapon, and having no hope, rather than you surrendering, you wrap yourself in the flag and show your youthful bosom to the bullets of the invaders". These two made way for the popular myth that's still told in history classes.
** One of those cadets was 13 and another was 14, but the other four were 18, 19 and 20 years old.
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** This used to read "eight killed" and to be fair to the original poster, the deaths of Cadets Hartsfield and Haynes weren't reported to VMI until long after the battle. (1904, in Cadet Haynes' case.)
* Possibly NOT the Children's Crusade, at least so [[The Other Wiki]] suggests. The movement isn't well-recorded, the idea seems pretty unbelievable, and it's suspected the term "pueri" was a diminutive that meant "farmers" as in the English "country boys."
* The 12th Waffen-SS-Division 'Hitlerjugend' consisted mostly of Hitler Youth as young as 16 how were selected in special trials and led by experienced and older
* The Hitler Youth in [[Nazi Germany]]. Children as young as 10 fought in the defense of Berlin against the Red Army, many being awarded Iron Crosses by [[Adolf Hitler]] himself (indeed the last recorded pictures of Hitler show him doing this).
** Earlier in Nazi Germany there were the military-style training schools and the Hitler Youth, from which these child soldiers were drawn.
*** Most of them forced into joining, anyone attempting to escape would be shot or hanged, though not before 1945.
*** On the other side, many children served in the [[wikipedia:Warsaw Uprising|Warsaw Uprising]], theoretically as auxiliaries but many did see direct combat.
*** Younger boy scouts were part of so called 'small sabotage' and were tasked with the propaganda, reconnaissance and destruction of German communication devices (which could be as dangerous as direct combat). The boy scouts aged
* The Imperial Youth Corps in [[Imperial Japan]] during WWII. Conscripted to thwart ''[[Exactly What It Says
* The "Lord's Resistance Army" in Uganda, controlled by wanted war criminal Joseph Kony are infamous for this. Along with complimentary acts heinous enough to be filed under [[And I Must Scream]]. The "Lord's Resistance Army" is one of the best examples of how truly horrific this can be.
** Around 60% of Uganda's population is below 18 years old, so, heartbreaking and terrible as it may be that a large proportion of the guerilla groups are child soldiers, it is not surprising.
** Go to the village, kill all the adults, kidnap and rape all the women (a special treat for the boys), brainwash all the kids so you have more troops to go to the next village.
* Many other African countries are guilty of this as well.
** Thousands of children served in rebel militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the First (1996) and Second Congo War (1998). Trained to be cold-blooded killers by all sides.
** Sierra Leone Civil War (1991) in where else but, Sierra Leone. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) recruited/kidnapped thousands of children to serve in their armies by means of brainwashing, threats, and grooming. They were trained to massacre villages with machetes and machine guns, killing people indiscriminately. The government itself also wasn't against using children to fight the rebels.
***According to James Dunnigan, that sort of thing is a lot of what people find disgusting about the idea. It's not like the [[Master and Commander (film)]] ideal of a [[Plucky Middie]] being raised by reasonably civilized officers and comrades in arms, but more like the male counterpart to sex trafficking. The former could make men but the latter tends to make orcs. [[Your Mileage May Vary]] on the point.
* Many 'developed' countries have soldiers who are 16 or 17 years old.
** In Sweden, career NCOs (i.e. corporals and sergeants) used to enlist straight after leaving primary school (i.e. 9th grade) at age 16 or 17. (That practice has since then been abolished, because those chaps were too uneducated to deal with the modern military environment.)
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** Under international law "child soldier" is strictly defined as any soldier under the age of 18. But since not all countries set the age of majority at 18, it is not always the case that a child soldier is considered a child in their own society or by themselves.
*** In 2000 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a protocol which was aimed at restricting the use of children in armed conflict. The Children in Armed Conflict Protocol set minimum ages for compulsory service, and was met with stiff opposition from the beginning. The minimum age was brought up to 18 from 15 and declared that no one under the age of 18 may be put in a combat situation. The United Kingdom (which maintains 16 as the minimum age for enlistment and 17 as the ''theoretical'' minimum age for front-line combat duty) is not a signatory to that protocol, though training is a long enough process that its spirit is obeyed in practice.
** The US has had 57 ''known'' cases of underage soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The fact that the minimum age of enlistment is 17, with parental consent, doesn't help. The US also refused to sign the Children in Armed Conflict Protocol. With Military training being as little as thirteen weeks for US Army Infantry, you can see why this happens.
** There is a known tendency of some would-be recruits to exaggerate their age on recruitment documents. More rigorous ID requirements in recent times restrict this trend.
*** A (possibly apocryphal) tactic was for the boy to write the number 18 on a piece of paper, then put it in his shoe. When asked his age by the recruiting officer, he could honestly respond, "I'm over 18."
** Recent questions have been raised in the United States on how to deal with captured enemy soldiers who are under eighteen.
* ''A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier'' by Ishmael Beah is a chilling account written by a boy who was removed from the government army of Sierra Leone by a group from UNICEF.
* Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in the United States Armed Forces, used altered documents to enlist while underage.
* A number of Americans enlisted underage in [[World War 2]] which was a fairly popular war. These would usually have been adolescents who were at least physically capable of passing the recruiting office without being spotted and sometimes not doing to badly on campaign either.
* Underage enlistment was especially common in 19th century conflicts. Not only were there drummer boys, the communications troops of the age, commonly as young as twelve, 'powder monkeys' passed filled cartridges and shot during battle. Many officers were very young too. Midshipmen as young as 12 served in the navies during the Napoleonic era, while, on land equally youthful ensigns and cornets served respectively in the British Army's infantry and cavalry.
** Drummer Boys were technically non-combatants, but they were still in the middle of a war zone with the soldiers. Several were killed and mutilated by the Zulu at the Battle of Isahlwanda. It's said that that led to the elimination of underage 'soldiers' in the British Army.
** As many as a million troops in the Union Army alone (which numbered around three million) were seventeen or younger. 100,000 were fifteen or under. The youngest Medal of Honor recipient came from the Civil War. [
** At least during WWII, there tended to be a blind eye turned if someone was slightly underage. The fact that the US was conscripting heavily combined with still decidedly non-standard record-keeping meant that if someone looked old enough, the recruiting office wasn't likely to look too hard to verify it.
* [
* Col. David "Hack" Hackworth, one of the pioneers of the modern American special forces, enlisted in the U.S. merchant marine near the end of [[World War Two]] at the age of 14, and shortly after the war enlisted in the regular U.S. Army at age 15.
* The Basij in the Iran-Iraq war were imfamous for this. They actually succeeded in several engagements against Iraq, which at the time was comparable to Israel in military power. In the later stages of the war, they were used to clear minefields by ''running across them barefoot.'' To this day, the use of cannon fodder, the estesh-hadiyun ("Martyrdom seekers") is an established part of Iranian military doctrine.
** Iranian [http://www.tebyan.net/index.aspx?pid=52570 Hossein Fahmideh], only 13, is regarded as the first "suicide bomber" for throwing himself under an Iraqi tank during that war. He would be described as a national hero and ''inspiration for Iranian children''.
* In [[World War II]] the Polish boy and girl scouts formed part of [[La Résistance]] on their own volition. They held meetings underground ([[Those Wacky Nazis]] wished to convert Poles into a [[Slave Race]] so they couldn't be allowed to learn to read or write, remember an intellectual or artistic tradition, or have scouts) . They also did various things like [[Sacred Hospitality|helping refugees escape]] , And during the Warsaw revolt, when the mailmen were all fighting they took over the delivery. And often as well they carried messages to soldiers, crawling through sewers to deliver them. Like so much about Poland during [[World War II]], the scouts were tragic but [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]].
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** The Armenian Boy Scouts in the city of Van in 1915, in what was then the Ottoman Empire, did many of the same things while their city was under siege by the Turkish army, and most of the men were either busy fighting or had already been deported and massacred.
* [[wikipedia:Lwow Eaglets|Lwow Eaglets]]. Most of them younger than 17, youngest fighter was 9 years old.Notable fighters were Jurek Bitschan - 14 year old who died protecting his post and Antoni Petrykiewicz - 13 year-old who died from fatal wounds after a battle.Post-mortem honoured with highest polish military decoration of courage Order Virtuti Militari (comparable to Medal of Honour)
* Soviet Union history of 1920-1949 includes several hundred Pioneer-heroes, that is, young boys and girls that have done a heroic service to the state (Young Pioneers is a mass youth organization for ages
* It is notable the prior to the 21st Century under age or child soldiers were very common.
** [[Values Dissonance|It had been acceptable up to a certain point]] to use very young volunteers or conscripts as long as there was a war emergency and manpower was short (explosive growth of world population became just after [[World War Two]]). The custom [[It Got Worse|backfired horribly]] when it became obvious that in some remote places of Africa or Southeast Asia, where education was poor from private to general officer, military discipline was even poorer and the youngsters grew into [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|little more than criminals and bandits]]. With [[Break the Cutie|no further posibility to integrate]] in a normal society.
* The [[Vietnam War|Viet Cong]] tended to assign them and anyone else not up to fighting to minelaying detail [[Combat Pragmatism|reasonably enough]] but there were exceptions and once in awhile one can hear a story from a [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]] of waking up horrified to find he had killed a child in a nighttime firefight.
* The average Khmer Rouge soldier was younger than 20, some as young as 10 or 12 years old. Under Pol Pot's reign the Khmer Rouge commited genocide that killed 1/4 of Cambodia's population.
* Ghenghis Khan, and other historic military figures, were child soldiers (by modern standards, child labor laws did not exsist for most part before Steam). Which was fairly normal during his time as killing was a job that some did better than others. Tragic in the sense that he graduated from child soldier to lead the famous Mongol Horde and kill (conservatively) several million people.
* The Hagannah was reduced to using high-schoolers as auxilieries during the [[Arab
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