"Join the Army," They Said: Difference between revisions

''We saw the sea''|"We Saw the Sea", [[Irving Berlin]]}}

* The recently professionalised [[Poles With Poleaxes|Polish military]] cooked up [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEtezMDu5l0 this ad]. It speaks of improving yourself, honour, comradeship and that a soldier won't have unemployment problems.

* Modern French Land Army ads subvert it, instead asking:

** Granted, those are a little old now. The new slogan is "Become yourself".

* Several years back there was a slew of "combined armed forces" recruitment ads for the US military, with the slogan "Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, what a great place to start!". The message of which was apparently, "We don't care which service you join, just join one." In these commercials, the soldiers were seen driving tanks and shooting rifles and running through the woods, the airmen were seen flying (or repairing) jets, the sailors were working with electronics onboard ships, and the marines... were standing in formation, looking pretty in their full dress blues, including sabres, and basically doing a whole lot of nothing. Many active duty service members in the Army, Airforce, and Navy found this ''hilarious''.

* ''[[Private Benjamin]]'' has Judy Benjamin joining the Army thinking it is all travel and fun, like the adverts (an image reinforced by an unscrupulous recruiter).

* The film version of ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' is actually intended to represent a recruitment video at many points.

** It should be noted that the fake interface includes 'Join' as one of the options.

* In ''[[Stripes]]'', the recruits ironically sing the Reagan-era "Pick a service, pick a challenge" recruiting jingle as they wearily trudge back to the barracks after a long march.

** He then promptly sings "Be all that you can be" before [[The Captain]] yells at him that it's the ''Army'' recruitment song.

* While it isn't a military-themed movie, the first ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' film contains an example that definitely fits the spirit of the first version of this trope. When Johnny Cage starts learning just how strange and unusual Shang Tsung's tournament is, he says the following:

* ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'' has [[Statler and Waldorf]] as the figurehead of the Hispaniola, with the following conversation:

'''Both''': Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh! }}

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] novel ''Scourge The Heretic'', two new Imperial Guardsmen are introduced on guard and grumbling, "Join the Guard and see the galaxy."

* [[Hand of Thrawn|Shada Du'kal]], high-quality bodyguard and commando (the two go hand-in-hand in Star Wars), while climbing a filthy wall to get in position to cover her employer for a transaction with someone.

* In ''[[Old Mans War]]'', Colonial Defense Force recruits aren't even told what they're going to be fighting, all they know is that the CDF can probably restore their youth (recruitment age is 75).

* Played straight for both comedy and drama in a later book from the ''[[Phule's Company]]''. Much of the book follows a recruit [[New Meat|fresh out of boot camp]], whose only previous knowledge of the Space Legion (which has a reputation for being a [[Legion of Lost Souls]] and [[Army of Thieves and Whores]], at least in the earlier books) comes from a poster that follows this trope.

* In Edgar Lee Masters "Spoon River Anthology" is the story of Knowlt Hoheimer who wishes he had "staid at home" and gone to jail for stealing hogs rather than running away to join the army only to be killed in battle:

And this granite pedestal }}

* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' has a sketch featuring a soldier who has seen too many of the glamourised ads. "I joined the army for the water skiing and the travel, Colonel. Not for the killing."

** "This is obviously making fun of our slogan, 'it's a dog's life -- man's life in the Army!"

* As noted above, "Be all you can be" was an Army slogan. ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' crossed its wires when Riley Finn (apparently a Special Forces soldier) said, referring to demon-hunting, "It's not just a job--" Buffy interrupted: "Right, it's an adventure." He doesn't deny he thinks that way. (They never say what branch of the military he was from. The Initiative is more along the lines of the FBI, CIA or NSA. It's an agency, not a part of the armed forces. Basically, it's the [[The Men in Black|Supernatural FBI/CIA/NSA]], {{spoiler|complete with torture, inhumane experiments and indefinite imprisonment}}.)

* Complained about by minor ''[[MASH|M* A* S* H]]'' characters such as Rizzo, Zale, and Igor. Mocked by Hawkeye and Klinger. The joke's on them. They were drafted after all.

* Sgt. Smiles, marine recruiter. teach you to program computers. teach you all the skills you need. you can die with dignity

* [[Rise Against]]'s "Hero of War" features a pretty extremist version of the army. Just look up the lyrics.

I said, "[[Tempting Fate|That sounds pretty good]]."'' }}

* ''[[Disturbed]]'''s "Indestructible" seems to be about some sort of black ops soldier, who thanks to skill and equipment is seen as an unholy terror by his enemies. The song is intended as a sort of [[Theme Music Power-Up]] for the troops, since the band's style is popular among soldiers. As a band, they're "For the troops, against the war" (respect the sacrifice, hate on the cause of the sacrifice).

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* The Imperial Guard of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' can - depending on the world the troops are from - be made up of all-volunteer forces with much propaganda and patriotism, fitting this trope to the letter. Never mind the daemons, soulless ghost-robots, giant bugs, and the other denizens of the setting they'll be sent to fight against...Although ''generally'', worlds that raise regiments from volunteers are more likely to provide competent soldiers than ones that press-gang conscripts.

* The ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' card [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=20396 Border Guard] parodies the "...and kill them" thing. "'Join the army, ''see foreign countries''!' they'd said."

* The NEG in ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]''.

* The [[Feelies]] from ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]: No Remorse'' included a newsletter that had an advertisement for joining "MilOps" (Military Operations Cartel), the assault arm of the [[Mega Corp|WEC's]] forces.

* ''[[Ratchet and Clank Future Tools of Destruction]]'':

** From the first one:

* ''[[Killzone]] 2'''s [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45960.html Making Of: Enemy Territory] trailer has the narrator use this in full [[Sarcasm Mode]];

* Arcade game ''Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja'' wants to know: are you a bad enough dude to <s>[http://hikkyz.net/void/img/badenoughdude.jpg hit your own dick with a hammer]</s> [http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3190/2855445750_7f7eacbb4c.jpg?v=0 rescue the president?]

* ''[[Mechwarrior]] 3: Pirate's Moon'' produced this sarcastic quip from lancemate Dominic Paine after a particularly tough mission: "Join the army, see the galaxy, what the hell was I thinking?!"

* Satirised in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', which has fake military recruitment ads during the opening scene that are based on the style of real ones, exaggerated with tons of [[Deranged Animation|psychedelia]] and [[Values Dissonance]] until it ends up right in the [[Uncanny Valley]]. Notably, the ads, like real ads, repeatedly use video-game like imagery like [[First Person Perspective]] and unthinking, unbleeding, identical enemies - ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' is in some ways a comment on video games being used to recruit young people into fighting real wars.

* In ''Bloodmoon'', the second expansion to ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'', the the legionnaires at Fort Frostmoth will occasionally mutter to themselves:

* ''[[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas]]'' had '''Join The Military''' radio ads which by its very nature, a spoof of recruitment ads. see them [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSFQHtKGaE4 here].

** Yet again as a background gag in an early "Treehouse of Horrors" episode. A recruiting poster on the wall advertises "Join the Army, and see the opposing army".

** And how was Homer convinced to join the Naval Reserve?

* The [[Walt Disney]] [[Wartime Cartoon]] ''Donald Gets Drafted'' begins with [[Donald Duck]] passing a series of ads about how glamorous life in the modern army has become, accompanied by a catchy jingle titled "The Army's Not the Army Anymore". Turns out the Army is ''still'' the Army.

** However, why Donald, a water fowl, who normally wears a sailor suit, was not in the Navy or at least the Marines, makes no sense.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' has "Aaaww Yeah" and "Actual experience may differ".

* In ''[[Evil Con Carne]]'', Skarr rants against his mother and the military while crawling up a hill.

* In an episode of ''[[Ned's Newt]]'', an army recruitment message looks more like a travel bureau ad, so much that the enthusiastic Newton ends up enlisting Ned into it without his knowledge.