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Armchair Military: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ArmchairMilitary 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ArmchairMilitary, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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Compare [[Miles Gloriosus]]. A common subversion to a character who first appears to be an [[Officer and A Gentleman]].
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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** Subverted in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' by Captain William Sutherland, a General Staff officer notable for both his [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|banality]] and [[Moral Event Horizon]]-crossing strategies. Sutherland seems like an armchair admiral who can only recommend the strategies he does because he's never actually seen combat. Yet in the final episodes it's Sutherland who leads the attack on ZAFT from aboard his flagship, the ''Doolittle''; it quickly becomes apparent that he uses the tactics he does not because he is ignorant, but [[We Have Reserves|because he has no regard for human life.]]
* General Damon from ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' and his top brass commanders never take part of the fighting itself, show [[Fantastic Racism|racism to Darcen soldiers]], and overall are [[General Failure|terrible commanders]]. It's no wonder that they are [[The Scrappy|rather unpopular among fans.]]
* The original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' plays with this in the form of Gihren Zabi, the son of Sovereign Degwin Zabi, and Supreme Commander of Zeon's forces. A definitive [[Non
== Fanfiction ==
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* Senator Arnos in the fourth ''[[Codex Alera]]'' book ''Captain's Fury'' is the first type. Despite being a figure of authority in military tactics, Tavi notes that Arnos doesn't see the soldiers he's commanding as "real", having only seen battles through strategy meetings or high above the air in an air carriage. This causes him to adopt [[We Have Reserves]]-style strategies and try to order the deaths of civilians who the Canim spared as "sympathizers to the enemy".
* Subverted in the semi-literal but not figurative case of the real-life General David Petraeus, US Army (most famous for overseeing "The Surge" in Iraq) who has a fictional version of himself portrayed in ''[[The Salvation War]]''. He's never at the front lines of any battle and at first glance seems to simply be commanding from the back through monitors. However, he's ''not'' unaware of the cost of war in lives, and he is ''damn'' good as a commander. In fact, he ends up as commander of the Human Expeditionary Army, although this is because only the U.S.A. has the command/control capability to actually lead a force of its (nominal) size.
* In ''[[
** Jeff and his friends are fascinated with military history. Of course they take to it like ducks to water.
* In David Drake's ''[[Hammers Slammers|Hammer's Slammers]]'', many of the titular mercenary unit's employers are distant from the actual fighting.
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** The best example, however, is the IOA. They make a lot of decisions that aren't logical at all, such as, in ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]'', ordering a preemptive strike on the Replicator homeworld of Asura when the Replicators hadn't even made any hostile moves towards the Atlantis Expedition. This causes the Asurans to retaliate by sending a laser satellite that drives Atlantis off of the planet it's on, leaving it stuck in space for a while. And they repair the damage done to their cities ''very'' quickly, making the entire attack ''a waste of time and resources''.
*** It's frequently pointed out in later seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis that the IOA, when faced with a difficult decision, will deliberate until after the deadline so that someone else can make the decision and they can criticize it. While the operating principle behind the IOA is sound (civilian oversight of military operations), they are so incredibly ineffectual as to be criminally negligent.
* Anyone perceived as armchair military by ''[[
* ''[[Blackadder (TV)|Blackadder]] Goes Forth''. Played horrifically straight in the [[Tear Jerker|Finale]].
* Arnold Rimmer from ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' tries to justify his claim that he is a potential military prodigy despite his tendency of cowering in a corner whenever a fight happens.
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