Armchair Military: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* 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-Action Big Bad]], Gihren has, unlike his brothers and sister, never seen combat. He's also a totally ruthless [[The Sociopath|psychopath]] who has no problems with throwing away the lives of his soldiers. At the same time, however, Gihren is also reasonably competent, organising the war effort, leaving the tactical and operational decisions to his siblings, and holding the country together through his genuine skills as [[Rousing Speech|an orator]]. It's not until near the end of the war that some of his strategic mistakes actually begin to catch up with him.

 

 

* By definition, the Battle Commanders in ''[[Tiberium Wars]]'' have to command in this way, standing far off from the battlefield and issuing complex, often micromanaging orders to their units in the field. Both of the Commanders, however, get brushes with front line action and are no slouches in personal combat, and the GDI Commander, Karrde, deliberately goes out into the field with his troops and commands close to the front to earn their respect.

** The best example, however, is the IOA. They make a lot of decisions that aren't logical at all, such as, in ''[[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.

* ''[[Blackadder]] Goes Forth''. Played horrifically straight in the [[Tear Jerker|Finale]].

* Arnold Rimmer from ''[[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.