Armies Are Evil: Difference between revisions

[[File:Join_the_Alpha_Section_7746.png|link=Beyond Good and Evil (Video Game)|rightframe|"We're here for you."]]

The military (Army, Navy, Air Force, whatever) is portrayed as being evil, misguided, or just plain warmongers. They're eager to commit to [[Nuke 'Em|massive attacks]] which would leave massive casualties on all sides, including civilian, chalking it up to "necessary losses" or some other such excuse.

This trope is a relative of [[Ancient Conspiracy]], [[Government Conspiracy]], and [[Nuke 'Em]], and is often the mirror image of [[Science Is Bad]], unless the Science in question was a military research project to begin with. It is often commanded by [[General Ripper]], and formed of [[Sociopathic Soldier|Sociopathic Soldiers]]. Army will sometimes, in relatively rare circumstances, make use of [[We Have Reserves|Human Wave Tactics]] ... rare because while civilians are cheap and expendable, good soldiers are not. At least, to the Army.

An increasingly common variant of this trope draws on [[Democracy Is Bad]]; Soldiers ''try'' to do their job, which most of them view as "[[Occupiers Out of Our Country|defend my home from threats]]" as opposed to "[[No Kill Like Overkill|smash the enemy at all costs]]". They may have incomplete information or bad judgment, but most of them want to do the Right Thing, and are willing to [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifice themselves to that end at the drop of a hat]]. They just run smack dab into [[SturgeonsSturgeon's Law]] -- for every superior that is [[A Father to His Men]], an [[Officer and A Gentleman]] or even just a plain old [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], there are dozens if not hundreds of [[General Ripper|General Rippers]] and/or [[The Neidermeyer|Neidermeyers]] looking to pull a fast one -- [[Just Following Orders|and as soldiers they are supposed to obey all of them.]] This is sometimes called "Hate The War, Love The Soldier".

Finally, there's the counter to the prior argument; being a soldier doesn't make you a robot, and that means they still deserve all the hate they get when they cross the line -- [[Just Following Orders]] is ''not'' a justification for committing crimes.

See also [[War Is Hell]] and [[Rape, Pillage and Burn]]. The (mostly) opposite of [[Straw Civilian]]. Not to be confused with [[Faceless Goons|the army of]] [[Mooks|Team Evil]].