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*** ''The Service of the Sword'' has Abigale Hearns' middie cruise, with her giving orders to the Marine NCO under her command to prepare for contingencies that he thinks will never happen, and thinking she's a bit of an idiot newbie ... and then it turns out she's right.
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' short story "Echoes of the Tomb", the lieutenant in charge of the military is young and insecure. At one point it is observed that he won't take suggestions — still less ask for them — from a far more experienced Marine sergeant.
** Cain observes the monumental stupidity of this; a [[Space Marine]] will have at least a century of active service before he is even ''considered'' for the rank of sergeant. Some chapters require a century of service to induct the new members not into the Sergeant rank, but into the ''battle brothers'', they fight for the entire first century as "recruits".
*** That's not simply stupid, that'sbut actuallysuicidally suicidalso, —as oneit can be very easily get one busted for the heresy (and/or insubordination). of such an attitude, as theA [[Super Soldier|battle brother]] (that is, SM ''private'') is commonly held equal to at least [[Modern Major-General|Major General]] inof the [[Redshirt Army|Guard]]. "Heresy" comes inAnd becausesince Space Marines have been modified with genetic material from the God Emperor himself, meaningand there'sthe literallyEcclesiarchy somecalls ofthem His Divine Majesty in that sergeant"Emperor's bloodAngels andof flesh. Disrespecting '''God'''.... And to add insult to injuryDeath", somenot chaptersshowing requireproper a century of servicerespect to inductone thecan newbe members not into the Sergeant rank, but into the ''battle brothers''. Yep, you fight for an entire centuryconstrued as a ''recruit''heresy.
* Commonly features in [[Harry Turtledove]] works; for example, in the TL-191 series, Sergeant Michael Pound (a [[Tuckerization]] of fellow author [[S.M. Stirling]]) repeatedly has to successively shepherd several inexperienced second lieutenants in command of a tank unit. He's quite bemused when he eventually gets one who's both gung-ho and competent to start with.
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' novel ''To Ride a Rathorn'', Jame is in this situation; as the officer cadet with perhaps the least military knowledge in the whole academy, she's made Master Ten of all 90-odd of her House's cadets because she's the Highlord's sister. She has a ''lot'' of learning to do, especially given how much of a loner she is, unused to having to think of others; to her credit, though, she refuses to just delegate the actual work to someone more experienced, but instead takes the responsibility seriously.
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