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Military Maverick: Difference between revisions
M*A*S*H pothole
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Wedge''': "I'm usually pretty good about taking orders."
'''Iella''': "If occasionally reinterpreting them rather thoroughly."
|''[[X Wing Series|Starfighters of Adumar]]''}}
{{quote|"Breaking the rules is just one of Space Captainface's many job responsibilities. And let's not forget bucking the system, rabble-rousing, and assaulting superior officers."
|''[[Homestar Runner]]'', [http://www.homestarrunner.com/careerday.html "Career Day"]}}
Consider them the armed-forces cousins of the [[Cowboy Cop]].
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{{examples}}
== Air Force (includes pilots from the other services) ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* Isamu Alava Dyson from ''[[Macross Plus]]''. Reckless, insubordinate, short tempered and not even punishment details wanted him. Eventually transferred to Project Super Nova as a test pilot since the only thing keeping him in the military was that he was ''that damn good''.
* Elizabeth Beurling of [[Strike Witches]] fame is a maverick herself, taking little heed to the brass and disobeying them at almost every turn (from simple things like smoking and going to the pub late at night to more complex things like refusing to use the new striker units), she is rather skilled in combat and has no ranged weapons instead just uses her kukri and cuts up enemy soldiers, grant she does have a rather gloomy personality to her. The girl has got issues but she can hardly care less.
** Not surprising given she was at least somewhat based on the real life maverick George Beurling; although he was rather a different kind of Maverick. After failing to join the Canadian Air Force, and the Finnish air force, he hopped on a ship and went to England to try and enlist in the RAF in which he was successful. He was regarded as high strung, brash, and outspoken, and he also never smoked or drank (which when you're a fighter pilot makes you a maverick...). He was a skilled pilot but rejected a commission at first and was reprimanded for attacking targets without permissions several times. He was also known as a loner in the air and was written up for stunting as well. He was eventually discharged even before the war ended more or less for being a pain in the ass.
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* A fair number of people in the [[Dale Brown]] novels, most notably Brad Elliot. While the contrast with the politicians and other American leaders has always been there since the first, in ''Battle Born'' and beyond it's even more apparent with the more lawful newcomers to Dreamland serving as foils to the old-timers.
** Lampshade Hung in ''Plan of Attack'', where General Gary Houser claims that McLanahan has been "pulling shit that should have landed you in prison for a hundred years".
* Wedge Antilles, in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', is a major one of these. He's led Rogue Squadron into defecting (temporarily) from the New Republic itself. He was ready to leave again during ''Starfighters of Adumar'', when faced with the choice of doing what was ordered or what was right. But he and the Rogues are the best of the best, delivering the impossible, and they do get called on their behavior. Wedge created [[X Wing Series|Wraith Squadron]], an entire squadron of misfits specifically organized for unconventional warfare after seeing how the fleet had become hamstrung by being forced into the role of legitimate government (see the Space section)--and, though not even thirty, found himself feeling like a tired old man when confronted with their antics and tactics.
{{quote|'''Wedge:''' Wes, they're doing it to me again.}}
** The Rogues tended to be pilots with secondary commando skills whose missions meant those skills became important very, very often; the Wraiths were picked as commandos who could pilot snubfighters. The Wraiths were eventually transferred out of the military's Starfighter Command to New Republic Intelligence.
** In the ''[[New Jedi Order]]'', Jaina Solo, leader of Twin Suns Squadron, disobeys orders to save one of her pilots. General Antilles wants to reprimand her, but his nephew - the pilot Jaina saved - talks him down. It's not that hard. Wedge is asked when was the first time ''he'' disobeyed an order for similar reasons, and says it was when he was twenty, the first time he had a superior officer.
* {{spoiler|Colonel}} [[Temeraire]] turned into one of these, quickly, much to Laurence's dismay. It resulted in {{spoiler|a couple cases of treason and eventually being banished to Australia. Of course, if Temeraire wasn't such a maverick Laurence would probably be dead.}}
* [[Derek Robinson]]'s character of [[CH 3]], in ''A Piece of Cake''. An American pilot and soldier of fortune who for political reasons is posted to Hornet Squadron in time for the Battle of Britain, he becomes unpopular not just for having more combat experience than all the British pilots put together, he is highly critical of the British command an tactical philosophy. It doesn't help that experience proves him right, although not before several pilots are killed in action.
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=== Live Action TV ===
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'': Kara Thrace, a deconstruction of the trope whose maverick existence only exists with a messed up life and a lot of favouritism.
** It's made obvious at the start of the series that the only reason she was able to get away with all the crap she pulls is because she's just ''that damn good'' and the ''Galactica'' herself was under the command of an officer who was going to be retired soon. Later, she was one of a few dozen fighter pilots left in the whole of humanity in a little fleet almost completely dependent on pilots for defense. There was a good chance she'd get discharged in normal times
** Later a major reason for the favoritism shown by Adama(and a lot of the recklessness shown by Kara) is explained by revelations concerning her engagement to Adama's dead son.
** Subverted with Pegasus Commander Barry Garner, who once made the typical Maverick "Screw the orders, I'm saving my men" decision, complete with his crew backing him against the outsider observer (aka Lee Adama) - only to notice that ''yes'', it ''was'' a trap, it very nearly cost the human race its most powerful battleship and it gained them nothing.
* Jack O'Neill from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''.
=== Other ===
* In [[Advance Wars: Eternal War]], we have the Pink Queen. "Our units are under attack? Who cares? Do you like my new eye-liner?" Robyn too. She'd rather stare at the sky than go to war.
=== Video Games ===
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* The entire membership of ''[[The A-Team]]'', most notably Murdock, who may or may not be certifiably insane.
* ''[[Firefly]]'''s Malcolm Reynolds, in his time as an Independent sergeant, made something of a reputation for himself for unconventional tactics, a distinct willingness to defy the odds, and an absolute refusal to quit...even when, it might be said, he should have. He was an irregular in a nonprofessional insurgent army, so not unexpected.
* Hawkeye Pierce and, for that matter, about half the cast of ''[[
** There's also that as doctors directly commissioned (and apparently conscripted) from civilian practice, most of the cast of ''M*A*S*H'' can ''afford'' to be utterly indifferent about damage to their military careers—they don't have any careers to damage. As soon as the war is over, they're leaving the Army. So long as they can actually avoid being caught in a major felony or committing
** [[Truth in Television]] to a large degree, even today; the US armed services have enough of a need for medical personnel that they are given more leeway about their (lack of) military bearing than would be tolerated in combat soldiers/sailors/airmen. Crystallized in a saying going back to Korea if not earlier: "There is nobody as un-military as a military doctor."
=== Tabletop Games ===
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', as noted above. The Imperium is big and naturally has all sorts, including this. Every tradition got its own way to do things, and many are unwilling to change it just because someone else has his own ideas. More rough-and-tumble units are infamous for having probability of "unfortunate accidents" correlate with high-handedness among the [[Political Officer|Commissars]] as much as among the management of [[Bastard Operator From Hell]].
** ''[[Only War]]'' also have "Maverick" as one of possible commander personalities - the commander who acts as "one of the men", considered something of a loose cannon by other brass, but the troops follow him anywhere (mechanically, the whole regiment gets resistance to Fear).
=== Video Games ===
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* If it is a cousin of the [[Cowboy Cop]] then [[Clint Eastwood]] has to be here somewhere. Gunny Highway from ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'' fits pretty well. At least the part of annoying your superiors. And isn't there some sort of regulation that forbids the [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|drill instructors]] from firing live ammunition at their recruits?
** Well, if there is, there'd be two outs: He isn't a drill instructor, and he isn't firing *at* them; he's firing at places he's told them not to be.
*** Truth. The safety precaution for live-fire exercises is to clearly designate the 'impact area' and tell people to stay the hell away from it. If they step into it anyway and eat a bullet, its ''their'' fault.
** Three outs. Earlier in the movie, he specifically sought out a blanket permission from his platoon leader to depart from the training schedule. While granted that he did not tell Lt. Ring exactly how ''far'' he planned to depart from SOP, the fact remains that Gunny Highway can say with perfect truth that he was authorized to change the training policy on his own initiative.
*** Played straight later on in the scene in the major's office where he's about to prefer charges against Highway for violating regulations with his training -- until Lt. Ring speaks up and admits that he gave Highway permission to 'freelance', at which point the major disgustedly admits that he cannot punish Highway for disobeying orders because his chain of command had ordered him to do exactly what he was doing.
**** The major could, however, and did give Lt. Ring a major ass-chewing for granting Highway that level of authority in the first place.
== Navy (for space navies, see Space below) ==
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{{quote|'''Han''': With my history, I'd be the laughingstock of the New Republic if I ever brought one of ''my'' officers up on charges of insubordination.
'''Wedge''': Yes, sir, I was sort of counting on that. }}
* Sister Miriya from James Swallow's [[Warhammer
* [[Honor Harrington|Lester Tourville]] used a mild form of this as a method of [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]. His persona as a competent but somewhat reckless officer helped him avoid promotion to a rank where he would be at risk of getting shot.
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* John Sheridan of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' was such a maverick that {{spoiler|he participated in a conspiracy against the (increasingly dictatorial) civilian EarthGov and finally decided to turn his command into an independent country}}. He also was not a fan of standard military tactics.
** Averted when, during the pilot episode remake/movie, he refused promotion to be second-in-command of the first ship being sent out to investigate Minbari space. He did so because he knew the CO was known to be overaggressive during tense diplomatic situations and he did not want to be in a position where he'd have to stand up to him for the ship's own good. The ship instead left for Minbari space with a much more jellyfish-spined XO, the captain got into a tense diplomatic situation where he became overaggressive, and we all know what happened after that.
** He also earned the sobriquet 'Starkiller' in the ensuing war against the Minbari... by mining an asteroid field with nuclear weapons, then luring a Minbari ship into it. Said ship, the ''Black Star'', went down in history as the ''only'' Minbari ship lost in that war.
* In the classic (if short) German SF series ''[[Raumpatrouille]]'', Commander McLane and the crew of the ''Orion'' are this to the extent that the series ''starts'' with their being reassigned to 'boring' patrol duty for a couple of years and saddled with a security officer who's supposed to ensure they tread the straight and narrow from now on. Needless to say, that's not quite how it works out.
* Most of the captains from [[Star Trek]] seem to fit this mold. Even Picard was credited with violating the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]] about eight or nine times, and that's in the middle of the series run.
** This would have some meaning if the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]] wasn't redefined nearly every episode.
** Often, the Federation seems to survive more on supreme acts of heroism than any actual organised strategy. Against technically superior forces like the Borg or the Dominion (early on, before the Federation learned to counter the latter's advantages), this approaches [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]]; elsewhere, it's more a case of [[One Riot, One Ranger]], with single ships scattered through the galaxy. Said ships usually prevail by some fantastically risky tactic, as often as not a brazen bluff or [[Indy Ploy|Making]] [[Applied Phlebotinum|Shit]] [[Indy Ploy|Up On The Spot]], many times [[It Only Works Once|never to be]] [[Forgotten Phlebotinum|done again]]. The lack of effective fleet-level planning may derive from Gene Roddenberry's reported dislike for making Starfleet "[[Mildly Military|too military]]"—feel free to insert any [[Interservice Rivalry|joke about his Air Force background]] you wish.
** This is arguably Federation ''policy''. The Federation faces the same span-of-control problem that old Age of Sail world empires did -- the amount of terrain they're covering is vastly larger than both practical communication speed and travel time for warships. The solution Starfleet uses is the same one historical empires like the British did, notably to give ship captains a vast amount of initiative and leeway to solve problems however they could think of and judge/promote them largely based on ratio of problems solved vs. problems caused and not get too hung up on details of ''how'' they solved them.
=== Video Games ===
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=== Web Comics ===
*
*# Under Breya's employ the entire crew from Tagon and downwards (i.e. everyone ''except'' Breya) arguably qualified.
* In ''[[Far From Home]]'', [http://mightymartianstudios.com/2011/05/03/ffh-sci-fi-webcomic-bubble/ the lieutenant made a paper airplane out of a briefing]. Hence, [[Reassigned to Antarctica|the scouting mission]].▼
*# Under Captain Tagon, the Toughs are still as maverick as they used to be, but now he ''encourages'' this behavior.
*# Later they got Karl Tagon (who earlier retired from proper military without sending time in mercenary work) as advisor, and with his help, former [[By-The-Book Cop|by-the-book]] rent-a-cop Murtaugh (as a sergeant on probation), who came from an entirely different military tradition, and introduced some practices for greater efficiency and team spirit, and some former UNS personnel. Then he became their chief commander, with Kaff Tagon and Alexia Murtaugh both as captains of different units and Murtaugh's half was rented as a security team to an embassy, while the others were left on the territory policed by the same uptight team who fired her earlier. Though generally they get along. And then closely worked with more official people when UNS sent its own embassy to their employers. Then again, the chief of UNS security is Captain Landon, who used to be an [[Internal Affairs]] officer in what was described as more of a monastic order than police force... and now he runs off without notifying his boss to participate in Toughs' "joint exercise" against some [[Space Pirate]]s. So this company made him more of a maverick rather than became more uptight from such a straight and narrow neighbour.
▲* In ''[[Far From Home]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20120514115033/http://mightymartianstudios.com/2011/05/03/ffh-sci-fi-webcomic-bubble/ the lieutenant made a paper airplane out of a briefing]. Hence, [[Reassigned to Antarctica|the scouting mission]].
=== Real Life ===
Given that most of the early astronauts were test pilots, it shouldn't be a surprise that there have been a few "unsanctioned mission activities" over the years. That Wikipedia has a ''[[wiki:List of items smuggled into space|List of items smuggled into space]]'' should speak for itself.
* On Gemini 3, John Young snuck a corned-beef sandwich into space (hidden in his suit), to share with Gus Grissom. Grissom commented later: "After the flight our superiors at NASA let us know in no uncertain terms that non-man-rated corned beef sandwiches were out for future space missions." (The crumbs would make a pretty serious mess in zero-gravity, and there was a concern that they might short or clog something important.)
** Prior to the mission itself, Grissom was asked to name the capsule, and he chose ''Molly Brown'', after ''[[The Unsinkable Molly Brown]]'' (on his first spaceflight, his Mercury capsule had swamped and he'd nearly drowned). When pressed for an alternate name, he suggested "[[Titanic]]". NASA accepted ''Molly Brown'', but that was the last time they asked an astronaut to name a Gemini capsule.
* Wally Schirra (who, funnily enough, was part of the backup crew for Gemini 3) brought a harmonica onto Gemini 6, reported a sighting of Santa Claus (the mission took place on December 15/16), and played "Jingle Bells" while his co-pilot Tom Stafford played handbells. (According to his memoir, he brought Scotch and cigarettes aboard as well.)
== Special Forces (all branches) ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* Teana Lanster at the start of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]]''. Unlike most examples, the series went for a far less positive potrayal of this type of character. Teana's Maverick nature almost caused a friendly fire incident during their second mission and her adamant refusal to listen to the advice and orders of her superiors [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|required several officers to beat the idea into her head]] that being reckless just for the sake of personal pride is a quick way to get you and your comrades crippled or killed. It was only when Teana toned down the Maverick nature of hers did she [[Took a Level
=== Comic Books ===
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