Military Maverick: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Wedge''': "I'm usually pretty good about taking orders."

 

 

Consider them the armed-forces cousins of the [[Cowboy Cop]].

 

{{examples}}

== Air Force (includes pilots from the other services) ==

=== Anime and Manga ===

* 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.

* 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".

{{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.

* {{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.

** 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 ===

* 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.

** 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 medical malpractice there's really not much they need to worry about in the long run. It's instructive to note that the one regular army doctor on the cast, Colonel Potter, is ''not'' a maverick. Much.

** [[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."

*# 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.

 

=== Real Life ===