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{{trope}}
[[File:OldSolider Resize 3654.jpg|link=Dynasty Warriors|frame]]
{{quote|''Old soldiers never die; they just fade away''.
|'''Douglas MacArthur'''}}
The '''Old Soldier''' is the grizzled veteran who has been through and seen everything in war. He would more than qualify for being a [[Shell Shocked Senior]], both in age and experience, but he's still going into battle and odds are that he's the backbone of whatever unit he or (more rarely) she is in. This character type is almost never an officer or a commander, and is instead usually a [[Sergeant Rock]]. Generally you can expect them to be tough, to have a few [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|badass scars]], and to be eternally pissed off at (or at least exasperated by) the younger troops around him. Despite that, he may still turn out to be one of the best sources of mentoring or seasoning a young soldier can get.
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{{examples}}
== [[Comic
* In one of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] "Empire" comic lines, [[La Résistance|The Rebellion]] finds [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Able Able], an old clone trooper who has been [[The Remnant|living in the wilderness]] since the Clone Wars. He eventually gets incorporated in Luke's unit and proves to be the best, if most cynical, soldier there and looks out for Luke until [[Shaggy Dog Story|the whole unit gets wiped out]] by [[The Virus]].
* ''[[Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?]]'' has Batman coming face to face with a vision of his mother (whether it's a [[Dying Dream]], regular dream, Fear Gas trip, genuine psychic vision etc. is never revealed) that basically pegs him as this. She says that none of the various Batman versions in the multiverse ever give up. They keep fighting until they drop, whether it's saving the world or a single person, whether on his first time out or his thousandth. Also, she states that {{spoiler|he never goes to Heaven or Hell, instead his afterlife reward is to be Batman. The same soul is continually reincarnated into every universe to keep up the fight, making Batman older than every single superhero in DC and Marvel combined seeing as at one point there were infinite universes. Whether or not this is true is up for debate, though the ending seems to show him being reborn as a baby.}}
* Wallace from ''[[Sin City]]'' has utilizes this trope, although he's a bit more laid back than most versions. Most people don't realize that he is a retired Navy Seal until he [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|has to prove it to them.]]
* [[Wolverine]] is sometimes written this way. You could especially see it in the late 80s, when he was [[Storm|Storm's]] second-in-command in the [[X-Men]].
▲== Film ==
* ''[[We Were Soldiers]]'': Sergeant Major Basil Plumley. Both the real one and the character played by Sam Elliott.
* ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'': Gunnery Sergeant Highway. Being played by [[Clint Eastwood]] helps.
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* ''[[The Thin Red Line]]'': Nick Nolte as Lieutenant Colonel Tall. They don't come much more grizzled.
==
* Les Dillon, a Marine sergeant from a [[Harry Turtledove]] pair of novels where in [[World War II]] Japan invaded Hawaii rather than simply bombing it.
* Broxigar "The Red Axe" of ''[[Warcraft]]'' definitely qualifies. As an orc who lived through [[Badass|the wars of all three games]], he was greatly respected by Thrall and revered by the soldiers. Despite his age and maturity, he gets a good amount of [[Character Development]] through his [[Survivor Guilt]].
* Sergeant Jackrum from ''[[
** And though not technically soldiers, the Silver Horde consists of consists of barbarian adventurers who are all at least eighty. The fact that they are all still alive after more than half a century each in a line of work that kills most people that go into it in a year or two means that they are very, ''very'' good at not getting killed.
* Kat from ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]''.
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* Nestor from ''[[The Iliad]]''. He's described as having at least a generation on the next oldest soldier present in the battle.
* Colonel Sherman Potter in ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* Colonel Sherman Potter in ''[[MASH the Series|M*A*S*H]]''. He was a cavalry soldier in WWI.
* ''[[The Pacific]]'': Sergeant Elmo "Gunny" Haney of the USMC. One of the leads, Eugene Sledge, wrote a book entitled, ''With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa''. Gunny '''*was*''' the old breed, having been in the service since [[World War I|the Great War]]. Victor Davis Hanson noted that he even had a name that sounded like a Marine's name.
▲== Video Games ==
* "Old" Snake by the time of ''[[Metal Gear Solid|Metal Gear Solid 4]]'', although he had everything but the physical age by the time of the first [[Metal Gear Solid]]. Old Snake is [[Younger Than They Look|42]].
* Sten from ''[[Dragon Age|Dragon Age: Origins]]'' acts like this although you never get a grasp of how old he actually is.
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* James Anderson from ''[[Iron Storm]]''.
▲== Western Animation ==
* Ratchet in ''[[Transformers Animated]]''. He doesn't like to talk about it.
** Not to mention [[Transformers Generation 1|G1's]] Kup. He's [[Seen It All]].
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
[[Category:Elders]]
▲[[Category:Old Soldier]]
[[Category:Badass Servant]]
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