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The Neidermeyer: Difference between revisions
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== Comic Books ==
* In the [[Elseworlds]] mini-series ''Generations'' by John Byrne, [[Superman]]'s powerless son Joel Kent becomes this sort of officer and is shot by his own men in Vietnam.
* Perhaps not surprisingly, an issue of Garth Ennis's ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'' features two examples of these. One is an incompetent lieutenant who gets a
* Major Magnam from the ''[[Rogue Trooper]]'' story of the same name; his domineering, arrogant personality and contempt for regular soldiers leads to an entire Souther squad being slaughtered when they attempt to take a very well-fortified Nort installation. Rogue ends up sticking his biochip into a special containment device and keeping the gun on which it had been stored.
* Parodied in the [[Golden Age]] ''[[Mad Magazine|MAD]]'' feature "Sheik of Araby!"
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== Film ==
* Lt. Marty Pascal, the executive officer of the submarine ''Stingray'' in the movie ''[[Down Periscope]]''. Gets his comeuppance when he tries to mutiny against Dodge, and ''no one'' will stand with him. Dodge and the crew dress as pirates, blindfold him, and force him to walk the plank - right into the net of a fishing ship that takes him back to base. He ''thought'' they were actually going to kill him, though.
* In ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'', Private "Gomer Pyle" blows away [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]], who had [[Break the Cutie|driven him into a psychotic breakdown]].
** Although, to be fair, Pyle wasn't a model soldier, and when he did show improvement, Hartman did commend him. Plus there was the other Marines throwing a "blanket party" for him involving beating the poor guy with bars of soap.
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* C.J. is introduced in such a way in 2004's ''[[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)|Dawn of the Dead]]''.
* The Trope Namer, from ''[[Animal House]]''.
* ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'': At least in the first movie, the fact that {{spoiler|everybody in the squad likes Sgt. Shaw ''despite'' him being The Neidermeyer}} is a major clue that something's going on.
== Literature ==
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** Given the rate of promotion in the [[Star Trek]] universe, could this be Lieutenant Styles from the Original Series episode "Balance of Terror"? If so, [[Fantastic Racism|he wasn't a very nice person back then, either]].
*** The lieutenant's name was spelt "Stiles", sadly.
* General George Armstrong Custer in Harry Turtledove's [[World War I]] [[Alternate History]] trilogy ''The Great War'' is like this. Although he lacks the "You're all worthless and weak!!" part, he is still more then willing to send the unfortunate men under his command into needlessly costly and bloody offensives that end up gaining little. He constantly tries to seek glory wherever he can and also is more then willing to hog it all and push all the blame on others when something fails. However, by the end of the trilogy, he later proves to be a competent officer when he {{spoiler|disobeys the US general
** That wasn't being a competent officer. That was being the same idiot he'd always been and happening to get lucky this time. As his aide-de-camp later (frequently) reminisces.
* Lieutnant Lammio in Väinö Linna's ''[[The Unknown Soldier]]''. Surprisingly, {{spoiler|he survives the war}}.
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* Major Frank Burns, from ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' - especially notably because he's an officer and not enlisted personnel or non-comm.
** ''M*A*S*H'' also had several Foe of the Week commanders who either [[Karmic Trickster|learned a lesson or were otherwise removed from command]] by the doctors.
** When Major Burns left the series (due to having a psychological breakdown caused by the marriage of Major Houlihan -- which led to him causing havoc in Tokyo while on R&R), the Army, in its infinite wisdom, [[Kicked Upstairs|promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and gave him a cushy job in a stateside Veteran's Hospital]]... which is extra disconcerting given that Major Burns was always made out to be as incompetent doctor.
*** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: By this point in the series, Burns' medical and military incompetence is well-known within the Army. At least three officers (Potter, Houlihan, Penobscott) have enough connections farther up the chain of command to ensure that, even if he remains in the Army, Burns never sees the inside of an operating room again. As a result Burns probably ended up in an administrative post with no actual hands-on medical duties... which, for a surgeon, is the equivalent of being [[Reassigned to Antarctica]] (and probably the end of his military career as well).
** Hawkeye and Winchester both had their opportunity to be Neidermeyers when given the chance to command. Pretty much anyone other than Blake or Potter in charge of the 4077th ends up as this trope. The difference between them and Burns is that these episodes set up an [[An Aesop]] about the difficulty of true leadership when the rest of the main cast calls them out on it, and they see the error of their ways.
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