The Neidermeyer: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

In more upbeat war shows, he's usually forced to learn [[An Aesop]] about his awful command style and adjust his behavior in a way that either changes him into [[A Father to His Men|a likable officer]] or results in his resignation, demotion, or [[Reassigned to Antarctica|transfer to a more suitable post]].

In more [[War Is Hell|cynical]] war movies there will be no escape from the petty and obnoxious brute, and the men simply grouse and wait for the day someone on the opposing side will get lucky and catch him in the crosshairs. The troops might even conspire to [[Unfriendly Fire|frag him]] if they get tired of waiting for the enemy to do the job.

 

 

 

See also [[Miles Gloriosus]] for a more general application of this trope.

 

 

Named after the infamous blowhard ROTC commander Doug Neidermeyer from the movie ''[[Animal House]]''. In the epilogue, it's revealed that he ended up being shot by his own troops in Vietnam. In the John Landis-directed segment of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' movie, we even meet the soldiers who shot him.

[[Captain Queeg]] of ''[[The Caine Mutiny]]'' is an alternate Trope namer often referenced in media, hence the expression ''"Queeg-like"''.

----

== Anime and Manga ==

* Ax Hand Morgan from ''[[One Piece]]''. Gives Luffy an extra reason to kick some ass.

** Also, Spandam can be considered one.

* Miwa Sakimori from ''[[Daimos]]'' is this, and a [[General Ripper]]. He mostly hides behind his soldiers, or Daimos itself from danger. And when opportunity presents, he'll show his extreme racist tendencies by shooting actually harmless Brahmins. And all that's in his mind is... well, you guessed it, promotions.

 

== 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.

* 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!"

'''Sergeant Guillotine''': Slackair! [[Only a Flesh Wound|Eet ees a superficial wound!]] Back to ze fight! }}

 

== Film ==

* 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.

* Captain Stillman from ''[[Stripes]]''.

* Lieutenant Pavlov Dill in ''[[Starship Troopers]] 2: Hero of the Federation'' was one of these, though he's more incompetent than mean.

* Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday in ''[[Fort Apache]]'' (modeled on the real-life George Armstrong Custer) is an arrogant martinet to his own men; out of class snobbishness, obstructs the path of True Love between his daughter and a young lieutenant because the latter is the son of an Irish noncom; sees war as a path to personal glory; provokes a conflict with the Apaches that better diplomacy could have avoided; and, worst of all, gets most of his regiment slaughtered through tactical incompetence and stubborn refusal to listen to Captain Yorke, who knows the Apaches much better. For all of that, Yorke credits him with improving the quality of the regiment through his strict discipline.

** The squad even ambushes him, puts a sack over his head, and beats him bloody in the original book.

*** Also in the movie(s). Himmelstoss later is transferred to the front himself, after maltreating a recruit whose father turned out to have too much influence. He at first performs badly and chickens out of a charge, much to Paul Bäumer's disgust, but when an ''officer'' orders him to advance, Himmelstoss charges wildly. (In the second movie version he then is decorated for bravery and receives an Iron Cross from Kaiser Wilhelm himself). In the novel he makes up with his former victims and while acting as substitute company cook sees to it they get good food (chapter 7).

* Lt. Gorman in ''[[Aliens]]'' certainly qualifies for this, due to his relative inexperience, [[General Failure]] at managing the alien attack, [[Armchair Military|rear echelon tactics]] and the resulting lack of respect from his troops.

** Somewhat subverted in that while he was a bad officer, later on he tries to apologise for his behaviour, has no trouble submitting command to a more experienced and competent subordinate and shows great personal bravery and tries to save the marine who depised him the most.

* Lt. Col. Tall (Nick Nolte) in ''[[The Thin Red Line]]''. He has [[Glory Hound|veins in his teeth]]. Partly subverted in that he secretly has a low opinion of himself... and his tactics work.

'''Tall:''' The only time you should start worrying about a soldier is when they stop bitchin'. }}

* In ''[[Paths of Glory]]'', General Mireau sends a division on a suicide mission to attack a heavily fortified German position just for the possibility of getting himself a promotion. After the attack fails, he blames the soldiers and orders random soldiers from the division to be executed for cowardice.

* Lt. Ito from ''[[Letters From Iwo Jima]]'', though if anything he's a mild example of what the real Imperial Japanese Military was like.

* In ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'', Major Powers is a good supply clerk with delusions of grandeur.

 

== Literature ==

* [[Captain Queeg]] of Herman Wouk's ''[[The Caine Mutiny]]'', and the movie and play (''The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial'') based on it, could almost be the [[Trope Namer]]. It is often used in media as an alternate name for this trope.

* ''[[Generation Kill]]'' has several: Captain America, Encino Man ("Echo Mike"), Sgt. Maj. "Fucking" Sixta, though he was only [[Genghis Gambit|acting that way]] to give the troops an outlet for their frustration, and even though he's an NCO, "Casey Kasem". (After the events of ''Generation Kill'' however, Kasem proved to be more akin to [[Sergeant Rock]] as a platoon sergeant when it came to combat.)

** Actually, nearly every general in the armies of the Sto Plains (which is the area in which Ankh-Morpork lies) counts as this, since their general battle strategy is to hurl their men at the enemy and receive "glorious casualties", since apparently the number of fallen men equals how great the battle was for them. If they actually win anything, that's a nice albeit unimportant bonus. They see the famous general Tacticus as a dishonorable military leader because he had the distinct tendency to win battles and wars and bring most of his soldiers back alive.

*** The official metric goes something like this: First, both sides throw their men at each other. Then, you subtract ''your'' casualties from ''their'' casualties, and "if the answer is a positive sum, it was a glorious victory".

* The ''[[Sharpe]]'' books were full of these. Some of them learned their lesson (kind of), some of them just ceased to be Sharpe's problem, and some were mercilessly bayoneted by their own troops.

** 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.

** 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}}.

** It doesn't help that he replaces [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] Captain Kaarna.

*** Lammio's men did not loathe him for his weaknesses. They hated him because he had no weaknesses and absolutely no social skills. He was also a cocky martinet. It did not help that he was completely fearless and excellent soldier.

* Captain Morton in ''[[Mister Roberts]]'' by James Heggen. Played in the 1955 movie by James Cagney, he is a tyrant, but the whole situation is mostly played for laughs.

* Averted in ''[[The War Against the Chtorr]]'' ("A Matter for Men"). The hero Jim McCarthy, having just been made an officer after killing a rampaging Chtorran; tries to bully [[Hot Scientist|Dr Fletcher]] out of some Chtorran specimans. First she takes him down a peg by showing McCarthy that the Chtorran he 'killed' is still very much alive. Then she points out that everyone wants to look up to their superiors, so an officer's job is to ''inspire'' people, not boss them about. She finishes by congratulating McCarthy on his shooting, and asks him to bring flowers next time. McCarthy is highly embarrassed, but learns from the experience. In "A Season for Slaughter" however, when pushed too far by incompetent Major Bellus, McCarthy doesn't educate this Neidermeyer, he demolishes him. On worldwide live television.

** Except perhaps Major --- De Coverley, he's more of a [[Memetic Badass]] with an awe-inspiring reputation and fearsome appearance, but no real authority beyond renting apartments. {{spoiler|Of course, like anyone who's not a complete bastard, he dies or disappears.}}

** And Major Major, who really just wants to be left alone.

* With the exception of the Paran siblings ([[The Hero|Ganoes]] and Tavore), every single noble-born military officer in the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' series. [[Anvilicious|Every one]].

** Pavel Young, and every one of his friends and/or relatives.

** Pretty much any senior officer appointed by the High Ridge government.

** Averted by Shagrat, who cares about his men and is actually shown to be fairly noble. He even gets a good death.

* Captains von Pader and Meier from the novels by [[Sven Hassel]], not to mention quite a few other Nazi officers.

** The man responsible for this [[Unfriendly Fire]] then goes on to do a [[Redemption Equals Death]] when he learns that the Captain's orders weren't really suicidally stupid (Though this was due to chance, not any hidden genius on the late Captain's part).

* A couple generals in Urtho's army (I forget their names) in ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|The Black Gryphon]]''. Troops of all species dread being placed under their command because they're known for using tactics which would be gloriously victorious if they ever worked, but since they never work, are instead suicidally stupid. {{spoiler|It eventually turns out they're traitors, and they plan on losing every time.}}

* Lieutenant Weems from the first ''[[Doom]]'' novel. He was so incompetent and cowardly that he ordered his men to fire on a bunch of harmless monks protesting their war efforts mistaking them for suicide bombers even after one of his subordinates told him they were harmless. Flynn decked him for that, and that's why Flynn is stuck on suspension in the cafeteria on Phobos when everything goes to Hell. Throughout the novel Flynn has unflattering thoughts about Weems and thinks that Weems was the kind of guy who would side with the alien invaders if it meant saving his own skin. {{spoiler|When Flynn finds the dead bodies of Weems and another officer who had entered a suicide pact after the aliens trapped them in a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] by ''fusing their heads together'', he feels too much pity to hate the man anymore.}}

** If this troper remembers correctly, said misfired missile had actually exploded and was tumbling back towards the launcher - keeping the other launch cells closed was a prudent thing to do; keeping on firing might have risked BOTH ships.

 

** 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.

* Colonel Crittendon on ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' is one of these. The Heroes' plans to murder him weren't entirely sarcastic.

* ''[[Generation Kill]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhGIFLWadEU "Follow My TRACERS!"]

** It's worth noting the HBO adaptation of ''Generation Kill'', discussed above, for how its portrayal of Captain America is a flagrant (but accounting for production times, probably coincidental) [[Expy]] of Captain Bannon from ''[[World in Conflict]]'', below. Though it isn't saying much, Encino Man loses the tiny amount of sympathy he ''may'' have had in the book, with the actor playing him nailing the concept of the nickname perfectly; a man who's problem isn't lack of experience so much as lack of basic common sense.

*** In the final episode, Sixta {{spoiler|reveals that his psychotic obsession with the men's grooming standards was a [[Genghis Gambit]] to give them an outlet for their stress.}}

** The second is Lt. Norman Dike, who is given command of Easy Company during the war. It is implied that he got his position due to his pedigree and family connections, but is himself an "empty uniform" who can only feign competence. As Lipton put it; ''Dike wasn't a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader because he made no decisions.'' In the series, the only thing that holds the unit together is Sergeant Lipton's tireless efforts to maintain morale. After breaking down during an assault, Dike is immediately replaced with the vastly more competent Ronald Speirs.

** And when Dike genuinely tries to give orders... he gets two men killed.

*** And before that, he told the whole company to stop in the open, and later stretched them far without getting anywhere.

** At least the Minbari had the excuse of [[Nobody Ever Complained Before|following an age-old tradition of keeping their weapons out in the open]], instead of hiding them behind their backs, so to speak. The humans in turn interpreted the show of power as an intention to use it. This, coupled with the Minbari's scanners causing interference with the Earth ship's sensors caused Jankowski to panic and open fire.

** He does once get command of a small army, and actually manages to force a draw against a numerically superior enemy... though he did it by sacrificing all but two of his troops in a charge across an open minefield in broad daylight to serve as a distraction.

*** To be accurate, he got ''all'' of his Wax Droid troops slaughtered. Most in the aforementioned mid-day minefield charge, several ''melted'' as a result of the training he put them through, and the sole survivor was dispatched as an assassin with the full understanding/intention that she would die in her mission of killing the Evil Wax Droid leaders. The only reason he was remotely able to claim this as a victory was because, while the enemy forces were distracted, Kryten was able to get to the planetary temperature controls and adjust the planet's heat so that all of the Wax Droids melted. Lister was not impressed:

'''Lister''': No it isn't pal, you're still here! }}

'''Lister''': It outranks '''you''', smeg-for-brains! }}

*** And then it turns out that Queeg was Holly all along.

** AND he makes Troi wear a real uniform instead of her bunny suit, an order Picard never rescinded.

*** To be fair, that may have been an order from Starfleet Command to the effect that all ship's counselors had to wear the standard uniform, and Jellico happened to be the one to break the news (although given his personality, he did so with less tact than one would expect). Neither officer would have the authority to rescind the order in that case.

* ''[[North and South US]]'' (the US one). Elkanah Bent treats Orry and George like scum. He gets Orry crippled by Mexican artillery. Orry cripples him, he murders Orry then George hangs him.

** Subverted entirely later on, when it's revealed that {{spoiler|Lucian Alliance brainwashing is largely responsible for his behavior}}.

** No he doesn't, after that his suggestions get ignored and the people on the Destiny won't trust him anymore.

* Lieutenant Charles Marimow in ''[[The Wire]]'' is referred to as "The Unit Killer" and a man who "does not toss away talent lightly. He heaves it with great force."

** At a higher level, both Burress and Rawls are like this to the commanders beneath them, often using the COMSTAT meetings to berate and humiliate them for basically failing to win the drug war each month.

* Both of [[The Squad]]'s lieutenants on ''[[Over There]]''. The first is nicknamed "Mad Cow" because "it's a disease that rots men's brains." The later one is shot in the back under ambiguous circumstances, with the finale leaving it open whether he was killed by the [[Sergeant Rock]].

* Dr. Kelso is this to the entirety of Sacred Heart Hospital in ''[[Scrubs]]''. However, it is [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] in that he takes it upon himself to be the one they can all hate in order to unite them on a common front.

 

== Machinima ==

** Or he would be if he wasn't so funny. The best order he's ever given was "Scream like a woman!"

*** I don't know. Operation Meatshield certainly had its merits.

** Basically, he spends most of the series as this trope, then [[Character Development]] finally morphs him into [[Sergeant Rock]] late in the eighth season.

** Simmons during his brief stint as leader of the Blood Gulch Reds.

 

== Music ==

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Sergeant Snorkel in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''.

** Far more so Lt. Fuzz, whenever he gets the opportunity to command troops. Snorkel's men do respect him as a soldier - they just ''really'' don't want to be soldiers, and are rarely seen in the field (which for the strip means war games and exercises) where this becomes apparent. Fuzz tries to copy Snorkel's treatment of subordinates, and adds in his complete incompetence and desperation for recognition.

 

== Radio ==

** To be fair, the crew of the Troutbridge are completely incompetent/derelict in their duties

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Similar to the Dinobots example listed below, one of the reasons Imperial doctrine normally prohibits [[Space Marine]] commanders from leading large-scale actions and campaigns in which the Marines and Imperial Guard fight together is that they tend to work the normal troops as hard as their [[Super Soldier]] battle brothers, often with fatal results.

** Common Imperial Guard tactics employed usually boil down to "throw men at it by the regiment like a battering ram until it breaks." A noted battle cries of commissars is, "We will drown them in our blood and crush them under the weight of our own dead!"

** Subverted by [[Ciaphas Cain]], naturally, who is [[Genre Savvy]] and certainly aware of this trope. He treats his men well and while he does genuinely care about them, he finds comfort in the fact that not being like every other Commissar in the guard greatly reduces his chance of being the victim of friendly fire.

*** [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|HERO OF THE IMPERIUM]]''', himself actually comments on how a great many Commissars die "heroic deaths" suspiciously far from the front lines. He spent his later years attempting to teach commissar cadets to subvert this trope, with admittedly mixed success (most who are chosen for the Commissariat are simply not the right personality type to be taught how to lead through respect rather than fear). Ciaphas Cain himself certainly wanted to avoid such a fate; "I want to die in a bed, preferably someone else's."

** On the other hand, there's the legendary Lord Commander Solar Macharius, whose armies conquered a thousand worlds for the Emperor in the space of seven years. There's also Lord Castellan Ursarkar Creed of the Cadian 8th, Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken of Catachan, and Commissar Yarrick, who wears a Power Klaw he ripped off of an Ork Warboss, all of whom are competent and admired by their men.

** In the computer spin-off ''[[Dawn of War]]'', Imperial Priests often shout "WE LOST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL WEAK!" when their squad regains morale.

* Captain Jasper Stone from ''[[Deadlands]]'' was a really bad version of this. He was shanked by his own troops in the Battle of Gettysburg... only to rise as an undead and become Death's right hand man.

* Excessively Righteous Blossom in ''[[Exalted]]''. His military career was marked by ''repeatedly'' getting a battalion whittled down to about company size, and he made it very clear to everyone who would listen that he viewed this as a result of the incompetence of his soldiers. Especially hilarious since he ''is'' very talented - at personal combat - but has exactly no ability to recognise what his talents ''are'', leading to both military and civilian careers [[Dwarf Fortress|crafted from incompetence and menacing with spikes of fail]].

 

== Video Games ==

* Mouri Motonari in ''[[Sengoku Basara]]''. Unlike most Neidermeyers, he still manages to be popular by just coming off as a jerk, it helps that he's actually COMPETENT on his own; in ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'' and ''[[Warriors Orochi]]'', it's Ishida Mitsunari who fills the role of sometimes-jerk {{spoiler|up until through osmosis the "friendship" ideal from Sanada Yukimura and "honor and justice" from Naoe Kanetsugu rub off on him in his ''Samurai Warriors 2'' ending. Then again, considering that in that ending he declares the end of rule by the majority, maybe he hasn't lost that}}.

*** And, since ''Sengoku Rance'' has it's own version of Motonari, it should be mentioned that, aside from some severe [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] like attitudes and ridiculously suicidal tendency to fight on the front lines, he's actually liked and respected by his troops.

** The Sengoku Basara portrayal of Mitsunari is also not far from this. A psychotic individual who was formerly [[The Renfield]] to his lord Hideyoshi, he expected the same degree of fanatical loyalty. In his case however it wasn't so much that he was a jerk more that he was insane and had [[No Social Skills]].

** Lieutenant Colonel Ford attempts to land his plane on Sand Island despite the island being under attack and being told to wave off by the base. When Chopper lets slip that he thinks he's completely nuts and/or stupid, Ford threatens to write him up when he lands. {{spoiler|It gets cut off when an enemy plane shoots him down}}.

* Admiral Greyfield of ''[[Advance Wars]]: Days of Ruin''. A complete coward and a sub par commander who's greatest skills are taking credit for victories, and shifting blame for loses. He threatens executions for any failure to follow his orders to the letter, especially the order to win the battle. His cowardice is so much that he relentlessly hunts down any that don't adhere to absolute rule no matter how many of his own men are sacrificed or caught in the blast of the super weapon used to {{spoiler|[[No Kill Like Overkill|kill a single dissenting captain]]}}, even resorting to executing enemies after surrender.

** A few games (including some in this series) offer one player on each team a "command" role. Depending on the game, this role's importance varies from pivotal to merely important. Some games (thankfully) offer mechanisms to depose commanders who fit this trope.

* Captain Bannon from ''[[World in Conflict]]'' is this trope to a T, panicking when faced with opposition his men should be able to handle, ''whining'' when fighting at a disadvantage instead of focusing on how to keep the fight going favorably, deriding the player's character for his competence, and ''shooting enemy infantry'' who were trying to convey their wish to surrender by waving white flags. In the end, however, he becomes arguably the most heroic character among the Americans followed by the narrative, {{spoiler|volunteering to sacrifice himself to a friendly nuclear weapon so the approaching enemy will plow towards him into the blast radius, as retreating would've clued the Soviets in that something was wrong.}}

* Kraze and Kanaan from ''[[Suikoden]]'', who you'll grow to hate very much early on in the game. Kanaan is more or less a classic example of a real dirtbag who wants all the glory to himself but hides behind his soldiers. Kraze is more or less the same, but at least he {{spoiler|he isn't given an option to be spared unlike most of the Imperial commanders}}.

** {{spoiler|You COULD spare him. But since not sparing him doesn't penalize you with not getting the best ending... well... [[Sure Why Not]]?}}

* Lee Linjun from ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2]]'' quickly makes himself known as a complete jerk. He constantly argues with the pilots (especially Excellen and Katina), is clearly jealous of Tetsuya (even though Lee outranks him and commands a ship), and fully cements himself as a Neidermeyer when he makes it clear that everyone is expendable, and he really doesn't care if any member of the crew lives or dies. [[Face Heel Turn|Then he just defects to the Shadow Mirrors]].

* Sufficiently unhappy nobles in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' act this way, ordering beatings and hammerings to any dwarf that ignores (or is incapable of fulfilling) their demands. Unsurprisingly, players tend to respond to such behavior with [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much|their own form of capital punishment]].

* ''[[Iron Grip]]'' has the Fahrong/Confederacy, where apparently every officer above the Sergeant is this and everybody below it is [[Cannon Fodder]].

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

'''Bleen soldier:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|Screaming? Praying? ...fighting over the escape pods? The usual.]] }}

 

== Western Animation ==

* Zapp Brannigan of ''[[Futurama]]'', who's especially fond of saving himself by [[Redshirt Army|sacrificing those under his command]]. Samples:

* In the Generation 1 ''[[Transformers]]'', Megatron was competent, but selfish. This and his ego led him to doing quite a few stupid things and even abandoning Devastator in one episode. To be fair, it's really Starscream that was made out to be incompetent by the cartoon's writers, though his comic and toy bios show that he is far more brilliant.

** The real gem, however, is Galvatron. This insane psychotic warfreak shot at his own troops and did more damage to his own army than the Autobots. Needless to say, if it weren't for a number of certain extenuating circumstances, the Decepticons would have recycled Galvatron a long time ago, no matter how powerful he was. Said circumstances mainly being that, because of the backstabbing treachery endemic in their ranks, the first thing that would happen when Galvatron got slagged would be civil war breaking out due to there being no clear-cut successor to Galvatron's rank. And this would doubtlessly be fatal to the Decepticons, due to them being stuck on a burned out world and barely scraping together enough fuel, parts and ammo to survive from day to day.

** Sentinel Prime from ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' is an example this kind of character among the ''good guys''. Even in his younger days, he had zero respect for his peers, blaming the more responsible Optimus for Elita-1's presumed death, and as soon as he gained a command of his own, promptly began treating his men like worthless garbage, causing poor Bumblebee and Bulkhead much pain and suffering. He remains a jerk in the present day, taking every opportunity to viciously mock Optimus and his team's lower positions.

*** And it got worse when {{spoiler|he became acting leader of the Autobots. How did that happen?}}

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Principal Skinner was shot in the back when he was a sergeant in Vietnam when trying to get Joey Heatherton to ''put some pants on''. The depiction of his army career is basically the same as his current one, just with soldiers replacing Willy. That's of course you assume he's telling the truth in any of his flash backs, what with him {{spoiler|not really being Seymour Skinner}}.

* Capt Marcus of ''[[Exo Squad]]'' is the worse example. He's both a [[General Ripper]] and [[General Failure]] all roled into one. His battleplans usually end up getting ambushed and outgunned by the enemy.

* Mr. Peevly from [[The Hair Bear Bunch|Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch!]]. Any respect the zoo animals give him is purely tongue-in-cheek.

 

== Real Life ==

* It should be noted that this sort of thing actually occurs in [[Real Life]]. While fraggings are uncommon (though they did occur in Vietnam), plenty of stories get passed around the modern military about which officers to avoid and who's a dirtbag.

** Patton himself has been accused of being more than a little of a martinet, far too concerned with the dress code in a combat zone (including the fact he demanded, and may even have gotten, front-line infantry to wear their ties), attacking Metz and the Vauban forts without proper preparation and demanding the attack continue after it became clear it was not going to succeed, and finally culminating late in the war with his famous tirade against a soldier who had been shot in the foot for cowardice (said soldier had already won a Silver Star for valor).

*** With regard to the slapping incident, the soldier in question was away from his unit without permission and legally Patton could have had him executed for desertion. What Patton did was the better option, albeit not the best one available.

* [[Public Domain Character|Ernesto "Che" Guevara]] was like this about half of the time more or less, depending on the source. While he was occasionally known for showing reckless bravery and some decent planning, at other times he was notably incompetent, fled from battle, and generally was a burden to his men. And he was verbally abusive to his men almost all the time and generally showed a disdain for "Bourgeoise tactics" that hardly helped matters at all. He is perhaps most infamously known for his [[Last Stand|"last stand"]], where according to most accounts he left the rest of his unit to fight it out against the [[Bolivian Army Ending|Bolivian forces attacking him]] before surrendering afterwards with two loaded and primed pistols.

** Despite leading revolutionaries in Africa, Guevara was often overheard to disparage his black fellow travelers, stating that black people did not have the intelligence to make communism work.

* Captain Bligh had a reputation for this, but it's not really deserved: Yes, he flogged his men, but it was only because flogging was the mandatory punishment in the British Navy at the time. In fact, he was considered ''lenient'' compared to the other officers in the Navy. Yes, conditions were overcrowded on the Bounty, but only because Bligh couldn't say no to friends and relatives who needed jobs for their friends and relatives. And when they finally got to Otaheite (later Tahiti), Bligh let his men run around and do whatever they wanted for the five months they remained. The conditions that led to the famous mutiny were largely made out of a desperate need to get his by-now rather lax crew into some semblance of order and competency. In short, the supposed tyrant's greatest crime was being too accommodating.

* This happens often when the former military people end up in the areas, where the less straightforward methods are the norm. A good IT example would be Bob Belleville, the Apple's Software Manager for the original Macintosh development team. The guy was an alumnus of the same Xerox PARC lab as the most other Mac people, but his stint in the Navy had shifted his priorities somewhat. He once almost fired one of the critical OS developers over a dispute about the crucial part of software he felt was unneeded, and drove the chief OS architect to tears and filing his resignation (during the critical period of the OS development, mind you) because of his supposed ''insubordination''. In both cases only a good chewing out by Steve Jobs himself made him relent somewhat.

** People who've worked for Jobs and left tend to have this view on him, considering his high standards. But since he's led Apple from nearly dead in the water to having more liquid assets than the US government in 10 years, people skirt by this.

* Soviet General Grigory Kulik had a reputation of being erratic and a murderous buffoon. His personal command motto was: "Jail, or Medal." People under his command who he favored would receive (undeserved) honors, while those he didn't would be arrested for whatever reason he could think of. He would then shout his motto at his 'favored' subordinates to intimidate them if they were starting to displease him. Not only this, he was a stupendously inept officer who had no understanding of tactics and resisted all military innovations (such as tanks, rocket artillery, minefields, and sub-machine guns, all of which were effective). The only reason he survived for so long when other much more competent generals did not was because he himself had the personal favor of Stalin. He finally lost it after the end of WWII, when he was overheard criticizing Stalin. He was soon arrested, and eventually executed.

* Second Lieutenant William Calley, commanding officer of the platoon that perpetrated the [[Vietnam War|My Lai massacre]], was regarded as incompetent and there had been discussions already within the platoon of fragging him.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:The Squad]]