History Main / ChildSoldiers

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': [[spoiler:Jagganoth, back when he was called Yaun]] was forcibly conscripted into a "Corpse Legion" of mercenaries during the Universal War. This ended up [[ShellShockedVeteran dominating a large part of their psyche]] even after [[DeityOfHumanOrigin they became a Demiurge]].

* Fairly common on the Iranian (and Iraqi) side during the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar, where teenagers as young as 14 were enlisted into the Army to partake in human wave attacks. Some critics to the Iranian government suggest that they were given "Plastic Keys" [[note]]Certain sources indicate them to be keys of Chinese origin, other sources prime them to be religious prayer books[[/note]]and sent straight into minefields, but some Iranian veterans and historians discredit this claim to be Iraqi propaganda. Regardless, many young soldiers died within the conflict, with the average age of Iranian soldiers being 23.

** Later discussed in the episode "Agendas". With the League discovering that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/Shazam Captain Marvel]] is only ten]], they begin debating whether to boot him out of the Justice League. Batman says he knew all along, and it has no impact.

* The story mode in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' involves the 14-year-old protagonist fighting singlehandedly against the enemy Octarian army. The Octarians themselves don't seem much older, if at all, including Agent 8 in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion''. [[spoiler:Cuttlefish's dossier on Marina in ''Octo Expansion'' suggests a military education is the norm in the Octarian state.]]

* Booker DeWitt from ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' fought in the battle of Wounded Knee at the age of only 16. Worst still, since he was a corporal by that point, he must have joined the army several years earlier at minimum. The horrors of participating in the massacre would influence Booker greatly in his adult years, turning him into an alcoholic thug in the best possible timeline [[spoiler: and a genocidal zealot in the worst.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', no one in the game seems to consider the idea of a 14-year-old Cloud Strife joining the Shinra Army unusual (Zack Fair also joined in at a similarly young age). And then there are people like Sephiroth, Shelke, and Cissnei who started their fighting careers as mere children, although not through any choice of their own.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': This is heavily implied to be the true nature of the Tenno. Apparently they were kids who ended up gaining strange powers due to [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace a void jump accident]]. What makes it worse? As is revealed in [[WhamEpisode The Second Dream,]] [[spoiler:they are ''still'' children, as they've been kept in stasis inside the ''moon''.]] [[UpToEleven The most horrifying part?]] [[spoiler:Originally, the Orokin were planning on killing them for ''existing'', and '''executed''' the Tenno's surrogate mother, Margulis, when she spoke out against this. The only reason they are still alive is because Ballas, an Orokin executor and Margulis' lover, managed to convince them that the Tenno could still be useful to them]].

* The training of a Medieval [[KnightInShiningArmor knight]] was usually begun at the age of seven (7), and it was claimed ''after twelve, the boy is fit only for a priest''. When a [[KidSamurai young nobleboy]] made 13, he was expected to serve his master on the battlefield as a valet. At 17, he would serve as a fully armed man-at-arms. It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tutelage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper etiquette and conduct, chess, music and other societal skills.
** Most feudal systems with a warrior-aristocrat caste such as Japan's samurai and India's rajput were raised in a similar manner.

* Creator/AudieMurphy enlisted in the US Army at the age of 17. By the time he established himself as one of ''the'' most decorated soldier of UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 he wasn't even old enough to vote.

** Later discussed in the episode "Agendas". With the League discovering that [[spoiler:Captain Marvel]] is only ten]], they begin debating whether to boot him out of the Justice League. Batman says he knew all along, and it has no impact.

* Music/{{Nightwish}}'s "Planet Hell" is about the hellish lives child soldiers live.

* Alien broccoli have invaded Townsville, so ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', led by Blossom, install an army of children to fight the alien menace -- by eating them (episode "Beat Your Greens").

* The citizens of the planet Cadia in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' are trained from birth for combat, mainly because their planet is parked right outside a NegativeSpaceWedgie that leads straight to hell, and frequently spews forth the LegionsOfHell. The birth rate and recruitment rate is the same thing. Their soldiers enter combat as part of the youth army, the "Whiteshields," at age 13. They only get promoted to the full army by earning a medal. And they are ''badass''. A common saying is that any Cadian who can't field-strip his own lasgun by the age of ten was born on the wrong planet.
** Similarly, Catachans. Their homeworld is basically "if Australia was a jungle" in terms of EverythingTryingToKillYou, and three quarters of the children don't even make it to adulthood. Those who do? The Catachan Devils are armies made entirely of Franchise/{{Rambo}}es if they'd been cast in Franchise/{{Predator}}.

*** As in so many other things, [[Literature/SpaceWolf Space Wolves]] are the exception. They take in valorous young men on the brink of death, usually in their twenties (leading the population of their planet Fenris to see their order as a WarriorHeaven in itself, but that is neither here nor there). Although we're never given figures on the success rate, the [[HonorBeforeReason wisdom]] of this is uncertain; when Leman Russ was found by the Emperor, his [[BandOfBrothers associates]] all volunteered to become Space Marines, and over half died from implant rejection. On the other hand, few of them were young in any way, and several were downright elderly.
* A number of races in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' do this as well. Dark Elves begin training the moment they are strong enough to pick up a sword or spear. All Bretonian knights start off as a Knight Errant. Once the young knights have proven their worth in the field of battle, they are knighted and receive a small plot of land to rule.
** Given to the nature of Bretonnia [[FantasyCounterpartCulture to that of Medieval Feudal Europe]], it is [[FridgeHorror assumable the Knights Errant are actually young boys ages 13 to 17.]] Needless to say, [[RedshirtArmy they die a lot.]]

** The [=SeeD=] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' functions as a highly regarded military academy-type institution and many students enter voluntarily. Students ''are'' enrolled before puberty, but typically aren't taught in combat until their teens, and don't see actual combat outside of the training room until their graduation. Upon graduation, the [=SeeD=] sometimes also work side jobs in policing duties and receive a regular salary. The in-game encyclopedia outright states that any Garden student who doesn't graduate by the age of twenty is discharged from the school.
*** Also the underlying function of the [=SeeD=] is to [[spoiler: be prepared to defend the world against [[BigBad an imprisoned evil sorcerer]]]].
*** However, see the below category to see the flip side of this.

* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the Master Chief and his fellow [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] started their [[TheSpartanWay grueling military training]] at age six, and have been kicking [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]] rear since they were fourteen. Their skills and reputation are such that the Covenant calls them "demons."

* Ikari Warrior's member Whip from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' is only 16.
** She was also a TykeBomb, separated from her brother [[spoiler:K]]. Heidern really enjoys recruiting young girls for some reason.

* Grunt from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is a tank-born krogan who is and acts like a child... by krogan standards. His major issue is that he is not only clanless but his "father" was hated by many krogan. In his case he's technically only a few days/weeks old in ''Mass Effect 2'', but has the body of a krogan in late adolescence and had memories and knowledge downloaded into his brain.

* ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair'': Owen and Kate are 12- and 13-years-old, respectively.
* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' franchise has Frank Jaeger [[spoiler:a.k.a. Null a.k.a. Gray Fox a.k.a. the Cyborg Ninja.]] Although his exact age is unknown, he fought in the Mozambican War of Independence around the age of 7 or so. Armed only with a knife, he got his name by his method of killing: he deceived the enemy with "the frankness of a young boy" and moved in for the close kill. He was known as the 'Frank Hunter,' which became 'Frank Jaeger' because he could speak a little German. During the events of ''Portable Ops'', his chronologically first appearance, Frank [[spoiler:was still only a teenager when subjected to sensory deprivation treatment in order to make him the emotionless 'Perfect Soldier,' Null.]]
** And we have [[spoiler:Raiden]] who became a child soldier in the Liberian Civil War thanks to Solidus, recieving the nicknames of "White Devil" and "Jack the Ripper". Having a combat rifle at age six, he became captain of a unit of child soldiers ("the Small Boy Unit") at age ten. Similarly, Solidus himself was also heavily implied to be in his teens when he participated in the war.

* Although the whole World War Two-themed ''VideoGame/SilentStorm'' cast is adult in the year when the game is set (1943), several of them has this in their background, usually in the form of "joined X army while being 15[=/=]16[=/=]17". Some of them actually saw combat when underaged (the German Reggie was recruited in the beginning of World War One when he was 15, after lying about his age), some other not (Gunnar entered the Wehrmacht at 16, in 1933).
** The straightest example is Carm (an Italien woman), who took part in World War One as a mountain guide for Italian troops when she was pre-teen, and ended to kill a dozen of men during the course of the war (in the actual game, she is in her late thirties).

* Latooni, Seolla, Arado, and Princess Shine from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration''. The first three are {{Tykebomb}}s, while the fourth is a [[GratuitousPrincess princess]] who isn't ''technically'' enlisted, and is simply allowed to fight alongside the other heroes to protect her Kingdom.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' also gives us Alice, one of the main antagonists who's part of a terrorist organization and is ''clearly'' underage. Marta, too, who is only 15-years-old.
* Ayame from ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}'' counts, as she's only 14 during the events of ''Tenchu 2''.

* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', Gallia has a policy of Universal Conscription, so military training is a part of general education and citizens as young as fifteen may be called up to serve. Moreover, the militia is known to have soldiers as young as ''twelve'', although the girl in question enlisted voluntarily and required special permission to do so.
** Even worse, the little girl is a ''shocktrooper'', the most durable ''and'' most damaging troop type in the game.

* The Lambsbridge Gang in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' begins the story as a group of kids barely into the double digits, with the implication that they've been acting as a wetworks team for the AcademyOfEvil for several years already.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' when Stan gives Steve an AK-47 for Christmas despite promising Francine he wouldnt (he got around it by wishing Steve a "Merry Wednesday" instead). Steve is uncertain at first, then states that if "coked out child soldiers in the Congo can do it", he can, too. Unfortunately, it leads to him accidentally killing Santa, who comes back to life and swears a blood oath against the Smiths, forcing them to spend Christmas Eve fighting for their lives. Despite having sworn off guns after shooting Santa, he picks it back up during Santas attack, and immediatly turns out to be almost as good as his CIA agent father.

* Jedi Padawans such as Ahsoka Tano of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' could very much be considered this. Ahsoka is only fourteen or fifteen and yet leads troops into battle and gets into the thick of the fighting herself. Their talent with the force and training from childhood makes even the Padawans very deadly warriors.

* Similar to above, the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003''. In the comics most of them eventually grow up quickly enough to avert this for most people, but the main gang in the cartoons doesn't. They almost die on several occasions, have no adult supervision, and the youngest is between the ages of fourteen and sixteen.
** Notably, during the penultimate episode's GrandFinale battle, dozens of other young supers join the Titans in their fight, including the three superpowered ''toddlers'' whom Raven had previously babysat. Mas y Menos, twin supers who appeared in several episodes, were about 11.

* Three of the Paladins from ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' are teenage pseudo-MilitarySchool students[[note]](one of whom apparently lied about their age as well as their name/gender when enrolling)[[/note]], while a fourth was a peer who got kicked out due to discipline issues. To be fair to the alien princess that [[RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude shanghaied them into war against a galaxy-spanning evil empire]], Allura did not have any real option at the time.
** Not to mention AllThereInTheManual confirming that the peer who got kicked out for discipline issues was already 18 at the start of the series.
* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', Red Fountain is a paramilitary school that trains boys to be BadassNormal soldiers on their home planets starting at 16. As other examples mention, military schools for high school age children are Truth In Television, but Red Fountain functions a lot more like an actual military force than like a school -- the Specialists undertake various combat missions (not drills or educational exercises) regularly.

* [[BadassNormal Caleb]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Witch}}'' is the leader of the rebellion at 15-years-old.

* The training of a Medieval [[KnightInShiningArmor knight]] was usually begun at the age of seven (7), and it was claimed ''after twelve, the boy is fit only for a priest''. When a [[KidSamurai young nobleboy]] made 13, he was expected to serve his master on the battlefield as a valet. At 17, he would serve as a fully armed man-at-arms.
** It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tutelage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper etiquette and conduct, chess, music and other societal skills.

* Music/{{Rasputina}}'s "Child Soldier Rebellion".

** Some people did (and still do!) lie about their age in order to join the military.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': You can talk to a [[RetiredBadass Retired NCR Ranger]] with a broken leg in Novac. If you ask him why his leg is broken, he'll say that it was because the Legion sent children as suicide bombers against him and his squad, knowing they'd hesitate to shoot.

* Subtly implied to be the case if Shepard has the Colonist Background in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. We are never given the details precisely of ''how'' they survived the Batarian raid on Mindoir on their 16th birthday, which wiped out their entire family. Judging from other first-hand descriptions, the raid is implied to have been a bloodbath, meaning that it's very likely that Shepard had to pick up a weapon and do a ''lot'' of [[TookALevelInBadass growing up that day.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series, this is the BackStory of Frank Jaeger (aka Grey Fox) and [[spoiler:Raiden]]. They may have been expert killers, but they were also massive psychological wrecks too.

** The {{Magical Girl}}s that fight monsters every night are little more than this, since they have no chance to refuse the powers they get if they have the dream that grants them. They ''do'' have the right to refuse to go on patrol (as Zoe is currently doing), but there is a stigma against magical girls who don't pull their own weight, and for some the incentives outweigh the risks. [[spoiler: Including the risk of death, as what happened to Sylvia, Gwen, and Sally.]] Undine acknowledges how messed up it to make teenage girls fight for the city, but says SomeoneHasToDoIt. Tessa [[spoiler:(who lost her powers healing Undine)]] is showing signs of being a ShellShockedVeteran. Heartful Punch suggests that the M.G.S.I. covers up certain pieces of information [[spoiler:such as what happens if a magical girl gets pregnant]] in order to downplay the 'child' part of this trope.

** More importantly, magical girls ''lose'' their powers if they reach age 18.
** It's also worth noting that the Magical Girls are the '''only''' line of defense, as mundane weapons, including the almost conspicuously absent guns, ''do not work on the monsters.''

** And then there was the Volkssturm...every male who could hold a rifle was drafted. Regardless of age.
*** There was [[GallowsHumor an ironic nickname]] for the Volkssturm: "Gulash". Because it consisted of old meat and fresh vegetables...

*** Speaking of Nazis, the 12th Waffen SS division "Hitlerjugend" was formed of teens from the Hitler Youth recruited into the SS directly. They were trained viciously, turning these darker boy scout equivalents into hardened soldiers. They were the only units in 1944 to be described as both "voluntary" and "enthusiastic".

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': The {{Magical Girl}}s that fight monsters every night are little more than this, since they have no chance to refuse the powers they get if they have the dream that grants them. They ''do'' have the right to refuse to go on patrol (as Zoe is currently doing), but there is a stigma against magical girls who don't pull their own weight, and for some the incentives outweigh the risks. [[spoiler: Including the risk of death, as what happened to Sylvia, Gwen, and Sally.]] Undine acknowledges how messed up it to make teenage girls fight for the city, but says SomeoneHasToDoIt. Tessa [[spoiler:(who lost her powers healing Undine)]] is showing signs of being a ShellShockedVeteran. Heartful Punch suggests that the M.G.S.I. covers up certain pieces of information [[spoiler:such as what happens if a magical girl gets pregnant]] in order to downplay the 'child' part of this trope.
-->'''HP''': Foundationists aren't the only ones who want to pretend we're these perfect warriors. The idea that we're just as flawed as anyone else... I don't think they like that. Because then we don't exist just to fight and die for them.

* The various Links in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' with confirmed ages range in age from seventeen and a half (in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'') to ''nine'' (Child Link in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'').

* The training of a Medieval [[KnightInShiningArmor knight]] was usually begun at the age of seven (7), and it was claimed ''after twelve, the boy is fit only for a priest''. When a [[KidSamurai young nobleboy]] made 13, he was expected to serve his master on the battlefield as a valet. At 17, he would serve as a fully armed man-at-arms. ** It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tutelage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper etiquette and conduct, chess, music and other societal skills.

** The British Army ended the practice of sending pre-pubescent boys into battle after the slaughter of Isandlwana when the boys were not only killed but their bodies desecrated -- like those of their elder comrades in arms.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', no one in the game seems to consider the idea of a 14-year-old Cloud Strife joining the Shinra Army unusual (Zack Fair also joined in at a similarly young age). And then there's people like Sephiroth, Shelke, and Cissnei who started their fighting careers as mere children, although not through any choice of their own.
** The [=SeeD=] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' functions as a highly regarded military academy-type institution and many students enter voluntarily. Students ''are'' enrolled before puberty, but typically aren't taught in combat until their teens, and don't see actual combat outside of the training room until their graduation. Upon graduation, the [=SeeD=] sometimes also work side jobs in policing duties and receive a regular salary. The in-game encyclopaedia outright states that any Garden student who doesn't graduate by the age of twenty is discharged from the school.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', we have Eiko, a WhiteMage girl who can use SummonMagic. She happens to be 6-years-old and is the SoleSurvivor of her tribe, apart from a bunch of Moogles, who keep her company. She is also WiseBeyondHerYears and not only understands the complexity of the world-threatening conflict when Zidane and his friends meet her, but willingly joins them to SaveTheWorld. The rest of the cast, while not nearly as young as Eiko, are also mostly teenagers and overall ''Final Fantasy IX'' has the youngest cast on average of any main game in the series.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has a few child characters, mostly [[StreetUrchin thieves]], mages in training (and a few full fledged mages) and exiled royalty (often TheHero), or [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Manaketes]] who are Really700YearsOld. Older ones around 16-17 are very common. The youngest [[TheHero lord]] is Roy of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', who was put in charge of an army initially consisting mainly of members who look barely older than him at age 15; but for units in general it is taken to extremes by Nah of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', who, considering Manakete aging, must be around the physical age of an early elementary schooler at most [[WiseBeyondTheirYears (but still has the maturity of someone much older)]]. The youngest playable characters in the franchise with confirmed ages are 12-year-old [[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/shvc/bfej/data/chara/index.html Sara]] of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'', a ChildProdigy who happens to be the only one who can wield the Kia staff and undo the Loptous Sect's petrification, and [[https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/fe-por-rolf-character-profile-p-53-translation/ Rolf]] of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', an apprentice archer who really has no business being on the battlefield at that age. There's also the kids in the prologue of ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', who are 8-11, but the villain Slayde starts that fight and the general strategy for that map is to have them hide behind CoolOldGuy Mycen while he takes care of the dirty work.

** ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' goes even further, with the SPARTAN-III program, which turned children into ''suicide'' super soldiers who went off to fight and die at around the age of ''twelve''.
* Destroyers in ''VideoGame/KanColle'' are typically drawn as middle-school aged children, though some exceptions exist.
* Ikari Warriors member Whip from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' is only 16.

** Annie, who is ''6-years-old'' and fights clutching her teddy bear in one hand... and occasionally turning it into an flaming giant to destroy her enemies.

* Grunt from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is a tank born krogan who is and acts like a child... by krogan standards. His major issue is that he is not only clanless but his "father" was hated by many krogan. In his case he's technically only a few days/weeks old in ''Mass Effect 2'', but has the body of a krogan in late adolescence and had memories and knowledge downloaded into his brain.

* Zig-Zagged in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. We have Tear who was trained by Legretta and was given military-grade training from a young age. It shows, but she has a sensitive side too. (And an urge to act like a young girl like thinking it'd be so fun to be hugged by Anise's giant plush animal.) We also have Sync who is only 14-years-old, is a candidate for ThatOneBoss, and falls into the dramatic side given his backstory. One of Sync's comrades, Arietta, also falls into the AlasPoorVillain types, since she can't be any older than 16 yet was trusted by the Daathic Government to act as a bodyguard for Sync. Her successor, Anise, is only ''thirteen'', is [[spoiler:blackmailed into being TheMole because of her parents being hugely in debt]], and clearly had to grow up fast a bit. Oh, and the other god general who's underage by our standards? Asch the Bloody who is 17... and had clearly been in the Daathic Army for ''years'' beforehand. Luke also marches into battle when he's only 17 as well, but consider that [[spoiler:He's actually much ''much'' younger than that!]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' the PowerCrystal of the Fiefdom of Rubrum only grants the power of magic to the young and as the population ages, their skill with magic wanes. The protagonists are teenaged students of a combination WizardingSchool and MilitaryAcademy that is drafted to fight in the war.
** In ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia Final Fantasy 012: Duodecim]]'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vaan]], [[MythologyGag possibly in reference to the orphaned friends he had in his own youth in the slums of Rabanastre]], views the fact that the young [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII Onion Knight]] is also part of the Conflict of the Gods as being a tragedy (despite the fact that the latter is very capable of holding his own, to the point that everyone else on the team ignores his age and sees him as a worthy peer), and so ends up inadvertently patronizing him for his youth. Onion Knight desperately wishes that Vaan would treat him as someone worthy of respect, until he realizes that it ''is'' Vaan's way of doing just that: Vaan never tries to stop him from fighting, after all.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has the player actually battle child soldiers at select points, although killing one will result in an instant NonStandardGameOver and one very angry Miller. One mission has Snake come face to face with a group of child soldiers he had been contracted to kill, but instead fakes their deaths and takes them back to Mother Base. Only then Snake intends to have them trained as his own soldiers instead. Thankfully Miller and Ocelot are having none of that, with Miller making it clear how largely unable they are to fight before stating that they'll educate the kids and give them a chance to live normal lives.

* The training of a Medieval [[KnightInShiningArmor knight]] was usually begun at the age of seven (7), and it was claimed ''after twelve, the boy is fit only for a priest''. When a [[KidSamurai young nobleboy]] made 13, he was expected to serve his master on the battlefield as a valet. At 17, he would serve as a fully armed man-at-arms. Of course, when the average life-expectancy of a male during the times was only ''31 years''[[note]](averaged including childhood mortality, which is still also pretty grim. Actual life expectancy was higher provided one lived through childhood, but still nothing on modern life expectancy, being closer to your mid 50's, and dependent on circumstances.)[[/note]] it made much more sense at the time than it does now.
** It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tutelage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper etiquette and conduct, chess, music and other societal skills.

Compare LittleMissBadass, CreepyChild, CuteBruiser, EnfanteTerrible, KidSamurai, NewMeat, YoungGun, RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude. The ShellShockedVeteran may actually be a high-school senior. If you find yourself deploying child soldiers in your war, you may have been reduced to LoweredRecruitingStandards.

** It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tuteliage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper eticette and conduct, chess, music and other societal skills.

* Galusha Pennypacker of Pennsylvania was a 16-year-old sergeant in 1861, a 17-year-old major months later -- and twenty when promoted to Brigadier General in 1865 (he was instrumental in the capture of Fort Fisher and was also awarded the Medal of Honor). He was still too young to vote at the time.

* Several conquering kings (or wannabe conquerors/kings) were merely boys when they led their armies into war. Examples include UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat of Macedonia, [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Charles XII]] of Sweden, Edward, the Black Prince, of England, Olaf the Holy and his younger brother Harald Hardrada and many others.

** Of the most famous child soldiers, twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, who founded the Karen rebel group "God's Army" in Myanmar when they were nine.

* Fairly common on the Iranian (and Iraqi) side during the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar, where teenagers as young as 14 were enlisted into the Army to partake in human wave attacks. Some critics to the Iranian government suggest that they were given "Plastic Keys" [[note]]Certain sources indicate them to be keys of chinese origin, other sources prime them to be religious prayer books[[/note]]and sent straight into minefields, but some Iranian veterans and historians discredit this claim to be Iraqi propaganda. Regardless, many young soldiers died within the conflict, with the average age of Iranian soldiers being 23.

** It's noteworthy, though, that while training did begin at seven, the first years were generally spent under the tuteliage of the wife of the knight the boy would eventually serve, where the boy was taught things such as proper eticette and conduct, chess and other societal skills.

'''Andre''': A bullet from a fourteen-year-old is just as effective as one from a forty-year-old. Often more effective.

* The story mode in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' involves the fourteen year old protagonist fighting singlehandedly against the enemy Octarian army. The Octarians themselves don't seem much older, if at all, including Agent 8 in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion''. [[spoiler:Cuttlefish's dossier on Marina in ''Octo Expansion'' suggests a military education is the norm in the Octarian state.]]

* Zig-Zagged in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. We have Tear who was trained by Legretta and was given military-grade training from a young age. It shows, but she has a sensitive side too. (And an urge to act like a young girl like thinking it'd be so fun to be hugged by Anise's giant plush animal.) We also have Sync who is only fourteen years old, is a candidate for ThatOneBoss, and falls into the dramatic side given his backstory. One of Sync's comrades, Arietta, also falls into the AlasPoorVillain types, since she can't be any older than 16 yet was trusted by the Daathic Government to act as a bodyguard for Sync. Her successor, Anise, is only ''thirteen'', is [[spoiler:blackmailed into being TheMole because of her parents being hugely in debt]], and clearly had to grow up fast a bit. Oh, and the other god general who's underage by our standards? Asch the Bloody who is 17... and had clearly been in the Daathic Army for ''years'' beforehand. Luke also marches into battle when he's only 17 as well, but consider that [[spoiler:He's actually much ''much'' younger than that!]]

** A flashback involving Lalli confirms he was already scouting a horribly mutated PlagueZombie ridden wilderness ''at night'' at thirteen. The flashback relates an incident during which Lalli improperly filling out an anonymous scout report caused another group of soldiers to venture into a dangerous area and four of them to get killed, which the doctor considers a low number given the attack's violence. Looking at the report causes some authority figure to decide that "all scouts younger than fifteen" are getting a lecture on proper report filling. A fifteen year old Tuuri is seen among the desk workers.

** In the side story Ride The Whirlwind, the main character Ricki, and her former boyfriend Al, who are both fifteen years old, are working with a group that defends the Chosen against any threat frequently using murder to get their way. Ricki has had a [[spoiler:mental breakdown trying to get another character to kill her in a fight]]. Al has begun self harm, scraping his tongue until it bleeds trying to get the taste of other peoples blood out of his mouth.

* In the days of black powder and line infantry, drummer boys, many only 11 years old, some younger, stood in the front rank, armed only with their musical instruments as the men around them fought.

* The Italian ''Ragazzi del '99'' ("Boys of 1899") that fought in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: after the devastating defeat at Caporetto, the Italian army restored its numerical superiority by drafting the boys born in 1899, that at the time (1917-1918) were seventeen years old. [[GodzillaThreshold This is openly acknowledged as a desperation move]], and these child soldiers are still honoured by having streets, squares, parks and (allegedly) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the 99 Flake ice cream]] named after them.

** One particular story circulated during the war was the suicide of a 14 year old Iranian soldier who attempted to repel an Iraqi tank column with a grenade belt -- which like many other stories, were used by the government to rally counter-attacks against the invading iraqis.

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This trope is TruthInTelevision; many armies in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa have underaged troops, and some Western nations being recruiting soldiers at the age of 16 (these recruits are generally prohibited from being deployed to combat zones, although incidents where they have been deployed there have occurred). Researchers have shown that even if these underage soldiers are not deployed to combat zones, they suffer from a higher risk of attempted suicide or mental issues.

* Colonel O'Neill, in ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'', isn't thrilled about the number of minors on the super-team he's assembled, but Terawatt is preventing huge numbers of deaths and untold property damage, and there just aren't any other stable non-villainous GC-161 cases with powers like hers. Hanna's abnormal childhood and genetic engineering mean that working to bring down villains might actually be the best thing for her mental health. Jack puts his foot down, though, with eight-year-old Shar, who wants to be included but isn't allowed to do more than try out her powers and measure what she can do. [[spoiler: Though she doesn't always let a little thing like lack of permission stop her.]]

* This crops up in ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution''. Psionic powers often manifest in adolescence and young adulthood, but can occur in childhood. Just because you’re 7, it doesn’t mean you’re too young to join, be press-ganged, or sold into a conspiracy.
* The premise of ''TabletopGame/BlissStage'' is that the only people left who can fight the AlienInvasion are teenagers.

* In the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' Sourcebook D20 Apocalypse, kids as young as 12 can be adventurers (explorers, scavengers, and other people who constantly brave the post apocalypse world). While they are not soldiers, given how hostile the post apocalypse world is, they might as well be. And the minimum age for law enforcement (vigilante, town militia...) is 15. {{Justified|Trope}} by the post apocalyptic setting, where people have to learn fast or die at the hand of raiders/mutated monsters/other.

* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'': Nearly all of the members of the different combat Divisions shown in the series are, at the oldest, in their mid-to-late teens or early twenties, with Maria Tachibana being an established veteran of the Russian Civil War at only 19, and Leni Milchstrasse being part of a German SuperSoldier project from a very young age. Iris, Coquelicot, and Rika/[[DubNameChange Rosita]] however, take the cake, being only [[TokenMiniMoe ten or eleven]].

* Latooni, Seolla, Arado, and Princess Shine from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration''. The first three are {{Tykebomb}}s, while the fourth is a [[GratuitousPrincess princess]] who isn't ''technically'' enlisted, and is simply allowed to fight alongside the other heroes to protect her Kingdom.
** Also, Mihiro Ardygun in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW'', who co-pilots the Valhawk with her older brother (himself 16) at the age of 10. [[spoiler:During the TimeSkip, while her brother was missing, she took over piloting duties full-time.]] Though not a soldier ''officially'', she does fight on behalf of a government organization that does include several soldiers, including the aforementioned child soldiers from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' and ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''.
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the Master Chief and his fellow [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] started their [[TheSpartanWay grueling military training]] at age six, and have been kicking [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]] rear since they were fourteen. Their skills and reputation are such that the Covenant calls them "demons."
** ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' goes even further, with the SPARTAN-III program, which turned children into ''suicide'' super soldiers who went off to fight and die at around the age of ''twelve''.
* 14-year-old Leo Stenbuck [[FallingIntoTheCockpit fell into the cockpit]] of Jehuty in ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders'', but continued to fight of his own free will as a part of the military afterwards, and is only 16 in the sequel.
* What's a young girl in a pretty white dress doing as one of the top three generals in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''? At least you can say the other kids making up the party weren't inducted into the army, what with growing up in the streets as a thief, swinging an oar, fishing, or being abandoned in the woods at 3 with only an axe and [[CuteBruiser the highest strength score in the game]] to survive.
* Some of the backstory for the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' games indicates the Silencer Corps (of whom the main character was a member) prospects are identified through mandatory testing on adolescents. It's also hinted that it's no so much physical prowess they're looking for as it is psychological suitability...
* In ''VideoGame/SabresOfInfinity'' the Tierran army's minimum enlistment age for officers is 14, making the protagonist one if they so choose.
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', Gallia has a policy of Universal Conscription, so military training is a part of general education and citizens as young as fifteen may be called up to serve. Moreover, the militia is known to have soldiers as young as ''twelve'', although the girl in question enlisted voluntarily and required special permission to do so.
** Even worse, the little girl is a ''shocktrooper'', the most durable ''and'' most damaging troop type in the game.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', no one in the game seems to consider the idea of a fourteen year old Cloud Strife joining the Shinra Army unusual (Zack Fair also joined in a similarly young age). And then there's people like Sephiroth, Shelke, and Cissnei who started their fighting careers as mere children, although not through any choice of their own.
** The [=SeeD=] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' functions as a highly regarded military academy type institution and many students enter voluntarily. Students ''are'' enrolled before puberty, but typically aren't taught in combat until their teens, and don't see actual combat outside of the training room until their graduation. Upon graduation, the [=SeeD=] sometimes also work side jobs in policing duties and receive a regular salary. The I game encyclopaedia outright states that any Garden student who doesn't graduate by the age of twenty is discharged from the school.
*** Also the underlying function of the [=SeeD=] is to [[spoiler: be prepared to defend the world against [[BigBad an imprisoned evil sorcerer]]]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', we have Eiko, a WhiteMage girl who can use SummonMagic. She happens to be six years old and is the SoleSurvivor of her tribe, apart from a bunch of Moogles, who keep her company. She is also WiseBeyondHerYears and not only understands the complexity of the world-threatening conflict when Zidane and his friends meet her, but willingly joins them to SaveTheWorld. The rest of the cast, while not nearly as young as Eiko, are also mostly teenagers and overall ''Final Fantasy IX'' has the youngest cast on average of any main game in the series.

* Destroyers in ''VideoGame/KanColle'' are typically drawn as middle-school aged children, though some exceptions exist.

* Ayame from ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}'' counts, as she's only 14 during the events of ''Tenchu 2''.
* Spirits are raised from birth to be soldiers in ''VisualNovel/AseliaTheEternalTheSpiritOfEternitySword''. Birth doesn't appear to start at infancy for them, however.

* In the original ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', both Liberty Lad and Sea Urchin are ChildSoldiers themselves. There's a scene in which Man O' War feels uneasy about "putting the wee ones on the front line".
* Zig-Zagged in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. We have Tear who was trained by Legretta and was given military-grade training from a young age. It shows, but she has a sensitive side too. (And an urge to act like a young girl like thinking it'd be so fun to be hugged by Anise's giant plush animal.) We also have Sync who is only fourteen years old, is a candidate for ThatOneBoss, and falls into the dramatic side given his backstory. One of Sync's comrades, Arietta, also falls into the AlasPoorVillain types, since she can't be any older than 16 yet was trusted by the Daathic Government to act as a bodyguard for Sync. Her successor, Anise, is only ''thirteen'', is [[spoiler:blackmailed into being TheMole because of her parents being hugely in debt]], and clearly had to grow up fast a bit. Oh, and the other god general who's underage by our standards? Asch the Bloody who is 17...and had clearly been in the Daathic Army for ''years'' beforehand. Luke also marches into battle when he's only 17 as well, but consider that [[spoiler:He's actually much ''much'' younger than that!]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' also gives us Alice, one of the main antagonists who's part of a terrorist organization and is ''clearly'' underage. Marta, too, who is only 15 years old.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has no real restrictions on membership beyond the ability to kick enormous amounts of ass, so you can have children fighting amongst adult archangels, insane wizard Yordles, and people who've been in the military for years.
** Annie, who is ''6 years old'' and fights clutching her teddy bear in one hand... and occasionally turning it into an flaming giant to destroy her enemies.
** Nunu, a boy whose strong magical abilities are enhanced physically by riding into battle on the back of a [[ABoyAndHisX Yeti]].
** Amumu, an amnesiac [[UndeadChild child]] {{Mummy}}.
** [[LightTheWay Lux]], older than the rest, but still a magically gifted child forcibly conscripted at 13 years old.
** Kog'Maw, who's still an infant, but because he's an infant EldritchAbomination who destroys everything in his path, no one minds.
** While she's grown up now, Riven's backstory indicates that she was a fanatical child soldier for Noxus.
* Niko Bellic, the main protagonist in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' was about 16 or 17 years old when he and fourteen other child soldiers from his home village fought in the Bosnian war.
* The various Links in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' with confirmed ages range in age from seventeen and a half (in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'') to ''nine'' (Child Link in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'').
* ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair'': Owen and Kate are 12 and 13 years old, respectively.

* The World Annihilation Front of ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' is composed largely of teenagers, and certain members of the World Salvation Committee are no older. On the Front side, there's Morte at 16 and Kyrie at 17; Agan is 18, Taupy has a VagueAge but is implied to be older than most of his teammates, and Rhi'a is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 300 but as a dragonkin is the equivalent of 15]]. On the Committee side, Naja is 17 and his commander Rajiv appears to be about the same (but is never given an exact age). The leaders of both groups are shown to be adults, however.

* One of the enemy types in ''VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage'' are bird chicks who are soldiers.
* Momo Kuzuryu from ''VideoGame/ValkyrieDriveBhikkhuni'' was one of these before the events of the game and the struggle of adapting to a more peaceful life is the driving point of her character arc.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'': As part of [[MilitaryAcademy Thors's]] increased focus on militarization, students from the branch campus are regularly deployed in counter-terrorism operations against subversive elements in TheEmpire.

* All of the superheros and supervillans in ''Webcomic/StrongFemaleProtagonist'' received their powers at 14 and have been fighting each other or for their government for most of their teenage years. The main character is a retired super-heroine who is struggling to find ways to solve the world's problems without resorting to the violence of her formative years.
* Benjamin Soderer in [[http://lostcausewebcomic.com/ Lost Cause]] joins the Confederate Army at 16 years old, thinking it will prove his own bravery at such a young age. However, it only proves how unready he is to face the Hells of war.
* The title character in ''Webcomic/{{Terinu}}'' was raised by SpacePirate Mavra Chan to be an assassin, starting at the tender age of nine. His best friend Matt was sold ''by his own father'' to Chan to serve as a cook's mate on the same ship at the age of eleven. It's a sufficiently CrapsackWorld that in Matt's case this was distinct improvement over his previous situation.

* The youngest ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'' are about thirteen years old when they start in the field. The youngest agent ever, Ella Darcy, was ''ten'' when she joined, but she wasn't a field agent.

* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' has thirteen-year-old Tamika Flynn, [[spoiler:leading a child militia against Strex Corp.]] She's already a veteran at this, having taking down the librarians at twelve.
-->'''Tamika''': We do not look around. We do not look inside. We do not sleep. Our god is not a smiling god, [[BadassBoast and we are ready for this war]].

* Occasionally implied in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' metaseries with the younger-minded characters. Done outright in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' with Sari [[spoiler: especially after she turns out to be a RobotGirl]] and is pushed into the front lines in season 3.
** The episode "Human Error" [[spoiler: (where the main 'bots are shown in analogous human bodies)]] shows that Bumblebee is the Cybertronian equivalent of [[PuppyLove roughly her age]].
** [[spoiler: Omega Supreme]] might also count, given that he was specifically created to be a superweapon and purposefully made mentally 'slow' so that he wouldn't question orders. Not a child, but close to a child's mind.
*** The Transformers in ''Animated'' have an explicit childhood stage. He was a child soldier given mild mental retardation and put into the body of what was effectively a {{Kaiju}}, and the actions of his creators made it clear that they knew what this would do to him, and how wrong their actions were.
** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'''s version of Bumblebee may also be considered this. The [[AllThereInTheManual prequel novels]] state outright that he was among the final generation of Cybertronians to be born, and while fighting on the front lines is not given any explicit significance for him, the episode "Masters and Students" hints that he's not officially recognized as warrior-class due to being too young, though a later episode would have him admit he was holding off until they fixed Cybertron.
** The human characters are very much this. Jack performs the important mission of recharging the Matrix from Vector Sigma, Raf is MissionControl backup to Ratchet (and is one of only two main humans in the series to be actually wounded), and Miko is considered (by herself and Wheeljack) to be a full member of the Wreckers, not to mention having a confirmed kill to her name (Hardshell). At the end of the series, Agent Fowler intends to make them full-fledged members of Unit: E.
---> '''June Darby''': ''[[InsistentTerminology Consultants]]!'' Until you're of age.
* Jedi Padawans such as Ahsoka Tano of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' could very much be considered this. Ahsoka is only fourteen or fifteen and yet leads troops into battle and gets into the thick of the fighting herself. Their talent with the force and training from childhood makes even the Padawans very deadly warriors.
** When Kamino comes under attack, the clone cadets take up arms to defend their home. Thanks to their accelerated growth, they're about as half as young as they look.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': the KND are a global organisation with, amongst other things: a [[SpaceBase moonbase]], [[KillSat orbital cannons]], [[StandardSciFiFleet spaceships]], [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier military]] [[TankGoodness vehicles]], HumongousMecha, [[SlowLaser lasers]], ''[[AirborneAircraftCarrier a giant flying convention center]]'' and huge "hidden" bases that recruit kids at around 5-7 years old, train them and kick them out when they're thirteen, [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wiping their memory just in case they go rogue]]. They are an ''army'' of child soldiers. The only reason this isn't presented as horrifying at all is because they are every bit as childish as non-members (if not more). Executing a huge, global operation to fill in the ''Grand Canyon'' as a giant cereal bowl, anyone?

* Episode 8 of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' had The Academy on Galaluna, a military training facility which starts training future soldiers as children. To be fair, however, it is partially Truth In Television: most of them are teenagers, and military schools do exist for such ages. However, they also showed a row of children who looked even shorter, and, presumably, younger than Lance and Arthur — who were already small and really young-looking to begin with.
* In the original ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}'', the Thunderkittens are apparently about twelve, or their species' equivalent, but they go into combat just as much as the adults. Lion-O is a borderline case, since he begins the series physically adult, but mentally a child.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'':
** This gets {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when the team is the black ops for the Justice League, where the oldest of them is 16 and the youngest is 13. An exasperated Mr. Twister brings this up after he [[CurbStompBattle curb stomps]] them when Robin protests that they aren't children.
--->''"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."''
** Later discussed in the episode "Agendas". With the League discovering that [[spoiler:Captain Marvel]] is only ten]], they begin debating whether to boot him out of the Justice League. Batman says he knew all along, and it has no impact.
--->'''Wonder Woman:''' I shouldn't be surprised, since you indoctrinated Robin into crime-fighting at the ripe old age of nine.\\
'''Batman:''' Robin ''needed'' to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice.\\
'''Wonder Woman:''' So he could turn out like you?\\
'''Batman:''' So that he ''wouldn't''.
** By season two, the story has started to edge into the "tragic" sub-category, as the child heroes have to confront the death and trauma that comes from their job.
* Similar to above, the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003''. In the comics most of them eventually grow up quickly enough to avert this for most people, but the main gang in the cartoons doesn't. They almost die on several occasions, have no adult supervision, and the youngest is between the ages of fourteen and sixteen.
** Notably, during the penultimate episode's GrandFinale battle, dozens of other young supers join the Titans in their fight, including the three superpowered ''toddlers'' whom Raven had previously babysat. Mas y Menos, twin supers who appeared in several episodes, were about 11.
* [[BadassNormal Caleb]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Witch}}'' is the leader of the rebellion at 15 years old.
** ''W.I.T.C.H.'' themselves, with Will celebrating her thirteenth birthday in an early episode and Hay Lin being the youngest at twelve (presumably). It probably helps they get ElementalPowers as well as an OlderAlterEgo when they transform. Will's boyfriend Matt begins to train as a a warrior in season two, though this is his choice and Will is not happy about it. Some of Caleb's troops in season one look even younger than him, but they're still effective in ambushes and combat.
* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', Red Fountain is a paramilitary school that trains boys to be BadassNormal soldiers on their home planets starting at 16. As other examples mention, military schools for high school age children are Truth In Television, but Red Fountain functions a lot more like an actual military force than like a school——the Specialists undertake various combat missions (not drills or educational exercises) regularly.
** Brandon is this trope twice over, as in addition to being a Red Fountain student he is Prince Sky's squire (implied to be more of a bodyguard than the typical valet definition) and because he and Sky knew one another before starting school, he was at most 15 when he became another 15 year old's pseudo-bodyguard.

* Three of the Paladins from ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' are teenage pseudo-MilitarySchool students[[note]](one of whom apparently lied about their age as well as their name/gender when enrolling)[[/note]], while a fourth was a peer who got kicked out due to discipline issues. To be fair to the alien princess that [[RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude shanghaied them into war against a galaxy-spanning evil empire]], Allura did not have any real option at the time.
** Not to mention AllThereInTheManual confirming that the peer who got kicked out for discipline issues was already 18 at the start of the series.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' when Stan gives Steve an AK-47 for Christmas despite promising Francine he wouldnt (he got around it by wishing Steve a "Merry Wednesday" instead). Steve is uncertain at first, then states that if "coked out child soldiers in the Congo can do it", he can too. Unfortunately, it leads to him accidently killing Santa, who comes back to life and swears a blood oath against the Smiths, forcing them to spend Christmas Eve fighting for their lives. Despite having sworn off guns after shooting Santa, he picks it back up during Santas attack, and immediatly turns out to be almost as good as his CIA agent father.
* Alien broccoli have invaded Townsville, so ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', led by Blossom, install an army of children to fight the alien menace--by eating them (episode "Beat Your Greens").

* The training of a Medieval [[KnightInShiningArmor knight]] was usually begun at the age of seven (7), and it was claimed ''after twelve, the boy is fit only for a priest''. When a [[KidSamurai young nobleboy]] made 13, he was expected to serve his master on battlefield as a valet. 17, he would serve as a fully armed man-at-arms. Of course, when the average life-expectancy of a male during the times was only ''31 years''[[note]](averaged including childhood mortality, which is still also pretty grim. actual life expectancy was higher provided one lived through childhood, but still nothing on modern life expectancy, being closer to your mid 50's, and dependant on circumstances.)[[/note]] it made much more sense at the time than it does now.

* Galusha Pennypacker of Pennsylvania was a sixteen-year-old sergeant in 1861, a seventeen-year-old major months later -- and twenty when promoted to Brigadier General in 1865 (he was instrumental in the capture of Fort Fisher and was also awarded the Medal of Honor). He was still too young to vote at the time.

--> Evacuees will be restricted to those below the age of seven (plus one parent/guardian) and those above the age of ninety. Regrettably, there are not enough places for everyone, so each person eligible for evacuation will be assigned a number. [...] If you are not eligible for evacuation you will be immediately assigned to a hive defence unit - details of where to report will follow this announcement.
* The Battlefront Miniatures game ''TabletopGame/FlamesofWar'' includes the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" whose average enlisted soldier was 17 or younger and drawn from the ranks of the Hitler Youth, hence the nickname. The game also depicts child soldiers in the ranks of the Hitler Youth during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, armed (as they were in real life) with Panzerfaust anti-tank rockets.
* The RPG ''Grey Ranks'' depicts child soldiers (aged 15-17) during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
* The game "Broken Rooms" has a world called 'The Unvisible' which has been invaded by monsters that are invisible-- and cause severe psychic trauma-- to adults. Only certain adults can see the monsters, so the average age for soldiers is 8-12. Big Science has designed assault weapons with low kickback and painted them in neon colors to appeal to the children, who are trained in combat tactics from the time they can walk.

* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' features Gavroche, who tags along with the student revolutionaries (who are themselves implied in several songs to be at ''most'' in their early 20s) and [[spoiler:manages to take 2 bullets while collecting ammunition for the students before he is fatally shot in the head]].

* ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' is the ur-example of this trope in {{Eastern RPG}}s. The story begins with two friends who, during military training in a youth brigade, are attacked by their own country's forces dressed up as a neighboring nation's units, just to justify going to war with that nation. Many child soldiers such as Pohl are even killed (in his case, run through by Luca Blight). [[spoiler:Your childhood friend Nanami even tries on more than one occasion to get the protagonist to abandon the war, saying that they're just kids and they have no place in a war. Agreeing to run away with her leads into one of the most emotional scenes in the game, which is no small feat.]]
* ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' has [[MurderInc Nether Gate]]; among their many, many atrocities is how they raise children to become career assassins. The player meets several members; some managed to escape its influence and have spent years recovering. Others... haven't.
* The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/{{Planetarian}}'' is a former child soldier, and has {{Flashback Nightmare}}s about the experience throughout the game.
* In the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series, this is the BackStory of Frank Jaeger (aka Grey Fox) and [[spoiler:Raiden]]. They may have been expert killers, but they were also massive psychological wrecks too.
** The Beauty & Beast Corps that Snake fights in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' are all child soldiers who were horribly traumatized in their childhood. For example, Laughing Octopus was forced to laugh while she killed people, despite the fact that she found it horrifying, and so she cackles like a hyena all through her boss battle. At the end, she confesses, "I'm not really laughing..."
** Big Boss's final plan, outlined in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', was to rescue war orphans and train them as soldiers, then feed them onto the battlefield to perpetuate an endless cycle of warfare.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has the player actually battle child soldiers at select points, although killing one will result in an instant NonStandardGameOver and one very angry Miller. One mission has Snake come face to face with a group of child soldiers he had been contracted to kill, but instead fakes their deaths and takes them back to Mother Base. Only then Snake intends to have them trained as his own soldiers instead. Thankfully Miller and Ocelot are having none of that, with Miller making it clear how largely unable they are to fight before stating that they'll educate the kids and give them a chance to live normal lives.
--->'''Kaz''': We've expanded our housing. They'll have their own quarters. ''Separate'' from ours, '''won't''' be counted as staff.\\
'''Snake''': So what, we're running a daycare now?\\
'''Kaz''': They'll learn how to read and write; do basic jobs.\\
'''Snake''': A chance at a real life... just not from behind a gun.\\
'''Kaz''': Being behind a gun is what we do, Boss. There's no room for angels in our heaven.
*** ''The Phantom Pain'' has two key characters, in particular, who are child soldiers. The first is Tretij Rebenok, a child with terrifying preternatural abilities; and "Eli", the "White Mamba" and leader of a group of child soldiers in the Congo. [[spoiler:They would go on to become Psycho Mantis and Liquid Snake, respectively. Both also have some major mental baggage that prevented them from being well-adjusted: Tretij burned down his hometown when his telepathic powers revealed his father's loathing towards him, while Eli suffers from CloningBlues due to being born of the Les Effants Terribles project.]]
** Taken to a new [[NightmareFuel frightening]] level in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. [[spoiler:One of Desperado's long-running plans is the abduction of children in various war zones, installing their brains into artificial casings, and running AI programs ad infinitum to make them into killing machines. The brains are utterly terrified of their state, and one is even seen undulating in terror when Sundowner pulls it out and strokes it.]]
*** During the fight with Monsoon, we see the extent of Raiden's psychological destruction at being a killing machine for so long. [[spoiler:Just as it seems Raiden is suffering a HeroicBSOD, he suddenly notes that he has felt a natural high from the killing. Suddenly, Monsoon realizes his speech has had the complete opposite effect he hoped for, and for the remainder of the battle, Raiden gains [[GainingTheWillToKill unlimited Ripper Mode]]]].

* EmotionlessGirl Leona from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' started this way, after [[spoiler: [[SelfMadeOrphan killing her own parents]] under Goenitz's MoreThanMindControl]] and being adopted by ColonelBadass Heidern [[spoiler: who had lost his daughter and wife]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', some of the logbooks imply that the Tasen draft soldiers as soon as they're old enough to hold a rifle. The diary writing Tasen soldier and her girlfriend are among those. This is somewhat justified since [[spoiler:the Komato have hunted the Tasen to the brink of extinction.]] While the titular character's younger brother is, at most, a teenager, he doesn't qualify because he is simply MissionControl.

* In ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'': Hell's Highway it is implied that [[spoiler:Frankie]] is under 18. He dies.
** Some people did (and still do!) lie about their age in order to join the military.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': You can talk to a [[RetiredBadass Retired NCR Ranger]] with a broken leg in Novac. If you ask him why his leg is broken, he'll say that it was because the Legion sent children as suicide bombers against him and his squad, knowing they'd hesitate to shoot.
** If you go to the Legion fort, you can find little boys training to be full-on legionaries. It's horrifically implied that those children are expected to enter combat very soon, what with the battle against the NCR over Hoover Dam on the horizon. Keep in mind that, in the NCR, troopers can sign up to join the active military at 16, and they still consider Legion troops abnormally young. Chief Hanlon says that any legionary who survives 10 years is considered an exceptional veteran, as many, ''[[WeHaveReserves many]]'' die long before then ("life expectancy isn't long in the Legion; you live ten years in Caesar's army, you're a force to be reckoned with"). [[FridgeHorror That means that]] many of the lower-ranking recruit legionaries you gun down in droves [[TeensAreMonsters probably aren't very old at all]].
** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', as you're walking around The Prydwen, the flagship of Elder Maxson's chapter of The Brotherhood of Steel, you might happen upon some Squires -- children (although you only encounter young boys in this case) who are training to become high-ranking officers once they become older. They spout the typical propaganda, tell you how much they want to make Elder Maxson proud, the whole nine yards. Although they're not yet allowed to go on dangerous missions along with the adults, they are involved in labor and field operations. Danse, who (at least before [[spoiler: the quest Blind Betrayal]]) is probably the most diehard loyalist on the ship, admits that he doesn't like the idea of young kids, who can't be older than twelve at the most just by looking at them, engaging in warfare like this, but what Maxson says goes. If you align yourself with The Institute or The Railroad, one of your biggest missions is to blow up The Prydwen out of the sky, thereby erasing The Brotherhood's base of operations and taking out many enemy combatants to your cause -- and unfortunately, since you have no way of evacuating anyone off beforehand, that means the kids die too.

* Some Angolan child soldiers appear during the first level of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'', being trained by Cubans to fight in the civil war against the American-allied UNITA. Mercifully, they only appear in scripted sequences and you don't fight them.

* The Spartan-II and III SuperSoldiers from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series started as this. The [=IIs=] were abducted from their homes by the shady Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced by flash clones, who would [[CloneDegeneration begin to break down]] shortly afterwards, neatly covering ONI's tracks. The [=IIIs=] on the other hand were orphans of war that were actually ''recruited'' by ONI with the promise of avenging their families. The Spartan-[=Is=], formerly known as the Orion Project, and the Spartan-[=IVs=] were consenting adults with prior service history in the UNSC, however.
** The worst part about the Spartan-[=IIs=] was that they weren't even engineered to fight the Covenant, but rather ''Human Insurrectionists.'' The Covenant just so happened to show up shortly before the Spartan-[=IIs=] first received their iconic MJOLNIR powered armor. Knowing this, its not hard to understand why ONI never intended for the very existence of the Spartans to go public in the first place.
* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has a notable defiance of this trope: The Scarlet Chorus, a SocialDarwinist ArmyOfThievesAndWhores that [[JoinOrDie forcibly conscripts anyone it captures]] into itself and turns them into {{Slave Mook}}s sent to die ''en masse'', has amongst its very, ''very'' few actual rules one to [[WouldNotHurtAChild "Honour and Guard the Young"]]. Any child captured by the Chorus is safe from serving in combat or being exposed to [[RapePillageAndBurn their usual modus operandi]] until they reach the age of sixteen. Of course, since the Chorus either conscripted or killed their hometown, parents and support network, orphans created by the Chorus tend to become involuntary camp followers for the Chorus anyway, and by the time they're sixteen they've usually seen enough crap living with the Chorus that they're either a perfect fit for Chorus volunteers or ready to join the frontlines to end it all.

* Cloud's mom, Ye Thuza, from ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'' was a Burmese rebel when she was only 16. While it hasn't been explored in much detail yet, it's certainly demonstrated a touch more seriously than the overall tone of the comic, [[DontExplainTheJoke apart from being half of a punchline in which Ye Thuza remarks she's "always been a rebel" while comparing her life as an American housewife to her years in Burma]].
* ''Webcomic/RubysWorld'' uses this as the base of the conflict; the villains regularly use third world children as material for their cybernetic super-soldiers, and several of the young heroes have this blood-stained technology in their bodies.

* In ''[[Webcomic/KatushaGirlSoldierOfTheGreatPatrioticWar Katusha, Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War]]'', the title character is a 16-year old Ukrainian girl in Kiev and has just graduated high school in 1941 when [[WorldWarII/WarInEuropeAndAfrica Germany launches Operation Barbarossa]]. After the Germans roll through Kiev, she ends up joining a band of partisans, along with her classmate Zhenya (also 16), her foster sister Milla (age uncertain), and her younger brother Vadim (age 15). Within a few months, all of them become quite handy with weapons and adept at killing. [[spoiler: By 1945, Katusha is serving in the Soviet Army, commanding a T-34 tank]].

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': [[spoiler:Jagganoth, back when he was called Yaun]] was forcibly conscripted into a "Corpse Legion" of mercenaries during the Universal War. This ended up [[ShellShockedVeteran dominating a large part of their psyche]] even after [[DeityOfHumanOrigin they became a Demiurge]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Sarilho}}'': Mikhail and Nikita were sold into the military as kids.

* In [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Madgie-what-did-you-do-XIX-Mercenary-321179030 Madgie, what did you? XIX]], the children aren't given much of a choice in whether or not they want to but it is put that they have to fight. That, and their guardians, the ones that lead them, have would't put them up to it if they didn't have to.
* While Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale's Tamika Flynn is also justifiably listed under the 'ridiculously talented' heading, she and her fellow soldiers also come under 'tragic' in [[spoiler: episode 46, "Parade Day", where they rebel against Strexcorp but get exactly no help from the adults, leading to them all being captured.]]

%%* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', the Empire has a training program that recruits teenagers to be trained into new Stormtroopers, and subjected to a harsh training regiment. The dark part however is that the trainers report any recruits who are suspected as force sensitive to the Inquisitors, and whatever happens to them is unknown.
* In the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 season 5]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[SugarBowl of all shows]], the Crystal Empire BadFuture has foals being recruited for the war against Sombra.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'' is a satirical animated short, based on a story by Jules Feiffer, about a four-year-old boy who receives a draft notice and gets inducted into the U.S. Army, much to his distress.
* The Daughters of Aku from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' absolutely qualify; at the age of 17 to 18, approximately, they're sent out to kill the title character, having learned from [[AbusiveParents their mother]] and her [[ReligionOfEvil cult]] literally [[ObliviousToLove nothing]] but [[TheSpartanWay athletics, stealth, combat skills]], and presumably the worship of Aku. [[spoiler:Being Aku's actual daughters also puts them into the "precocious" category.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars'' has counterparts of the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' characters working for both the Rebellion and the Empire. While the implications aren't explored for Candace, Buford and Baljeet as Stormtroopers, it's played straight for the Firestar Girls, the equivalent of [[ScoutOut the Fireside Girls.]]
-->'''Gretchen''': We need you, the odds are stacked against us. The Empire has everything, a Death Star, highly-trained troops, Darth Vader. And we're just a ragtag bunch of undertrained good-intentioned Rebels. And to be perfectly honest, Isabella, we're kids. We are actual children, and they're letting us fly fighters. That's how hopeless the situation actually is.

** For the purposes of how many people killed as "collateral damage" by U.S. drone strikes will be counted as civilian casualties, [[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?_r=1&hp the U.S. government considers every "military-age male" to be an enemy combatant.]][[note]]Unless they find explicit evidence of the dead person's innocence later on - which they will be looking for very carefully, promise.[[/note]] According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - which the U.S. signed, but never ratified - this should mean males over the age of 15. But for practical purposes of who to target with the drone strikes in the first place, this is decided by the [[https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/07/how-drone-pilots-talk/ drone pilots, who seem to think that it means any male in "double digits".]]

** The British Army ended the practice of sending pre-pubescent boys into battle after the slaughter of Isandlwana when the boys were not only killed but their bodies desecrated - like those of their elder comrades in arms.

* Janissaries were drafted from Christian children by the UsefulNotes/OttomanEmpire. There were exceptions however, since adult war prisoners could be inducted into the corps such as UsefulNotes/{{Skanderbeg}} (who was 18-years old when he joined them), but children were preferred because their loyalty easily assured than adults (considering that Skanderbeg deserted the Ottomans and became a thorn on their side for years, they might had a point). By the time of their disbandment, they were not even slaves anymore, but a bloated and corrupt institution passed down in a hereditary manner that undermined the empire by killing or deposing any sultan that threatened their status.

** One particular story circulated during the war was the suicide of a 14 year old Iranian soldier who attempted to repel an Iraqi tank column with a grenade belt - which like many other stories, were used by the government to rally counter-attacks against the invading iraqis.

* ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'' is essentially ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' with a hint of RealityEnsues, which the Kisiwa arc hammers in hard. The [[NebulousEvilOrganization Belsoto Clan]] invades the island of Kisiwa, creating a refugee crisis as the native [[{{Mons}} Temtem]] tamers try to hold them off and evacuate their families at the same time with many of them being the same age or not much older than the [[KidHero teenage player]], who ''also'' gets conscripted by LaResistance upon their arrival. It's stated that human and {{mon}} casualties are mounting on both sides, including [[spoiler: TheRival Max, who joined the opposite side and is [[DisneyVillainDeath seemingly killed]] [[WouldHurtAChild by General X]] for trying to desert.]]