History Main / CorruptQuartermaster

* Pursers in the era of WoodenShipsAndIronMen were famous for this sort of behaviour, in part because they were paid poorly and semi-officially expected to do so. The officers and shipowners considered common sailors little better than animals, and didn't much care what their rations looked like (for the most part; officers like Horatio Hornblower did exist, but were rarer in life than fiction).

* In ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Cao Cao ''creates one''. He is fully aware that he doesn't have enough food to take Yuan Shu via a siege, or the strength to assault his walls. So he orders the quartermaster to serve half-rations. When the soldiers complain and threaten to desert, Cao Cao has his generals announce that the quartermaster had been holding back vital supplies for himself and has him executed. After a feast, the men are strong and enthused enough to break through and force Yuan Shu to flee. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Cao Cao does provide for the innocent quartermaster's family after this.]]

* Rodney Whosits inverts this in ''{{WesternAnimation/Archer}}''. In contrast to the highly unprofessional staff at [=ISIS=], he is very by the book, and doesn't allow the team to take out weapons all willy-nilly as it was before he showed up. He does accept a handjob from Cheryl in exchange for a secret phone number however. At his worst, he is more of an ObstructiveBureaucrat than anything else.

* Milo Minderbinder from ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' isn't corrupt so much as completely amoral. Officially, he's a mess officer for an air force base in WW2; unofficially, he uses air force resources to expand his operation, shipping commodities across the Mediterranean. He calls it "the Syndicate", and insists "everyone has a share". Near the end of the novel, he cements his amorality by contracting the Nazis to bomb the base in order to destroy a backlog of Egyptian cotton he couldn't sell.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', the Reds repeatedly put layabout Grif in charge of their ammo, a task he never performed. Eventually, they expanded [[ProfessionalButtKisser Simmons']] duties to "bringing extra ammo for when Grif forgets." However, when Grif and Simmons are sent to a new base (where Grif is in charge), he actually sells all their ammo to the Blues.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10724053/1/Code-Geass-The-Prepared-Rebellion-V2 Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion]]'', these are quite common among the Britannian Military in Area 11, thanks to Clovis' lax administration. Lelouch uses them to get supplies for the Black Knights, and sometimes arranges for them to be found out by Euphemia.

* Creator/BernardCornwell's novel ''Literature/Battle Flag'', set in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, introduces Captain Billy Blythe, who holds this position for a regiment of Northern States cavalry raised by public conscription. Galloway's Horse receives a massive cash donation from an Abolitionist preacher to buy its horses. Blythe, who in peacetime had been a horse dealer, is entrusted to buy mounts. but the horses when they arrive are a herd of elderly, mangy, knackered and blown remnants. Blythe defensively says the war has made it hard to get good horses. The suspicion grows that he has pocketed most of the money - but it cannot be proven. Blythe then goes on to be a notorious looter and rapist, who says to the hero, when there are no witnesses, that the only sane thing to do in a war is to get rich out of it. The hero vows to deal with him, but Blythe has powerful protectors.

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* Pursers in the era of WoodenShipsAndIronMen were famous for this sort of behaviour, in part because they were paid poorly and semi-officially expected to do so. The officers and shipowners considered common sailors little better than animals, and didn't much care what their rations looked like (for the most part; officers like Horatio Hornblower did exist, but were rarer in life than fiction).

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheELderScrollsIVOblivion'': In the ''Shivering Isles'' DLC, one of the main reasons for the fall of Castle Vitharn was because the keep's quartermaster was such a miser that he refused to give ''any'' of his equipment to Vitharn's defenders, even while it was under siege, out of fear that [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint they might be damaged or lost during the battle]]. As a result, the keep's best archer was critically underequipped at the moment the defenses were breached. Somewhat justified, since this ''is'' the realm of madness and everyone in the Isles has some form of neurosis; his just happened to be extreme perfectionism.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheELderScrollsIVOblivion'': In the ''Shivering Isles'' DLC, one of the main reasons for the fall of Castle Vitharn was because the keep's quartermaster was such a miser that he refused to give ''any'' of his equipment to Vitharn's defenders, even while it was under siege, out of fear that [[DramatacallyMissingThePoint they might be damaged or lost during the battle]]. As a result, the keep's best archer was critically underequipped at the moment the defenses were breached. Somewhat justified, since this ''is'' the realm of madness and everyone in the Isles has some form of neurosis; his just happened to be extreme perfectionism.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheELderScrollsIVOblivion'': In the ''Shivering Isles'' DLC, one of the main reasons for the fall of Castle Vitharn was because the keep's quartermaster was such a miser that he refused to give ''any'' of his equipment to Vitharn's defenders, even while it was under siege, out of fear that [[DramatacllyMissingThePoint they might be damaged or lost during the battle]]. As a result, the keep's best archer was critically underequipped at the moment the defenses were breached. Somewhat justified, since this ''is'' the realm of madness and everyone in the Isles has some form of neurosis; his just happened to be extreme perfectionism.

* Sgt Daniel Contreras from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is the New Californa Republic's quartermaster at their Camp [=McCarran=] outpost who exploits his position for personal gain smuggling guns and chems to clients in the Mojave Wasteland. If you complete his unmarked quest for him, he'll give you full access to his inventory and also gives you the This Machine rifle, one of the best weapons in the game. You can also rat him out to the base's officials (much sooner because you just have to hack his computer, while Contreras's questline has a minimum level to start) and still get This Machine.

* In ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Cao Cao ''creates one''. He is fully aware that he doesn't have enough food to take Yuan Shu via a siege, or the strength to assault his walls. So he orders the quartermaster to serve half-rations. When the soldiers complain and threaten to desert, Cao Cao has his generals announce that the quartermaster had been hodling back vital supplies for himself and has him executed. After a feast, the men are strong and enthused enough to break through and force Yuan Shu to flee. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Cao Cao does provide for the innocent quartermaster's family after this.]]

* The quartermaster in ''{{Film/Glory}}'' keeps claiming he's out of shoes for the all-black 54th infantry division, thinking it's funny to leave them either barefoot or getting infections from very worn shoes. Eventually Colonel Shaw loses his temper with the guy and breaks into the storages himself, finding piles of new shoes.

* In ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Cao Cao ''creates one''. He is fully aware that he doesn't have enough food to take Yuan Shu via a siege, or the strength to assault his walls. So he orders the quartermaster to serve half-rations. When the soldiers complain and threaten to desert, Cao Cao has his generals announce that the quartermaster had been hodling back vital supplies for himself and has him executed. After a feast, the men are strong and enthused enough to break through and force Yuan Shu to flee. [[JerWithAHeartOfGold Cao Cao does provide for the innocent quartermaster's family after this.]]

* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode ''The Incubator'', Hawkeye and Trapper John run into one of these, who is hoarding several of the incubators that they need, but refuses to release one. In another episode, Klinger gets a quartermaster to sell him an electrical generator because the camp's main generator is broken and the backup one is missing. Just before they complete the deal the Colonel of the unit which is supposed to get the generator shows up in person because several of their requests for generators have "mysteriously disappeared." The colonel even mentions that they're making do with a backup generator they stole from a M*A*S*H unit.

* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', the Reds repeatedly put layabout Grif in charge of their ammo, a task he never performed. Eventually, they expanded [[ProfessionalButtKisser Simmons']] duties to "bringing extra ammo for when Grif forgets." However, when Grif and Simmons are sent to a new base (where Grif is in charge), he actually sells all their ammo to the Blues.

* Pursers in the era of WoodenShipsAndIronMen were famous for this sort of behaviour, in part because they were paid poorly and semi-officially expected to do so. The officers and shipowners considered common sailors little better than animals, and didn't much care what their rations looked like (for the most part; officers like Horatio Hornblower did exist, but were rarer in life than fiction).

* In the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' (note:technically Ferik Jurgen) short story "The Smallest Detail", Jurgen and a local investigator catch a quartermaster who's selling food and weapons on the black market and fudging the records to hide this.

* Rodney Whosits inverts this in ''{{WesternAnimation/Archer}}''. In contrast to the highly unprofessional staff at [=ISIS=] he is very by the book, and doesn't allow the team to take out weapons all willy-nilly as it was before he showed up. He does accept a handjob from Cheryl in exchange for a secret phone number however. At his worst, he is more of an ObstructiveBureaucrat than anything else.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' [[spoiler: Sam Carter is one of the few members of [=UNATCO=] that isn't corrupt, sadistic, and/or part of the conspiracy. He even refuses to defect with JC in the last mission in [=UNATCO=]. He is eventually forced out at the end of the game though.]]

* Sgt Daniel Contreras from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is the New Californa Republic's quartermaster at their Camp [=McCarran=] outpost who exploits his position for personal gain smuggling guns and chems to clients in the Mojave Wasteland. If you complete his unmarked quest for him, he'll give you full access to his inventory and also gives you the This Machine rifle, one of the best weapons in the game.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' [[spoiler: Sam Carter is one of the few members of [=UNATCO=] that isn't corrupt.]]

* In the ''Literature/PrinceRoger'' series, offscreen corrupt quartermasters left the unit with plasma cannons that failed explosively in humid conditions, causing numerous casualties. Prince Roger swears that heads will literally roll over the matter when he gets home.

* Creator/BernardCornwell's American Civil War novel ''Literature/Battle Flag'' introduces Captain Billy Blythe, who holds this position for a regiment of Northern States cavalry raised by public conscription. Galloway's Horse receives a massive cash donation from an Abolitionist preacher to buy its horses. Blythe, who in peacetime had been a horse dealer, is entrusted to buy mounts. but the horses when they arrive are a herd of elderly, mangy, knackered and blown remnants. Blythe defensively says the war has made it hard to get good horses. The suspicion grows that he has pocketed most of the money - but it cannot be proven. Blythe then goes on to be a notorious looter and rapist, who says to the hero, when there are no witnesses, that the only sane thing to do in a war is to get rich out of it. The hero vows to deal with him, but Blythe has powerful protectors.